These docs will be built and deployed whenever a release is made, and can be read at: https://www.haskell.org/cabal/users-guide/

In addition, the docs are taken directly from git and hosted at: http://cabal.readthedocs.io/

Building the documentation requires uv and Python 3. Run the following command either from the root of the cabal repository or from the docs/ subdirectory:

> make users-guide

Note: Python on Mac OS X dislikes LC_CTYPE=UTF-8, so unset the variable and instead set LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8.

The list of transitive dependencies (requirements.txt) is generated from the list of direct dependencies in pyproject.toml. Find outdated dependencies using UV (see also "UV setup details" section at the bottom) with:

> cd doc
> uv pip list --outdated
Package            Version    Latest   Type
------------------ ---------- -------- -----
certifi            2025.11.12 2026.1.4 wheel
docutils           0.21.2     0.22.4   wheel
sphinx             8.2.3      9.1.0    wheel
sphinxnotes-strike 1.5        2.0      wheel
urllib3            2.6.2      2.6.3    wheel

Upgrade the lock file to the latest satisfiable requirements with:

> uv sync --upgrade
...
 - certifi==2025.11.12
 + certifi==2026.1.4
 - sphinxnotes-strike==1.5
 + sphinxnotes-strike==2.0
 - urllib3==2.6.2
 + urllib3==2.6.3

In some cases, you may have to add a bound manually to pyproject.toml, e.g. requests >= 2.31.0.

To check for typos, run make typos and to fix them, run make fix-typos. Fixing might fail.

If there is any ambiguity (multiple possible corrections), typos will just report it to the user and move on.

SOURCE: typos/Getting Started

# spellchecker:off
$ make users-guide-typos
cd doc && find . -type f -name '*.rst' | xargs typos
error: `managable` should be `manageable`, `manageably`
  --> doc/getting-started.rst:75:6
   |
75 | more managable building blocks.
   |      ^^^^^^^^^
   |
make: *** [Makefile: users-guide-typos] Error 2
# spellchecker:on

RST does not allow you to skip section levels when nesting, like MD does. So, you cannot have

    Section heading
    ===============

    Some unimportant block
    """"""""""""""""""""""

instead you need to observe order and either promote your block:

    Section heading
    ===============

    Some not quite so important block
    ---------------------------------

or introduce more subsections:

    Section heading
    ===============

    Subsection
    ----------

    Subsubsection
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    Some unimportant block
    """"""""""""""""""""""

• RST simply parses a file and interprets headings to indicate the start of a new block,

  • at the level implied by the header's adornment, if the adornment was previously encountered in this file,
  • at one level deeper than the previous block, otherwise.

  This means that a lot of confusion can arise when people use different adornments to signify the same depth in different files.

  To eliminate this confusion, please stick to the adornment order recommended by the Sphinx team:

    ####
    Part
    ####

    *******
    Chapter
    *******

    Section
    =======

    Subsection
    ----------

    Subsubsection
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    Paragraph
    """""""""

• The Read-The-Docs stylesheet does not support multiple top-level sections in a file that is linked to from the top-most TOC (in index.rst). It will mess up the sidebar. E.g. you cannot link to a cabal.rst with sections "Introduction", "Using Cabal", "Epilogue" from index.rst.

  One solution is to have a single section, e.g. "All About Cabal", in cabal.rst and make the other blocks subsections of that.

  Another solution is to link via an indirection, e.g. create all-about-cabal.rst, where you include cabal.rst using the .. toctree:: command and then link to all-about-cabal.rst from index.rst. This will effectively "push down" all blocks by one layer and solve the problem without having to change cabal.rst.

• We use extlinks to shorten links to commonly referred resources (wiki, issue trackers).

  E.g. you can use the more convenient short syntax

    :issue:`123`
  

  which is expanded into a hyperlink

    `#123 <https://github.com/haskell/cabal/issues/123>`__
  

  See conf.py for list of currently defined link shorteners.

The documentation build process uses UV to manage Python dependencies. UV is a fast Python package installer and resolver, written in Rust. To get started with UV, you can install it following the official instructions.

The following UV commands are used in the Makefile and documentation:

• uv sync: Installs the dependencies listed in uv.lock (or resolves them from pyproject.toml if the lock file is missing).
• uv export --frozen --format requirements.txt: Exports the resolved dependencies to a requirements.txt file (used for skjold checks).
• uv pip list --outdated: Lists outdated dependencies (for updating).
• uv sync --upgrade: Upgrades the dependencies to the latest versions allowed by pyproject.toml and updates the lock file.
• uvx skjold: Runs the skjold tool (for security vulnerability checks) in an isolated environment.

Note: The uv.lock file in the doc/ directory is committed to the repository to ensure reproducible builds. When updating dependencies, remember to commit the updated uv.lock and pyproject.toml (if bounds are changed).