rst2pdf does not work with the Sphinx glossary directive

When using rst2pdf with the Sphinx glossary directive, rst2pdf raises the following ValueError for the first defined term in the glossary:

ValueError: format not resolved, probably missing URL scheme or undefined destination target for 'term-abs'

For the above example, the glossary directive starts with:

.. glossary::

    ABS
      Anti-Lock Braking System

And the glossary directive generates a term-% destination target for each defined term in the glossary.

Description of problem

To reproduce the problem:

1. Install the following requirements.txt file with pip in a python 3.6 environment (I am using Ubuntu 18.04LTS).

   sphinx==3.2.0
   rst2pdf==0.97
   

2. Create a new documentation project, configuring rst2pdf in conf.py:

   extensions = [
       ...
       'rst2pdf.pdfbuilder',
       ...
   ]
   pdf_documents = [ ( 'index', u'rst2pdf', project, author ), ]
   

3. Modify the Makefile to use Python 3:

   SPHINXBUILD   ?= python3 $(shell which sphinx-build)
   

4. Add a glossary to the index.rst:

   .. glossary::
   
       RST
         Restructured Text
   

5. Build a pdf:

   make pdf
   

I am proposing that rst2pdf adds support for the Sphinx glossary directive directive, which would make rst2pdf that much more useful for dissertations and technical documents.

I have already tried hacking the rst2pdf code to get this working, but while I am highly proficient in python, some guidance with Sphinx and rst2pdf would be appreciated.

What is the expected output? What do you see instead?

I am expecting that a pdf file is generated, but the build fails with the following stack-trace:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/rst2pdf/pdfbuilder.py", line 146, in write
    docwriter.write(doctree, destination)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.6/dist-packages/docutils/writers/__init__.py", line 78, in write
    self.translate()
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/rst2pdf/pdfbuilder.py", line 646, in translate
    compressed=self.compressed)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/rst2pdf/createpdf.py", line 643, in createPdf
    pdfdoc.multiBuild(elements)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/platypus/doctemplate.py", line 1153, in multiBuild
    self.canv.save()
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfgen/canvas.py", line 1244, in save
    self._doc.SaveToFile(self._filename, self)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 219, in SaveToFile
    data = self.GetPDFData(canvas)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 245, in GetPDFData
    return self.format()
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 427, in format
    IOf = IO.format(self)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 875, in format
    fcontent = format(self.content, document, toplevel=1)   # yes this is at top level
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 80, in format
    f = element.format(document)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 1612, in format
    return D.format(document)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 683, in format
    L = [(format(PDFName(k),document)+b" "+format(dict[k],document)) for k in keys]
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 683, in <listcomp>
    L = [(format(PDFName(k),document)+b" "+format(dict[k],document)) for k in keys]
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 80, in format
    f = element.format(document)
  File "/home/smith/.local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/reportlab/pdfbase/pdfdoc.py", line 1778, in format
    if f is None: raise ValueError("format not resolved, probably missing URL scheme or undefined destination target for '%s'" % self.name)
ValueError: format not resolved, probably missing URL scheme or undefined destination target for 'term-abs'

🖥 Versions

$ python3 -V
Python 3.6.9
$ pip3 freeze | grep rst2pdf
rst2pdf==0.97
$ pip3 freeze | grep reportlab
reportlab==3.5.47
$ pip3 freeze | grep Sphinx
Sphinx==3.2.0

Which operating system are you using?

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description:    Ubuntu 18.04.4 LTS
Release:        18.04
Codename:       bionic

I also have to install textlive-font-utils on Ubuntu, which is at version 2017.20180305-2.

Additional information

I need this change to be able to simply generate pdf’s for small to medium technical documentation without getting entrenched in the complexities of latexpdf. I am quite certain this will be of generic value to other users writing documentation requiring glossaries.

[smipi1]

With a little guidance on the rst2pdf and Sphinx architectures, I am fairly certain that I can make a pull-request for this. Can someone provide some guidance?

[akrabat]

@Jeffmackinnon is this issue still around? I still see this issue for Glossary term even though I have removed the term.

@sachin-suresh-rapyuta, this issue has not be resolved and we would love help to fix it.