linuxdoc
Sphinx-doc extensions & tools to extract documentation from C/C++ source file comments.
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes, if you maintain C/C++ code and use Sphinx for documentation. The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and low install friction. The AGPL-3.0-or-later license requires careful review if you plan to redistribute or modify the package, but poses no barrier to using it as a documentation tool in your own projects.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.10 or later; designed for use with Sphinx-based documentation projects
- Low friction install via pip with four runtime dependencies (docutils, fspath, setuptools, sphinx).
- Active maintenance with recent release and ongoing repository commits.
License · maintenance · safety
AGPL-3.0-or-later (agpl) — Distributed under AGPL-3.0-or-later; users must comply with copyleft obligations if they modify or redistribute the package or derivative works.
last release 2026-05-04 (102 days) · last repo commit 2026-05-07 · 28 stars
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 155,015 downloads/mo, #10,834 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
python -m pip install --user -U linuxdoc
import linuxdoc
# Use as Sphinx extension or via command-line tools- Whether the C/C++ comment extraction supports specific documentation formats beyond kernel-doc style
- Performance characteristics when processing large codebases
- Exact Sphinx version compatibility requirements
What it is and what it does
LinuxDoc is a Sphinx extension library that parses C/C++ source files and extracts documentation from inline comments, converting them into structured documentation that Sphinx can process. It originated in the Linux kernel documentation project but works as a general-purpose tool in any Sphinx-based documentation setup. The package provides both Sphinx extensions for integration into doc builds and command-line utilities for standalone extraction.
The package depends on docutils, fspath, setuptools, and sphinx as runtime requirements. It targets Python 3.10 and later, supporting both CPython and PyPy implementations. The tool is designed for developers who want to maintain API documentation directly in source code comments and have it automatically rendered into polished documentation alongside other Sphinx-generated content.
Use it for
- Generate API documentation for C/C++ libraries by parsing comments embedded in source files
- Integrate source code documentation into a Sphinx-based project without maintaining separate doc files
- Build reference manuals from large C projects that use structured comment conventions
- Automate documentation extraction in CI/CD pipelines using the command-line tools
- Maintain single-source documentation where code comments serve as the authoritative reference
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes, if you maintain C/C++ code and use Sphinx for documentation.
The package is actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and low install friction. The AGPL-3.0-or-later license requires careful review if you plan to redistribute or modify the package, but poses no barrier to using it as a documentation tool in your own projects.
Install
linuxdoc on PyPI
Before you install
Low friction install via pip with four runtime dependencies (docutils, fspath, setuptools, sphinx). Active maintenance with recent release and ongoing repository commits.
Requires Python 3.10 or later; designed for use with Sphinx-based documentation projects
License in practice
Distributed under AGPL-3.0-or-later; users must comply with copyleft obligations if they modify or redistribute the package or derivative works.
Quickstart
python -m pip install --user -U linuxdoc
import linuxdoc
# Use as Sphinx extension or via command-line toolsVerify before relying
- Whether the C/C++ comment extraction supports specific documentation formats beyond kernel-doc style
- Performance characteristics when processing large codebases
- Exact Sphinx version compatibility requirements
Package facts
| License | AGPL-3.0-or-later agpl |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.10 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | 4 packagesdocutilsfspathsetuptoolssphinx |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 102 days since the last release |
| Last repo commit | |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 155,015 / month, #10,834 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: Other AudienceLicense :: OSI Approved :: GNU Affero General Public License v3 or later (AGPLv3+)Operating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: CPythonProgramming Language :: Python :: Implementation :: PyPyTopic :: Software Development :: DocumentationTopic :: Software Development :: LibrariesTopic :: Text ProcessingTopic :: Utilities |
Evidence: linuxdoc-20260504-py3-none-any.whl
Tags
Let your AI agent find packages like this
Example. Real query, live index.
You found this page by searching. An agent finds it by wishing: SkillFed indexes 14,416 PyPI packages by what they can do, searchable in plain language.
wish › “extract docs from source comments”
- linuxdocSphinx-doc extensions and command-line tools that extract…
- sphinxcontrib-autoyamlA Sphinx extension that auto-generates documentation for YAML files…
- comment-parserExtracts comments from source code files across multiple programming…
Give your agent the search over MCP, or paste the wish link into any chat.
More Libraries packages
urllib3 is an HTTP client library that provides thread-safe connection pooling, SSL/TLS verification, multipart file uploads, request retries, compression support, and proxy handling for Python applications.
Requests is a Python HTTP library that simplifies sending HTTP/1.1 requests with automatic handling of headers, authentication, cookies, and response parsing.
Pluggy provides a plugin system that lets you define hook specifications and register implementations to be called in sequence, enabling extensible Python applications without tight coupling.
Install it if you're building an extensible application or framework.
Provides parsing, arithmetic, and recurrence rule computation for dates and times, with timezone support and iCalendar RFC compliance.
Install it if you need to parse flexible date strings, compute relative dates, handle timezones, or work with recurrence rules—it's the de facto choice for these tasks.
Six provides utility functions to write Python code that runs on both Python 2.7 and Python 3.3+, smoothing over language differences between the two versions.
pytest is a testing framework that lets you write test functions using plain assert statements and automatically discovers and runs them, with detailed failure reporting.
See also sphinx-argparse · sphinxcontrib-devhelp · sphinxcontrib-qthelp · sphinxcontrib-shellcheck · pr-commenter · readthedocs-sphinx-ext · sphinx-comments · sphinxcontrib-htmlhelp · comment-parser · antsibull-docs