AsciiDoc Attribute Usage#

AsciiDoc attributes are named variables declared once and referenced throughout documents as {attribute_name}. In this course repository, attributes centralise values that change per academic year — most importantly academic_year — so that a single edit propagates everywhere rather than requiring a manual search-and-replace across files.

Central definition: content/attributes.adoc#

All shared attributes are declared in content/attributes.adoc. The file covers two categories:

• Year-specific: academic_year — currently set to 2026/2027 1
• Rendering/config: Reveal.js settings (revealjs_width, revealjs_height, etc.), syntax-highlighter config, icon shorthands, and path aliases 2

To update the course for a new year, only line 36 needs to change.

How attributes are loaded#

Entry-point documents include attributes.adoc explicitly, making all attributes available to every file they pull in via include:::

Chapter files (e.g., content/chapitres/reseaux.adoc) do not include attributes.adoc themselves — they inherit attributes from the parent entry-point document at include time 3.

The agent prompt for AI-assisted content authoring documents this structure explicitly: content/attributes.adoc is called out as "Configuration globale" and content/index.adoc as the "Point d'entrée" 4.

Non-compliant files (hardcoded strings)#

Two exam files bypass the attribute and embed the year as a literal string:

These files will not automatically reflect a year change when attributes.adoc is updated.

Note on format: The attribute value uses a slash separator (2026/2027) while hardcoded strings use a hyphen (2025-2026). Standardise on one format when migrating.

How to fix a non-compliant file#

1. Ensure the file is included (directly or transitively) from an entry-point that already pulls in attributes.adoc — or add include::../attributes.adoc[] at the top of the standalone file.
2. Replace every hardcoded year string with {academic_year}.
3. For deadline dates, consider adding a dedicated :deadline: attribute to content/attributes.adoc and applying the same pattern.

Syntax quick reference: