7 files changed, 102 insertions, 38 deletions
diff --git a/doc/Makefile.am b/doc/Makefile.am
index 661e9c57..2d451102 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile.am
+++ b/doc/Makefile.am
@@ -122,6 +122,7 @@ html_files = \
 grfx_files = \
 	rsyslog_confgraph_complex.png\
 	rsyslog_confgraph_std.png \
+	module_workflow.png \
 	direct_queue0.png \
 	direct_queue1.png \
 	direct_queue2.png \
diff --git a/doc/manual.html b/doc/manual.html
index e65628a7..480bf56c 100644
--- a/doc/manual.html
+++ b/doc/manual.html
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ rsyslog support</a> available directly from the source!</p>
 <p><b>Please visit the <a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/sponsors">rsyslog sponsor's page</a>
 to honor the project sponsors or become one yourself!</b> We are very grateful for any help towards the
 project goals.</p>
-<p><b>This documentation is for version 5.3.5 (beta branch) of rsyslog.</b>
+<p><b>This documentation is for version 5.5.1 (devel branch) of rsyslog.</b>
 Visit the <i><a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/doc-status.html">rsyslog status page</a></i></b>
 to obtain current version information and project status.
 </p><p><b>If you like rsyslog, you might
diff --git a/doc/module_workflow.png b/doc/module_workflow.png
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e1a72e96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/module_workflow.png
diff --git a/doc/rsyslog_conf_modules.html b/doc/rsyslog_conf_modules.html
index a4c8c423..805894e7 100644
--- a/doc/rsyslog_conf_modules.html
+++ b/doc/rsyslog_conf_modules.html
@@ -2,11 +2,50 @@
 <html><head><title>Modules - rsyslog.conf</title></head>
 <body>
 <p>This is a part of the rsyslog.conf documentation.</p>
-<a href="rsyslog_conf.html">back</a>
-<h2>Modules</h2>
-<p>Rsyslog has a modular design. Consequently, there is a growing
+<a href="rsyslog_conf.html">Back to rsyslog.conf manual</a>
+<h1>Modules</h1>
+<p>Rsyslog has a modular design. This enables functionality to be
+dynamically loaded from modules, which may also be written by any
+third party. Rsyslog itself offers all non-core functionality as
+modules. Consequently, there is a growing
 number of modules. Here is the entry point to their documentation and
 what they do (list is currently not complete)</p>
+<p>Please note that each module provides configuration
+directives, which are NOT necessarily being listed below. Also
+remember, that a modules configuration directive (and functionality) is
+only available if it has been loaded (using $ModLoad).</p>
+<p>It is relatively easy to write a rsyslog module. <b>If none of the provided
+modules solve your need, you may consider writing one or have one written
+for you by
+<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/professional-services">Adiscon's professional services for rsyslog</a>
+</b>(this often is a very cost-effective and efficient way of getting what you need).
+<p>There exist different classes of loadable modules:
+<ul>
+<li><a href="rsyslog_conf_modules.html#im">Input Modules</a>
+<li><a href="rsyslog_conf_modules.html#om">Output Modules</a>
+<li><a href="rsyslog_conf_modules.html#pm">Parser Modules</a>
+<li><a href="rsyslog_conf_modules.html#mm">Message Modification Modules</a>
+<li><a href="rsyslog_conf_modules.html#lm">Library Modules</a>
+</ul>
+
+<a name"im"></a><h2>Input Modules</h2>
+<p>Input modules are used to gather messages from various sources. They interface
+to message generators.
+<ul>
+<li><a href="imfile.html">imfile</a> -&nbsp; input module for text files</li>
+<li><a href="imrelp.html">imrelp</a> - RELP input module</li>
+<li>imudp - udp syslog message input</li>
+<li><a href="imtcp.html">imtcp</a> - input plugin for plain tcp syslog</li>
+<li><a href="imgssapi.html">imgssapi</a> - input plugin for plain tcp and GSS-enabled syslog</li>
+<li>immark - support for mark messages</li>
+<li><a href="imklog.html">imklog</a> - kernel logging</li>
+<li><a href="imuxsock.html">imuxsock</a> - unix sockets, including the system log socket</li>
+<li><a href="im3195.html">im3195</a> - accepts syslog messages via RFC 3195</li>
+</ul>
+
+<a name"om"></a><h2>Output Modules</h2>
+<p>Output modules process messages. With them, message formats can be transformed
+and messages be transmitted to various different targets.
 <ul>
 <li><a href="omsnmp.html">omsnmp</a> - SNMP trap output module</li>
 <li><a href="omstdout.html">omtdout</a> - stdout output module (mainly a test tool)</li>
@@ -22,26 +61,53 @@ SQLLite, Ingres, Oracle, mSQL)</li>
 permits rsyslog to alert folks by mail if something important happens</li>
 <li><a href="omoracle.html">omoracle</a> - output module for Oracle (native OCI interface)</li>
 <li><a href="omudpspoof.html">omudpspoof</a> - output module sending UDP syslog messages with a spoofed address</li>
-<li><a href="imfile.html">imfile</a>
--&nbsp; input module for text files</li>
-<li><a href="imrelp.html">imrelp</a> - RELP
-input module</li>
-<li><a href="imudp.html">imudp</a> - udp syslog message input</li>
-<li><a href="imtcp.html">imtcp</a> - input
-plugin for plain tcp syslog</li>
-<li><a href="imgssapi.html">imgssapi</a> -
-input plugin for plain tcp and GSS-enabled syslog</li>
-<li>immark - support for mark messages</li>
-<li><a href="imklog.html">imklog</a> - kernel logging</li>
-<li><a href="imuxsock.html">imuxsock</a> -
-unix sockets, including the system log socket</li>
-<li><a href="im3195.html">im3195</a> -
-accepts syslog messages via RFC 3195</li>
 </ul>
-<p>Please note that each module provides configuration
-directives, which are NOT necessarily being listed below. Also
-remember, that a modules configuration directive (and functionality) is
-only available if it has been loaded (using $ModLoad).</p>
+
+<a name="pm"></a><h2>Parser Modules</h2>
+<p>Parser modules are used to parse message content, once the message has been
+received. They can be used to process custom message formats or invalidly formatted
+messages. For details, please see the <a href="rsyslog_messageparser.html">rsyslog
+message parser documentation</a>.
+<p>The current modules are currently provided as part of rsyslog:
+<ul>
+<li>pmrfc5424 - parses RFC5424-formatted messages (the new syslog standard)
+<li>pmrfc3164 - the traditional/legacy syslog parser
+</ul>
+
+<a name="mm"></a><h2>Message Modification Modules</h2>
+<p>Message modification modules are used to change the content of messages being processed.
+They can be implemented using either the output module or the parser module interface.
+From the rsyslog core's point of view, they actually are output or parser modules, it is their
+implementation that makes them special.
+<p>Currently, there do not exist any such modules, but could be written with
+the methods the engine provides. They could be used, for example, to:
+<ul>
+<li>anonymize message content
+<li>add dynamically computed content to message (fields)
+</ul>
+
+<a name="lm"></a><h2>Library Modules</h2>
+<p>Library modules provide dynamically loadable functionality for parts of rsyslog,
+most often for other loadable modules. They can not be user-configured and are loaded
+automatically by some components. They are just mentioned so that error messages that
+point to library moduls can be understood. No module list is provided.
+
+<h2>Where are the modules integrated into the Message Flow?</h2>
+<p>Depending on their module type, modules may access and/or modify messages at
+various stages during rsyslog's processing. Note that only the "core type" (e.g. input,
+output) but not any type derived from it (message modification module) specifies when
+a module is called.
+<p>The simplified workflow is as follows:
+<p align="center">
+<img src="module_workflow.png" alt"rsyslog: loadable modules and message flow">
+<p>As can be seen, messages are received by input modules, then passed to one or many
+parser modules, which generate the in-memory representation of the message and may
+also modify the message itself. The, the internal representation is passed to
+output modules, which may output a message and (with the interfaces newly introduced
+in v5) may also modify messageo object content.
+<p>Note that the actual flow is much more complex and depends a lot on queue and
+filter settings. This graphic above is a high-level message flow diagram.
+
 <p>[<a href="manual.html">manual index</a>]
 [<a href="rsyslog_conf.html">rsyslog.conf</a>]
 [<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/">rsyslog site</a>]</p>
diff --git a/doc/src/module_workflow.dia b/doc/src/module_workflow.dia
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..178571f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/src/module_workflow.dia
diff --git a/doc/src/tls.dia b/doc/src/tls.dia
index 77e5d185..d7c9811d 100644
--- a/doc/src/tls.dia
+++ b/doc/src/tls.dia
diff --git a/doc/status.html b/doc/status.html
index ff056489..88a81181 100644
--- a/doc/status.html
+++ b/doc/status.html
@@ -2,31 +2,28 @@
 <html><head><title>rsyslog status page</title></head>
 <body>
 <h2>rsyslog status page</h2>
-<p>This page reflects the status as of 2009-11-05.</p>
+<p>This page reflects the status as of 2009-11-18.</p>
 <h2>Current Releases</h2>
 
