Metanorma is dedicated to harmonizing standard documents produced by different standard-setting bodies in a manner that maintains correct semantics while allowing each standard publisher to define appropriate semantic extensions.
Simply put, it allows standards bodies or any other organization to create their own standard or specification document in a best practices manner.
Metanorma is composed of a number of specifications and software implementations. The Metanorma document model is based on the SecureDoc document model.
Metanorma includes the following sub-projects:
-
IETF Internet-Drafts and RFCs: the AsciiRFC syntax, the asciidoctor-rfc RFC XML v2 and v3 implementations
-
ISO Standards: the AsciiISO syntax, the IsoDoc Models, the asciidoctor-iso IsoDoc implementation
-
CalConnect Standard Documents (CSD): the AsciiCSD syntax, CSD Models, the asciidoctor-csd implementation
-
Chinese GuoBiao (GB) Standards: the AsciiGB syntax, GbDoc Models, the asciidoctor-gb implementation
-
Cloud Security Alliance Normal Documents (CSAND): the AsciiCSAND syntax, CSAND Models, the asciidoctor-csand implementation
-
M3AAWG Documents (M3D): the AsciiM3D syntax, M3D Models, the asciidoctor-m3d implementation
Installation
All-in-one install, MacOS
macOS users can directly run the Metanorma setup script located here: https://github.com/riboseinc/metanorma-macos-setup
This is a one-stop installation script that setups Ruby, Node and all necessary parts for running Metanorma.
Installation, Ubuntu
# Set up prerequisites
apt-get update
apt install -y git make ruby-bundler ruby-dev libxml2-dev libxslt-dev default-jre
gem install bundler
gem install nokogiri -v '1.8.4'
gem install metanorma-cli
(You may need to run these as sudo
)
If you want to run Ubuntu on MacOS, you should do the following beforehand:
# Setup docker through dinghy on MacOS:
brew tap codekitchen/dinghy
brew install dinghy
brew install docker docker-machine
dinghy create --provider virtualbox
# Run the Ubuntu container:
dinghy up
eval $(dinghy env)
docker run -it ubuntu:18.10 bash
Installing individual components
The Metanorma workflow can be utilized via the metanorma
Ruby gem.
gem install metanorma-cli
If you are going to generate PDFs from HTML (which applies to CSD), you will also need to install the node library https://github.com/GoogleChrome/puppeteer:
-
Install Node, with at least version 7.6.0: https://nodejs.org/en/download/, https://nodejs.org/en/download/package-manager/ . (For Mac,
brew install node
) -
Install npm: https://docs.npmjs.com/getting-started/installing-node
-
Install puppeteer:
npm install -g --save --save-exact puppeteer
Usage
Help command:
$ metanorma -h
Usage: metanorma [options] <file>
-t, --type TYPE Type of standard to generate: rfc2, rfc3, iso, gb, csd, csand, m3d
-x, --extensions EXT1,EXT2,... | all Type of extension to generate per type:
{
:rfc2=>{:xmlrfc=>"v2.xml"},
:rfc3=>{:xmlrfc=>"v3.xml"},
:iso=>{:html=>"html", :html_alt=>"alt.html", :doc=>"doc"},
:gb=>{:html=>"html", :doc=>"doc"},
:csd=>{:html=>"html", :pdf=>"pdf"},
:csand=>{:html=>"html"},
:m3d=>{:html=>"html", :doc=>"doc"},
:rsd=>{:html=>"html"}
}
In addition, xml (outside of rfc2, rfc3) generates IsoDoc XML. If the argument is "all" or the option is
missing, all available extensions are generated.
-f, --format FORMAT Format of source file: asciidoc (current default, only format supported)
-r, --require LIBRARY Require LIBRARY prior to execution
-h, --help Show this message
Basically it is used like this:
metanorma --type <chosen-type> [--format input-format] [--extensions EXT1,EXT2...] iso-my-standard-document.adoc
Options:
type
-
(mandatory, specified via
--type
or-t
) takes one of the following types:rfc2
,rfc3
,iso
,gb
,csd
,csand
,m3d
,rsd
format
-
(specified via
--format
or-f
) only acceptsasciidoc
for now
As the --format
argument is (currently) optional, so:
metanorma --type iso -x html iso-my-standard-document.adoc
Origin of name
Meta- is a prefix of Greek origin ("μετα") for “with” “after”. In English, it has ended up meaning "about (its own category)"; e.g. meta-discussion (a discussion about discussion). (For the roundabout way it ended up with that meaning, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meta#Etymology.)
Norma is Latin for “rule” and “standard”; hence English norm, but also German Norm "standard".
The Metanorma project is for setting a standard for standard documents created by standards-setting organizations (which is a meta thing to do); hence this name.
Metanorma seeks to embrace all standards documents standards, but not possess any: it can give rise to many "standard" standards, but not limit the extension of any of those standards.
The motto of the project is Aequitate verum, "Truth through equity". Dealing with all standards fairly (aequitate), we seek not an abstract virtue (veritas), but a practical reality on the ground (verum), that can be used by stakeholders of multiple standards.