# online docs

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/online-docs/12503>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [March 14, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/online-docs/12503 "2013-03-14T20:50:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Yves\_Dorfsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yves\_Dorfsman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Yves_Dorfsman)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/online-docs/12503/1 "2013-03-14T20:50:41Z")

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Would it make sense to have two versions of the docs online:  
-latest release (1.0, or whichever)  
-latest devel

I find myself wanting to use new modules, or new options that I've seen mentioned on the mailing list, but their doc isn't online yet - I can generate a local copy, but it'd be a lot more convenient to be able to just go online.

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**Author:** ![Michael\_DeHaan2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Michael\_DeHaan2](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Michael_DeHaan2)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/online-docs/12503/2 "2013-03-14T20:53:42Z")

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We'll have snapshotted docs at some point in the near future. It's  
at least on the "these are things we need to do" queue.

I also want to consider overhauling the way we generate them, in  
particular to make the modules stuff categorized, but also to improve  
the usability to the doc site.

Until then, when adding features, using the versionadded attribute in  
Sphinx is what we do.

--Michael

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**Author:** ![jpmens1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jpmens1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jpmens1)\
**Post date:** [March 14, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/online-docs/12503/3 "2013-03-14T21:18:29Z")

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> I find myself wanting to use new modules, or new options that I've  
> seen mentioned on the mailing list, but their doc isn't online yet

Are you aware of the `ansible-doc' utility? Shows the full docs of  
locally available modules on the command-line, extracted directly from  
the modules (i.e. no 'make' required). Typical uses:

ansible-doc -l Lists all modules  
ansible-doc modulename Show doc for that module  
ansible-doc -s modulename Show snippet for incl. into playbook

You're welcome. 😉

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-JP

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**Author:** ![Yves\_Dorfsman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9de0a6/32.png) [@Yves\_Dorfsman](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Yves_Dorfsman)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/online-docs/12503/4 "2013-03-15T04:33:24Z")

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> > I find myself wanting to use new modules, or new options that I've  
> > seen mentioned on the mailing list, but their doc isn't online yet
> 
> Are you aware of the `ansible-doc' utility? Shows the full docs of  
> locally available modules on the command-line, extracted directly from  
> the modules (i.e. no 'make' required). Typical uses:
> 
> ansible-doc -l Lists all modules  
> ansible-doc modulename Show doc for that module  
> ansible-doc -s modulename Show snippet for incl. into playbook

Thank you!

> You're welcome. 😉

No I wasn't aware of it. I just checked, this is not documented, is it? Is it fairly new? Where should we add it? In the main "docs" page?

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**Author:** ![jpmens1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jpmens1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/jpmens1)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2013, 5:41am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/online-docs/12503/5 "2013-03-15T05:41:53Z")

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> No I wasn't aware of it. I just checked, this is not documented is it?

It even has a man-page 🙂

> Is it fairly new? Where should we add it? In the main "docs"  
> page?

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;-JP