Asciidoctor vs RDoc
Asciidoctor
asciidoctor.orgRDoc
ruby.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | Asciidoctor | RDoc |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Documentation Generators | 8.9 (#1) | 8.1 (#8) |
| License | The processor is open source software available under the MIT license. | RDoc is free software and may be redistributed under the terms in its license file. |
| Purpose | Asciidoctor parses AsciiDoc source and converts it into publishable formats such as HTML 5 and PDF. | RDoc produces HTML and command-line documentation for Ruby projects, with `rdoc` and `ri` tools to generate and display it. |
| Support | The documentation directs users seeking real-time community support to the project chat’s #users stream. | The project directs users to CONTRIBUTING.md for filing bug reports. |
Plans
In their own words
Asciidoctor
Asciidoctor is a free, open-source text processor and publishing toolchain for converting AsciiDoc files or strings into formats such as HTML5, DocBook, PDF, EPUB 3 and manual pages. Its core includes converters for HTML5, DocBook 5 and man pages; PDF and EPUB 3 conversion comes from separate gems. Documents can be processed through a command-line interface or Ruby API. Asciidoctor runs with Ruby, on the JVM through AsciidoctorJ, or in JavaScript environments through Asciidoctor.js, and supports Linux, macOS and Windows. The wider ecosystem includes Maven and Gradle plugins, browser and editor extensions, and diagram tools. Default HTML output includes a stylesheet and integrations such as Font Awesome, highlight.js, Rouge, Pygments and MathJax. It is distributed as a RubyGem, Docker image, Linux packages and macOS packages, and is licensed under MIT. Its security modes include SECURE, SAFE, SERVER and UNSAFE; safe modes do not sanitize generated output or provide a comprehensive security framework.
RDoc
RDoc is free software for producing Ruby project documentation as HTML pages and command-line reference output. The `rdoc` command generates documentation, while `ri` displays it. It processes Ruby, C, and RBS source files, plus RDoc markup, Markdown, RD, and TomDoc documents. RBS declarations can describe classes, modules, methods, attributes, and constants, and can add comments or type signatures to matching Ruby source documentation. A local preview server watches source files and refreshes the browser after changes. It uses Ruby’s built-in TCPServer and needs no external gems, but provides neither HTTPS nor HTTP/2 and is intended only for local previews. RDoc reports documentation coverage with `rdoc -C`, or includes parameter names with `rdoc -C1`. Generation can be automated through Rake or the RDoc API. Aliki is the default theme; Darkfish is deprecated. Ruby 3.2.0 or newer is required for the current gem.