Un fichier de documentation sgml de base doit contenir entre autres ceci, pour faire les choses bien :

Voici le squelette d'un tel document, qui serait écrit par moi, sur un programme nommé plouf :

1  <!DOCTYPE book PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.1//EN" [ 
2  <!ENTITY plouf "<emphasis role='bold'>Plouf</emphasis>"> 
3  <!ENTITY currentdate "<emphasis>Sun Feb 01 20:00:00 CEST 2004</emphasis>"> 
4  ]> 
5 
6  <book id="plouf"> 
7    <bookinfo> 
8      <title>&plouf; Documentation - &currentdate;</title> 
9      <authorgroup> 
10       <author> 
11         <firstname> 
12           Yves 
13         </firstname> 
14         <surname> 
15           METTIER 
16         </surname> 
17         <affiliation> 
18           <address> 
19             <email>ymettier@libertysurf.fr</email> 
20           </address> 
21         </affiliation> 
22       </author> 
23     </authorgroup> 
24     <copyright> 
25       <year>2004</year> <holder>METTIER Yves</holder> 
26     </copyright> 
27     <legalnotice> 
28 
29       <para> 
30         This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it 
31         and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public 
32         License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either 
33         version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later 
34         version. 
35       </para> 
36 
37       <para> 
38         This program is distributed in the hope that it will be 
39         useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied 
40         warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR 
41         PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. 
42       </para> 
43       <para> 
44         You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public 
45         License along with this program; if not, write to the Free 
46         Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, 
47         MA 02111-1307 USA 
48       </para> 
49       <para> 
50         For more details see the file COPYING in the source 
51         distribution of GNOME. 
52       </para> 
53     </legalnotice> 
54   </bookinfo> 
55 
56   <toc></toc> 
57 
58   <chapter id="compilation-ch"> 
59     <title>Compilation</title> 
60     <sect1> 
61       <title>Compilation des sources</title> 
62       <para> 
63         Procédure de compilation des sources ici 
64       </para> 
65     </sect1> 
66   </chapter> 
67 </book>