Installing DITA-OT 2.x

Question

we currently are using DITA-OT version 1.8.5 and I was wondering if there were any compatibility issues or others with having both our current version and a new version 2.4.x installed at the same time. 
 I would think that each is covered separately by the configmeta.xml file, but want to check before investing the time into this.

Raf Snijders · Accepted Answer

Dear Rick, 
 One of the adjustments that you need to make in the config.cmd file when enabling it for the DITA-OT 2.x is the relocation of the ANT_HOME environment variable. 
 In the older DITA-OT 1.8.x version we set this towards: 
 SET ANT_HOME=%PS_DITAOT%	ools\ant 
 For DITA-OT 2.x this should be set to 
 SET ANT_HOME=%PS_DITAOT% 
 as the location in the package is changed. 
 You can always opt to overwrite the Environment variable in the config.custom.cmd file as well as this is the more preferred way of overwriting any of the OOTB available environment variables. 
 Kind Regards, 
 Raf

Raf Snijders · Answer

Dear Rick,

There are no compatibility issues with respect to having both DITA-OT 1.8.5 and DITA-OT 2.4.x installed.
Each of these DITA-OT folders holds it's own set of config.cmd and other dita-ot-*.cmd files which control how the DITA-OT call is invoked and which environment variables are available for the DITA-OT to be used.

So within the config.cmd (or custom.config.cmd) you can change the arguments needed specifically for a higher version of the DITA-OT in order to work correctly.

So best way forward for you would be to:
1/ Install the new DITA-OT in a folder underneath <drive-letter>:\Infoshare\App<project-suffix>\Utilities\DITA-OT
2/ Copy over the different *.cmd files from either the Infoshare or your current client specific folder
3/ Change if needed any value(s) in these *.cmd files.
4/ Copy over or adjust 'catalog-dita_template.xml' so that it is reusing the catalog of the Web doctypes location (single sourcing your DTD's)
5/ Extend the metadataconfig.xml file in order to allow you to reroute the Output Format definitions towards the new toolkit. You need to add the new folder to the enum list of the StyleProcessor field.
6/ Adjust the Output Format definition to specify the new toolkit to be used.
7/ Re-publish your output.

Best approach is always to first try this on a Development/Test environment before applying the same changes to the Production environment.

Kind Regards,

Raf

Tridion Docs Developers > 03 - Developer Forum

Installing DITA-OT 2.x