Automatically generated documentation might contain problematic places, in which manual re-layout is desired. Consodoc is tailored to support manual intervention on the level of LaTeX files.

Obviously, the system mustn't lose the user's changes when re-generating PDF. Consodoc remembers and applies changes using the diff and patch mechanism.

Summary of the situations:

• There is no patch, so nothing to apply

• Patch is applied:

  • successfully

  • with errors

• The user has made changes, and the patch file should be generated

This functionality adds complexity to the build process. A set of supporting files is used to assist the patch step:

• $(patch_error) is a lock-file to prevent further steps in case of patch errors.

• $(patch_tex) and $(patch_tex_copy) are used to detect if the user has manually edited the LaTeX code.

• $(patch_tex) and $(patch_tex_orig) are used to generate a patch file.

For convenience of describing the process, the step “Patch Work” is splitted on three virtual steps:

• “Forward Order”,

• “Reverse order”, and

• “Problems”.