UPDATE:
> That requires building org from a separate branch in git. That makes me nervous --
> I'm a user, not a dev, and while I'm sort of familiar with git, it seems like yet another layer of complexity.
1. OK, I got org-mode version 8.3.2 up and running using git.
The org-lint feature works -- very nice.
> The old way, namely just marking the problem link in the output file and continuing with the export,
> made it very easy to search for the problem in the output file. That approach was simple and worked quite well.
I still think that, but at least I'm up and running again.
Thanks to all for putting up with my lack of expertise, and especially to the org-mode creator(s) and maintainers for a very-useful tool.
2. For background: I'm a lawyer and part-time law professor. I've been using org-mode for several years now in building http:/
www.CommonDraft.org -- a free (Creative Commons) library of clauses for tech- and commercial contracts, extensively annotated with citations, commentary, and links to further reading. The long-term goal is to have a Common Draft reference version of each substantive variation of each type of contract clause that's typically seen in the wild. That will free up lawyers from always having to draft detailed contract language, and from having to review other people's detailed language --- instead, we can simply incorporate desired Common-Draft clauses by reference. (It's analogous to a library of callable functions in software development.) That will save time for both the contract drafter and for the other side's legal reviewer, which in turn will help the parties get a workable contract to signature sooner, at lower cost.
In pitching the Common Draft concept, my latest metaphor for non-techies is this: If you're ordering a meal in a Chinese-food restaurant, but you don't want any monosodium glutamate (MSG) in your food, you're _not_ going to hand your server a set of detailed recipes for the dishes you want and ask that the kitchen staff use those recipes. No, you're simply going to order from the menu --- hot-and-sour soup, kung-pao chicken, or whatever --- but you'll say to your server, "no MSG, please," as a desired variation. It's the same idea for the Common Draft project: A contract drafter can "order from the menu" and specify any desired variations. The Common Draft project is starting to get some attention in the contract-management community; the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (
http://www.IACCM.com), which has around 35,000 members worldwide, is supporting it.