[SciPy-Dev] Understanding source of docs, source file ".py" or ".rst" file

[Skipper Seabold]

On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 5:27 PM, Vincent Davis <vincent at vincentdavis.net> wrote:
> There are two sets of docs for scipy.constants.constants, that in the
> source constants.py and that in that in
> scipy/doc/source/constants.rst.
> The rst file is what is used on the website but I am not sure how to
> (can you) view it from an interactive py session.
> Is it necessary to maintain both?
> Or more generally whats the protocol for how and why this is done.
>

I believe that you edit the .rst files via the docs wiki and that they
are applied to the actual source modules by hand intermittently (ie.,
before a release, when a lot of progress has been made, or after a
docs marathon or sprint).

I also struggled to understand this at first.  Is this documented
somewhere?  If not, where would be best?  I'm thinking somewhere on
the main docs page.  I don't know that the Question and Answers page
is obvious enough.  Would the "before you start" be a good place?

http://docs.scipy.org/numpy/Front%20Page/#before-you-start

Skipper