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Re: calling `info autoconf'


From: Eli Zaretskii
Subject: Re: calling `info autoconf'
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2001 14:48:20 +0200 (IST)

On Tue, 25 Sep 2001, Werner LEMBERG wrote:

> > Werner> If I say `info autoconf' (autoconf 2.52, info 4.0c), I reach
> > Werner> the node `autoconf Invocation' instead of the top node.  This
> > Werner> is irritating.  I suggest to rename this node to `Invocation
> > Werner> of autoconf' or something else to avoid this.
> > 
> > That won't change anything, it is the info reader which does that, not
> > us.  It knows those special names.
> 
> Hmm, I've CCed this to the bug-texinfo list...  Can someone explain
> this?

Yes: it's a feature ;-)

Seriously, though: "info autoconf" tells the Info reader to go to the DIR 
node and find there a menu item which begins with "autoconf".  I'm 
guessing that when you install Autoconf, the "make install" procedure 
invokes the install-info program which adds the following menu item to 
DIR's menu:

* autoconf: (autoconf)autoconf Invocation.

(The ``guessing'' part is limited to the exact wording of the menu item; 
all the rest is a fact.)

This menu entry is what causes Info to land you in the Invocation node of 
the Autoconf manual.

If you look in your DIR file (normally, /usr/local/info/DIR), you will 
see that this is not limited to Autoconf: many more packages put menu 
items there which lead to the Invocation node, on the assumption that 
this is what users want in many (most?) cases.

The menu item which install-info installs in DIR is taken from the 
installed file's INFO-DIR-ENTRY section, which is produced from the 
@direntry directive in the Texinfo sources.  So, if the package 
maintainers want "info autoconf" to jump to the Top node instead, they 
can simply change @direntry to say this:

* autoconf: (autoconf).

Alternatively, you can edit your local DIR file and modify that menu 
entry directly as shown above.

As yet another possibility, invoke Info like this:

        info -f autoconf

The -f switch tells the Info reader to load the _file_ `autoconf', as 
opposed to what the _menu_entry_ `autoconf' points to.

Btw, I believe this is all explained in the info-stnd.info manual, the 
manual for the stand-alone reader.  Let me know if something there is 
unclear or needs to be updated.



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