bug#60587: Patch for adding links to symbols' help documentation

[H. Dieter Wilhelm]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> I think a good place is to mention this feature in the "Misc Help"
> section.

Could you please check if below formulation is better fitting?

Unfortunately I also need to investigate the code anew.  Yesterday I
realised a regression starting with Emacs-29!  `Tab' and `S-Tab' aren't
working any longer for Info references.  (E.g. the `Tab' keybinding is
switched from `Info-next-reference' to `forward-button'..)

>From fa7c61466157a580b17d15f989e1b825ba4c860a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dieter Wilhelm <dieter@duenenhof-wilhelm.de>
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2023 22:25:54 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Documentation of Info providing buttons on quoted symbols
 (bug#60587)

*etc/NEWS: Mention implementation
*doc/emacs/help.texi: Describe implementation
---
 doc/emacs/help.texi |  9 +++++++++
 etc/NEWS            | 11 +++++++++++
 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+)

diff --git a/doc/emacs/help.texi b/doc/emacs/help.texi
index 2513e6be271..781b2bf1ab4 100644
--- a/doc/emacs/help.texi
+++ b/doc/emacs/help.texi
@@ -653,6 +653,15 @@ Misc Help
 K @var{key}}, described above, enter Info and go straight to the
 documentation of @var{function} or @var{key}.
 
+  The commands @kbd{C-h f} and @kbd{C-h v}, also described above
+(@xref{Name Help}), in an Info buffer can be replaced by @kbd{Ret} or
+@kbd{mouse-1} on quoted symbol names.  For example, the quoted name
+@code{info-other-window} is made into a button which shows the
+function's documentation string in another window in the @file{*Help*}
+buffer.  Such quoted symbols (variables, functions and face names) are
+highlighted by a distinct face and can be reached, as the Info
+references, with @kbd{Tab} and @kbd{S-Tab}.
+
 @kindex C-h S
 @findex info-lookup-symbol
   When editing a program, if you have an Info version of the manual
diff --git a/etc/NEWS b/etc/NEWS
index fc8a3ac66a0..f9ea0084cb5 100644
--- a/etc/NEWS
+++ b/etc/NEWS
@@ -174,6 +174,17 @@ the new argument non-nil, it will use a new buffer instead.
 Interactively, invoke 'eww-open-file' with a prefix argument to
 activate this behavior.
 
+** Info
+
++++
+*** Info-mode provides buttons on symbols showing their documentation string.
+Quoted `symbols', like names of variables, functions or face names,
+are made into buttons which can display the respective documentation
+strings.  These strings are presented in *Help* buffers in another
+window.  Such buttons are working independently of the regular Info
+cross references and can be disabled with setting
+`info-make-xref-flag' to nil.
+
 
 * New Modes and Packages in Emacs 30.1
 
-- 
2.34.1

-- 
Best wishes
H. Dieter Wilhelm
Zwingenberg, Germany