-<p><b>v5 development:</b> 5.3.4 [2009-11-04] -
-<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article423.phtml">change log</a> -
-<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-185.phtml">download</a>
-<br>
+<p><b>v5 development:</b> 5.5.0 [2009-11-18] -
+<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article431.phtml">change log</a> -
+<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-189.phtml">download</a>
 <!-- not at the moment!
+<br>
 <b>v4 development:</b> 4.5.1 [2009-07-15] -
 <a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article388.phtml">change log</a> -
 <a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-167.phtml">download</a></p>
 -->
 
-<!-- not at the moment!
-<br><b>v5-beta:</b> 5.1.6 [2009-10-15] -
-<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article413.phtml">change log</a> -
-<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-180.phtml">download</a>
--->
+<p><b>v5-beta:</b> 5.3.5 [2009-11-13] -
+<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article427.phtml">change log</a> -
+<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-187.phtml">download</a>
 
-<br><b>v4-beta:</b> 4.5.6 [2009-11-05] -
-<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article425.phtml">change log</a> -
-<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-186.phtml">download</a></p>
+<br><b>v4-beta:</b> 4.5.7 [2009-11-18] -
+<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article429.phtml">change log</a> -
+<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-188.phtml">download</a></p>
 
-<p><b>v5 stable:</b> 5.2.0 [2009-11-02] (recommended to use
-<a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-183.phtml">5.3.3</a> instead) -
+<p><b>v5 stable:</b> 5.2.0 [2009-11-02] (recommended to use v5-beta instead) -
 <a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Article421.phtml">change log</a> -
 <a href="http://www.rsyslog.com/Downloads-req-viewdownloaddetails-lid-184.phtml">download</a>