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Re: make: node "automatic variables" in manual has wrong name
From: |
Francesco Potorti` |
Subject: |
Re: make: node "automatic variables" in manual has wrong name |
Date: |
Fri, 04 Oct 2002 20:27:59 +0200 |
> fp> File: make.info, Node: Automatic, Next: Pattern Match, Prev: Pattern
> Examples, Up: Pattern Rules
>
> fp> Automatic Variables
> fp> -------------------
>
> fp> As you can see, the title of the node is "Automatic Variables",
> fp> which is correct, but the node name is "Automatic", which is
> fp> wrong: it should be "Automatic Variables" as well.
>
> There's no requirement in Texinfo, or in the GNU standards that I'm
> aware of, that the node name and the title of the
> chapter/section/etc. be identical.
It may be normal, but in this case it does not make sense, IMO.
Whenever I look for automatic variables in the make manual, and this
happens a couple times a year, enough for me to forget about the issue,
I stumble upon this problem.
I hit `g' from the Emacs info reader, then try completion starting with
`variab' and find two entries that clearly do not matter. Next I try
`auto' and get two completions: `Automatic' and `Automatic
prerequisites'. The first completion (which IMO should be `Automatic
vriables' instead) is the right one, but I come to find it after still
more research.
In summary, naming the node `Automatic' is not helpful nor significant,
while naming it `Automatic variables' is helpful, significant, and IMO
very natural.
There is one more reason why I think this is a bug (an oversight on the
part of the authors of the Make manual). In the node that is the parent
of the `Automatic' node, this is the menu:
================
* Menu:
* Pattern Intro:: An introduction to pattern rules.
* Pattern Examples:: Examples of pattern rules.
* Automatic:: How to use automatic variables in the
commands of implicit rules.
* Pattern Match:: How patterns match.
* Match-Anything Rules:: Precautions you should take prior to
defining rules that can match any
target file whatever.
* Canceling Rules:: How to override or cancel built-in rules.
================
I'd say that the `Automatic' menu entry stands out for its lack of
meaning.