<s>
reStructuredText	B-Language
(	O
RST	O
,	O
ReST	O
,	O
or	O
reST	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
file	O
format	O
for	O
textual	O
data	O
used	O
primarily	O
in	O
the	O
Python	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
community	O
for	O
technical	O
documentation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
is	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Docutils	O
project	O
of	O
the	O
Python	B-Language
Doc-SIG	O
(	O
Documentation	O
Special	O
Interest	O
Group	O
)	O
,	O
aimed	O
at	O
creating	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
tools	O
for	O
Python	B-Language
similar	O
to	O
Javadoc	B-Language
for	O
Java	B-Language
or	O
Plain	B-Language
Old	I-Language
Documentation	I-Language
(	O
POD	O
)	O
for	O
Perl	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Docutils	O
can	O
extract	O
comments	O
and	O
information	O
from	O
Python	B-Language
programs	I-Language
,	O
and	O
format	O
them	O
into	O
various	O
forms	O
of	O
program	O
documentation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
sense	O
,	O
reStructuredText	B-Language
is	O
a	O
lightweight	B-Protocol
markup	I-Protocol
language	I-Protocol
designed	O
to	O
be	O
both	O
(	O
a	O
)	O
processable	O
by	O
documentation-processing	O
software	O
such	O
as	O
Docutils	O
,	O
and	O
(	O
b	O
)	O
easily	O
readable	O
by	O
human	O
programmers	O
who	O
are	O
reading	O
and	O
writing	O
Python	B-Language
source	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
reStructuredText	B-Language
evolved	O
from	O
an	O
earlier	O
lightweight	B-Protocol
markup	I-Protocol
language	I-Protocol
called	O
StructuredText	O
(	O
developed	O
by	O
Zope	B-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
name	O
reStructuredText	B-Language
was	O
chosen	O
to	O
indicate	O
that	O
reST	O
is	O
a	O
"	O
revised	O
,	O
reworked	O
,	O
and	O
reinterpreted	O
StructuredText.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Parts	O
of	O
the	O
reST	O
syntax	O
were	O
inspired	O
by	O
the	O
Setext	B-Language
language	O
from	O
the	O
early	O
1990s	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Elements	O
of	O
the	O
common	O
RFC822	O
Internet	O
Message	O
Format	O
and	O
Javadoc	B-Language
formats	O
were	O
also	O
considered	O
for	O
inclusion	O
in	O
the	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
reStructuredText	B-Language
was	O
first	O
released	O
in	O
June	O
2001	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
began	O
to	O
see	O
significant	O
use	O
in	O
the	O
Python	B-Language
community	O
in	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
reference	O
implementation	O
of	O
the	O
reST	O
parser	B-Language
is	O
a	O
component	O
of	O
the	O
Docutils	O
text	O
processing	O
framework	O
in	O
the	O
Python	B-Language
programming	I-Language
language	I-Language
,	O
but	O
other	O
parsers	B-Language
are	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
no	O
official	O
MIME	B-Application
type	I-Application
registered	O
for	O
reStructuredText	B-Language
,	O
but	O
the	O
unofficial	O
one	O
is	O
text/x	O
-rst	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
reStructuredText	B-Language
is	O
commonly	O
used	O
for	O
technical	O
documentation	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
in	O
documentation	O
of	O
Python	B-Language
libraries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
2008	O
,	O
reST	O
has	O
been	O
a	O
core	O
component	O
of	O
Python	B-Language
's	O
Sphinx	B-Language
document	O
generation	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Trac	B-Language
also	O
supports	O
reStructuredText	B-Language
,	O
as	O
do	O
GitHub	B-Application
and	O
Bitbucket	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
July	O
2016	O
the	O
Linux	B-Operating_System
kernel	I-Operating_System
project	O
decided	O
to	O
transition	O
from	O
DocBook	B-Protocol
based	O
documentation	O
to	O
reStructuredText	B-Language
and	O
the	O
Sphinx	B-Language
toolchain	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
software	O
build	O
tool	O
CMake	B-Language
switched	O
from	O
a	O
custom	O
markup	O
language	O
to	O
reStructuredText	B-Language
in	O
version	O
3.0	O
for	O
its	O
documentation	O
.	O
</s>
