copy over autosummary docs from trunk.

1 files changed, 217 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/doc/ext/autosummary.rst b/doc/ext/autosummary.rst
index a9255857..57abd616 100644
--- a/doc/ext/autosummary.rst
+++ b/doc/ext/autosummary.rst
@@ -6,4 +6,220 @@
 .. module:: sphinx.ext.autosummary
    :synopsis: Generate autodoc summaries
 
-TBW.
+.. versionadded:: 0.6
+
+This extension generates function/method/attribute summary lists, similar to
+those output e.g. by Epydoc and other API doc generation tools.  This is
+especially useful when your docstrings are long and detailed, and putting each
+one of them on a separate page makes them easier to read.
+
+The :mod:`sphinx.ext.autosummary` extension does this in two parts:
+
+1. There is an :dir:`autosummary` directive for generating summary listings that
+   contain links to the documented items, and short summary blurbs extracted
+   from their docstrings.
+
+2. The convenience script :program:`sphinx-autogen` or the new
+   :confval:`autosummary_generate` config value can be used to generate short
+   "stub" files for the entries listed in the :dir:`autosummary` directives.
+   These by default contain only the corresponding :mod:`sphinx.ext.autodoc`
+   directive.
+
+
+.. directive:: autosummary
+
+   Insert a table that contains links to documented items, and a short summary
+   blurb (the first sentence of the docstring) for each of them.  The
+   :dir:`autosummary` directive can also optionally serve as a :dir:`toctree`
+   entry for the included items.
+
+   For example, ::
+
+       .. currentmodule:: sphinx
+
+       .. autosummary::
+
+          environment.BuildEnvironment
+          util.relative_uri
+
+   produces a table like this:
+
+       .. currentmodule:: sphinx
+
+       .. autosummary::
+
+          environment.BuildEnvironment
+          util.relative_uri
+
+       .. currentmodule:: sphinx.ext.autosummary
+
+   Autosummary preprocesses the docstrings and signatures with the same
+   :event:`autodoc-process-docstring` and :event:`autodoc-process-signature`
+   hooks as :mod:`~sphinx.ext.autodoc`.
+
+
+   **Options**
+
+   * If you want the :dir:`autosummary` table to also serve as a :dir:`toctree`
+     entry, use the ``toctree`` option, for example::
+
+         .. autosummary::
+            :toctree: DIRNAME
+
+            sphinx.environment.BuildEnvironment
+            sphinx.util.relative_uri
+
+     The ``toctree`` option also signals to the :program:`sphinx-autogen` script
+     that stub pages should be generated for the entries listed in this
+     directive.  The option accepts a directory name as an argument;
+     :program:`sphinx-autogen` will by default place its output in this
+     directory. If no argument is given, output is placed in the same directory
+     as the file that contains the directive.
+
+   * If you don't want the :dir:`autosummary` to show function signatures in the
+     listing, include the ``nosignatures`` option::
+
+         .. autosummary::
+            :nosignatures:
+
+            sphinx.environment.BuildEnvironment
+            sphinx.util.relative_uri
+
+   * You can specify a custom template with the ``template`` option.
+     For example, ::
+
+         .. autosummary::
+            :template: mytemplate.rst
+
+            sphinx.environment.BuildEnvironment
+
+     would use the template :file:`mytemplate.rst` in your
+     :confval:`templates_path` to generate the pages for all entries
+     listed. See `Customizing templates`_ below.
+
+
+:program:`sphinx-autogen` -- generate autodoc stub pages
+--------------------------------------------------------
+
+The :program:`sphinx-autogen` script can be used to conveniently generate stub
+documentation pages for items included in :dir:`autosummary` listings.
+
+For example, the command ::
+
+    $ sphinx-autogen -o generated *.rst
+
+will read all :dir:`autosummary` tables in the :file:`*.rst` files that have the
+``:toctree:`` option set, and output corresponding stub pages in directory
+``generated`` for all documented items.  The generated pages by default contain
+text of the form::
+
+    sphinx.util.relative_uri
+    ========================
+
+    .. autofunction:: sphinx.util.relative_uri
+
+If the ``-o`` option is not given, the script will place the output files in the
+directories specified in the ``:toctree:`` options.
+
+
+Generating stub pages automatically
+-----------------------------------
+
+If you do not want to create stub pages with :program:`sphinx-autogen`, you can
+also use this new config value:
+
+.. confval:: autosummary_generate
+
+   Boolean indicating whether to scan all found documents for autosummary
+   directives, and to generate stub pages for each.
+
+   Can also be a list of documents for which stub pages should be generated.
+
+   The new files will be placed in the directories specified in the
+   ``:toctree:`` options of the directives.
+
+
+Customizing templates
+---------------------
+
+You can customize the stub page templates, in a similar way as the HTML Jinja
+templates, see :ref:`templating`. (:class:`~sphinx.application.TemplateBridge`
+is not supported.)
+
+.. note::
+
+   If you find yourself spending much time tailoring the stub templates, this
+   may indicate that it's a better idea to write custom narrative documentation
+   instead.
+
+Autosummary uses the following template files:
+
+- :file:`autosummary/base.rst` -- fallback template
+- :file:`autosummary/module.rst` -- template for modules
+- :file:`autosummary/class.rst` -- template for classes
+- :file:`autosummary/function.rst` -- template for functions
+- :file:`autosummary/attribute.rst` -- template for class attributes
+- :file:`autosummary/method.rst` -- template for class methods
+
+The following variables available in the templates:
+
+.. data:: name
+
+   Name of the documented object, excluding the module and class parts.
+
+.. data:: objname
+
+   Name of the documented object, excluding the module parts.
+
+.. data:: fullname
+
+   Full name of the documented object, including module and class parts.
+
+.. data:: module
+
+   Name of the module the documented object belongs to.
+
+.. data:: class
+
+   Name of the class the documented object belongs to.  Only available for
+   methods and attributes.
+
+.. data:: underline
+
+   A string containing ``len(full_name) * '='``.
+
+.. data:: members
+
+   List containing names of all members of the module or class.  Only available
+   for modules and classes.
+
+.. data:: functions
+
+   List containing names of "public" functions in the module.  Here, "public"
+   here means that the name does not start with an underscore. Only available
+   for modules.
+
+.. data:: classes
+
+   List containing names of "public" classes in the module.  Only available for
+   modules.
+
+.. data:: exceptions
+
+   List containing names of "public" exceptions in the module.  Only available
+   for modules.
+
+.. data:: methods
+
+   List containing names of "public" methods in the class.  Only available for
+   classes.
+
+.. data:: methods
+
+   List containing names of "public" attributes in the class.  Only available
+   for classes.
+
+.. note::
+   
+   You can use the :dir:`autosummary` directive in the stub pages.
+   Stub pages are generated also based on these directives.