[Docutils-develop] [docutils:bugs] #489 Issues with the Docutils Doctree

- **status**: open-fixed --> closed-fixed
- **Comment**:

The bug is fixed in Docutils 0.22 released 2025-07-29.




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**[bugs:#489] Issues with the Docutils Doctree**

**Status:** closed-fixed
**Created:** Tue Jun 11, 2024 12:13 PM UTC by Günter Milde
**Last Updated:** Fri Apr 25, 2025 01:15 PM UTC
**Owner:** nobody
**Attachments:**

- [0001-Doctree-amendment-System-messages-can-appear-in-plac.patch](https://sourceforge.net/p/docutils/bugs/489/attachment/0001-Doctree-amendment-System-messages-can-appear-in-plac.patch) (5.5 kB; text/x-patch)


There are a number of discrepancies between the [Docutils Generic DTD][docutils.dtd]
and the implementation in Docutils code.

footnote
--------

[docutils.dtd][docutils.dtd]: `(label?, (%body.elements;)+)`
→ Label **optional**, content **required**; (not changed since 2002-04-20).

[reStructureText Markup Specification][rST spec]:
> Each footnote consists of an explicit markup start (".. "), a left
> square bracket, **the footnote label**, a right square bracket, and
> whitespace, followed by indented body elements.

The `footnote` class in [docutils.nodes](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docutils/nodes.py) is a subclass of `Labeled`, 
whose docstring says: "**Contains a label** as its first element."

The rST parser **requires** a label but allows **empty footnotes**
(cf. `test/test_writers/test_latex2e.py`).

citation
--------

[docutils.dtd][docutils.dtd]: `(label, (%body.elements;)+)`
→ Label **required**, content **required**; (not changed since 2002-04-20).

[reStructureText Markup Specification][rST spec]:
> Citations are **identical to footnotes** except that they use only
> non-numeric labels …

The rST parser allows **empty citations** (cf. test_rst/test_citations.py).

figure
------

[docutils.dtd][docutils.dtd]: `(image, ((caption, legend?) | legend))`
→ caption or legend **required**; (not changed since 2002-04-20).

[reStructuredText Directives](https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/directives.html#figure)

> A "figure" consists of image data (including image options), an **optional
> caption** (a single paragraph), and an **optional legend** (arbitrary body
> elements). For page-based output media, figures might float to a different
> position if this helps the page layout.

The rST parser allows **figures without caption or legend**.

Docutils HTML and LaTeX writers use a different layout for figures vs.
images. They can handle figures without caption/legend.

Suggestion
----------

* Make *footnote label compulsory`*.
* Let rST report a *warning for empty footnote and citation*.
  Remove tests with empty footnote and citation.
* Allow *figures without caption/legend* in the Docutils Generic DTD.

(Change in Docutils 1.0, announce in 0.22.)

Questions
---------
Are there a use cases for 
* footnotes without label,
* footnotes without content,
* citations without content?

[docutils.dtd]: https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/docutils.dtd
[rST spec]: https://docutils.sourceforge.io/docs/ref/rst/restructuredtext.html



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