For the purposes of showing lists, I would think we want to show the meta-attributes that can apply directly to the thing being requested (not just inherited).

In T620#10892, @nrwahl2 wrote:

If we're using C as the starting point, we don't need XML, we just need tools that can parse the C code (we can require a particular style to make that easier) and generate sysconfig, ReST, and Python.

Running a command that generates XML on demand (which is our main goal anyway), and then parsing that, is probably easier than parsing the C code.

If we're using C as the starting point, we don't need XML, we just need tools that can parse the C code (we can require a particular style to make that easier) and generate sysconfig, ReST, and Python.