Add provisial config attribute to disable html display by default

IPython/core/interactiveshell.py

@@ -73,8 +73,7 b' from IPython.utils.py3compat import (builtin_mod, unicode_type, string_types,'
                                      with_metaclass, iteritems)
 from IPython.utils.strdispatch import StrDispatch
 from IPython.utils.syspathcontext import prepended_to_syspath
-from IPython.utils.text import (format_screen, LSString, SList,
-                                DollarFormatter)
+from IPython.utils.text import format_screen, LSString, SList, DollarFormatter
 from IPython.utils.tempdir import TemporaryDirectory
 from traitlets import (
     Integer, Bool, CaselessStrEnum, Enum, List, Dict, Unicode, Instance, Type,
@@ -87,14 +86,14 b' import IPython.core.hooks'
 try:
     import docrepr.sphinxify as sphx
 
-    def docformat(doc):
+    def sphinxify(doc):
         with TemporaryDirectory() as dirname:
             return {
                 'text/html': sphx.sphinxify(doc, dirname),
                 'text/plain': doc
             }
 except ImportError:
-    docformat = None
+    sphinxify = None
 
 #-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Globals
@@ -278,6 +277,16 b' class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable):'
     display_formatter = Instance(DisplayFormatter, allow_none=True)
     displayhook_class = Type(DisplayHook)
     display_pub_class = Type(DisplayPublisher)
+    sphinxify_docstring = Bool(False, help=
+        """
+        Enables rich html representation of docstrings. (This requires the
+        docrepr module).
+        """).tag(config=True)
+    enable_html_pager = Bool(False, help=
+        """
+        (Provisional API) enables html representation in mime bundles sent
+        to pagers.
+        """).tag(config=True)
     data_pub_class = None
 
     exit_now = Bool(False)
@@ -1537,15 +1546,20 b' class InteractiveShell(SingletonConfigurable):'
     def _inspect(self, meth, oname, namespaces=None, **kw):
         """Generic interface to the inspector system.
 
-        This function is meant to be called by pdef, pdoc & friends."""
+        This function is meant to be called by pdef, pdoc & friends.
+        """
         info = self._object_find(oname, namespaces)
+        docformat = sphinxify if self.sphinxify_docstring else None
         if info.found:
             pmethod = getattr(self.inspector, meth)
+            # TODO: only apply format_screen to the plain/text repr of the mime
+            # bundle.
             formatter = format_screen if info.ismagic else docformat
             if meth == 'pdoc':
                 pmethod(info.obj, oname, formatter)
             elif meth == 'pinfo':
-                pmethod(info.obj, oname, formatter, info, **kw)
+                pmethod(info.obj, oname, formatter, info, 
+                        enable_html_pager=self.enable_html_pager, **kw)
             else:
                 pmethod(info.obj, oname)
         else:

IPython/core/oinspect.py

@@ -672,7 +672,7 b' class Inspector(Colorable):'
 
         return mime
 
-    def pinfo(self, obj, oname='', formatter=None, info=None, detail_level=0):
+    def pinfo(self, obj, oname='', formatter=None, info=None, detail_level=0, enable_html_pager=True):
         """Show detailed information about an object.
 
         Optional arguments:
@@ -695,7 +695,8 b' class Inspector(Colorable):'
         - detail_level: if set to 1, more information is given.
         """
         info = self._get_info(obj, oname, formatter, info, detail_level)
-        if info:
+        if not enable_html_pager:
+            del info['text/html']
             page.page(info)
 
     def info(self, obj, oname='', formatter=None, info=None, detail_level=0):