This DITA XML tutorial will help you set up and use the DITA Open Toolkit open-source publishing system under GNU/Linux (Ubuntu or Debian).

Duration : 5 minutes
Prerequisite:

• Ubuntu or Debian on a physical or a virtual machine with administrator password
• Internet link

1. 
   Open a console, paste the following set of commands, then press Enter:

   cd && wget http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/dita-ot/DITA-OT%20Stable%20Release/DITA%20Open%20Toolkit%201.5.4/DITA-OT1.5.4_full_easy_install_bin.tar.gz && tar xzvf DITA-OT1.5.4_full_easy_install_bin.tar.gz && wget http://www.redaction-technique.org/media/dita-env.txt && workingdirectory=`pwd | sed "s/\//slash/g;"` && perl -pi -e "s/personal-dita-home/$workingdirectory/g;" dita-env.txt && perl -pi -e "s/slash/\//g;" dita-env.txt && cp .bashrc .bashrc.bak && cat .bashrc | sed '$a\' > .bashrc.tmp && mv .bashrc.tmp .bashrc && cat dita-env.txt >> .bashrc && exit


   - OK, the code may be more elegant, but it works and saves you quite a few steps  -

   This set of commands:

   • Changes the current working directory to your user account root directory
   • Downloads the Dita Open Toolkit archive
   • Uncompresses the Dita Open Toolkit archive
   • Downloads the Dita Open Toolkit environment variables file
   • Writes your user account root directory in the Dita Open Toolkit environment variables file
   • Makes a backup copy of the .bashrc file (.bashrc.bak)
   • Appends the Dita Open Toolkit environment variables at the end of the .bashrc file
   • Closes the current console

2. Open a new console to take into account the new .bashrc version, then paste the following command:
   sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jre ant


   and enter the administrator password. Press Enter at the Do you want to continue? [Y/n/?] prompt.

   This command opens a new administrator (root) console.

   Note: On a Debian system, if you are not sudoer, type su -.

   This set of commands installs Openjdk 6 and Apache Ant.

3. Paste the following command:
   cd DITA-OT1.5.4

   This command changes the current working directory to the DITA-OT1.5.4 directory.
   
4. Paste the following command:
   java -jar lib/dost.jar /i:samples/taskbook.ditamap /outdir:. /transtype:pdf2

   This command creates a PDF file from a DITA XML sample project.
   

Congratulations, you've just compiled your first DITA XML project! The taskbook.pdf target file is located in the DITA-OT1.5.4 directory. Skip steps 1 and 2 to compile new projects.

If several Java versions are installed and an error occurs, open an administrator console and select the Open JDK 6 version:

# update-alternatives --config java
Selection Path Priority Status
------------------------------------------------------------
* 0 /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk-i386/jre/bin/java 1061 automatic mode


You can specify one of the following values for the transtype option: