I have a simple extension for Sphinx (my version in use is
Sphinx-1.1.3-py2.6). Very much like this<http://www.doughellmann.com/articles/how-tos/sphinx-custom-roles/inde...> excellent
example by Doug Hellmann.
My question is: How can I add a *rel='bar'* attribute to the final HTML for
the **tag?

There seems to be a few ways to do this, but I couldn't find a simple one.
Advise and tips are appreciated.

The reference nodes are created in this fashion:

node = nodes.reference(rawtext, utils.unescape(text),
            internal=False,
            refuri=ref,
            classes=['foocss'],
            rel='bar',
            **options)

However, the *rel='bar'* attribute gets stripped out from the final HTML
markup (note: it make is fine into the starttag). Hunting through the
source got me to *sphinx/writers/html.py* and the *HTMLTranslator* class.
Here is part of the visit_reference method:

# overwrittendef visit_reference(self, node):
    atts = {'class': 'reference'}

    <snip>

    if 'reftitle' in node:
        atts['title'] = node['reftitle']
    self.body.append(self.starttag(node, 'a', '', **atts))

Additional attributes are not handled. Maybe they could be replaced in
others parts. I couldn't find anything useful in that respect.

So, I could:

   - create a custom node which reimplements all the functionality of the
   reference node. A fair bit of work for a small addition.
   - Overwrite the *visit_reference* method in *sphinx/writers/html.py*.
   Quicker, but bad in terms of future Sphinx updates.
   - Add the rel attribute with jQuery to the link tag after the fact.
   Well, not pretty either.

I'm sure I'm missing the obvious and elegant solution.
Note that I've posted the same question on stackoverflow.com<http://stackoverflow.com/questions/13168702/how-to-add-rel-attribute-...> with
a bit more information.
Just casting the net a bit wider since this seems to be the appropriate
forum.

Thanks for reading.