Add Documentation

Quick links:

The documentation Changelog and documentation for system extensions is maintained in the core.

Changelog

Some patches require a .rst (reStructuredText) Changelog file describing the change. Not all patches need an entry in the Changelog. Check the list below. Also see the current Changelog for some examples.

Every file may optionally contain tags, but it must contain at least a NotScanned, PartiallyScanned or FullyScanned tag for the extension scanner. See Extension scanner in TYPO3 Explained for more information.

Forger reST Helper

Use the Forger reST Helper to generate changelogs.

This is strongly recommended because the tool will generate correctly formatted files. You can always add more to the .rst file directly later.

Select the type of rst snippet you want to create, enter your issue number and click the search button. Select appropriate tags.

When you are done, copy the generated text and create a file with the same name as suggested in the generator in typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog/....

Types of Changes

There are four different types of changes which have to follow a certain format and always need to go into typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog/<release>/.

Choose one which fits your patch:

Breaking Changes

A patch moved or removed a specific part of core functionality that may break extensions if they use this part.

Mandatory sections:

  1. Description - why things had to break backwards compatibility.
  2. Impact - how will the change affect your installation.
  3. Affected Installations - describe scenarios under which circumstances a TYPO3 install will be affected by this change.
  4. Migration - provide instructions what needs to be done to get things working again. Explicitly mention if no migration is possible.

Deprecations

A patch deprecates a certain core functionality for a planned removal. See more information: Deprecations

Mandatory sections:

  1. Description - why things had to be deprecated.
  2. Impact - how will the change affect your installation.
  3. Affected Installations - describe scenarios under which circumstances an TYPO3 install will be affected by this change.
  4. Migration - provide instructions what needs to be done to get things working again. Explicitly mention if no migration is possible.

Features

A patch adds new functionality.

Mandatory sections:

  1. Description - what can the new feature do.
  2. Impact - how users are affected by this new feature.

Important Information

Anything that does not fit the other categories but is important enough to require a Changelog entry.

  1. Description - describe what is so important it needed an rst snippet

Check Your rst File

When your change is finished, you can run the following script to check that your rst file is ok. The script will check all files in typo3/sysext/core/Documentation/Changelog:

shell command
Build/Scripts/validateRstFiles.php
Copied!

This script will check if the .rst files contain all mandatory tags that are required for the Changelog. It will not do a reST syntax check.

In order to make sure that your file contains no syntax errors and will be rendered correctly, do one or more of the following:

  • Check out Coding guidelines for reST files.
  • Use an editor or IDE that properly supports reST and shows errors
  • Render the Changelog locally with docker as explained in the next section

Render the Changelog

If you wish to render the Changelog locally, you can use docker as described in How to render documentation.

Policy for Changing the Main Documentation

Once a new TYPO3 release comes out, the main documentation (e.g. TYPO3 Explained, TCA Reference etc.) must be updated.

The procedure is documented in Apply changelog entries to the docs.

Document System Extensions

Documentation for system extensions is maintained within a Documentation directory in the respective system extension directory, e.g. typo3/sysext/form/Documentation.

Not all system extensions have their own documentation. Some documentation (e.g. for the system extension core) is maintained within the TYPO3 Explained.

If in doubt, ask in the #typo3-cms-coredev channel on Slack.

For starting a system extension from scratch, please see How to document an extension.

For an overview of the rendered documentation for system extensions, see System Extensions.

When you have made changes to the documentation, you can render locally with docker to test your changes as described in Render the Changelog.

More Information