Re: Documentation for "Clone Buffers" (corrected version)

[David Kastrup]

Alan Mackenzie <address@hidden> writes:

> [Re: My proposed patch to the Emacs manual, documenting the command
> `clone-buffer'.]
> 
> On Sat, 28 Feb 2004, Richard Stallman wrote:
> 
> [Alan Mackenzie:]
> >    I disagree.  I find clone-buffer exceptionally useful, as it is the
> >    only way I know of having two *info* buffers displaying different
> >    info files at the same time.
> 
> >The recommended method is to create one, do M-x rename-uniquely, then
> >switch to some other buffer and do M-x info again.  This works for all
> >sorts of special facilities.
> 
> Ah, right!  :-)  That's anything but user-friendly, though.  It's also
> difficult to work out from the documentation.  I couldn't find any hint
> of this procedure in the Info info pages, which is the first place I
> looked, a year or three ago.

Is the prefix argument of the following more user-friendly?

m runs the command Info-menu
   which is an interactive compiled Lisp function in `info'.
It is bound to m.
(Info-menu MENU-ITEM &optional FORK)

Go to the node pointed to by the menu item named (or abbreviated) MENU-ITEM.
The menu item should one of those listed in the current node's menu.
Completion is allowed, and the default menu item is the one point is on.
If FORK is non-nil (interactively with a prefix arg), show the node in
a new info buffer.  If FORK is a string, it is the name to use for the
new buffer.

[back]

Actually, it might be even more useful if the "d" command for going
to a new directory would also have this FORK functionality, since
_that_ is the point where one usually wants to start a new info
path.  And while we are at it, "t" could also make use of a FORK
prefix.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum