@itemize @asis seems to work in HTML and info mode only, not in TeX mode.
How to reproduce (with texinfo-7.1): $ git clone git://git.savannah.gnu.org/gnulib.git $ cd gnulib $ git checkout f52d4a7b78be73060cf01640b40ebc88193c12e8 $ cd doc $ make pdf ... /tmp/gnulib/doc/gnulib-tool.texi:472: Argument of @asis has an extra }. <inserted text> @par <to be read again> } @doitemize ...1}@setbox 0 = @hbox {@itemcontents } @ifx @itemcontents @empty ... l.472 @itemize @asis ? /tmp/gnulib/doc/gnulib-tool.texi:472: Emergency stop. <inserted text> @par <to be read again> } @doitemize ...1}@setbox 0 = @hbox {@itemcontents } @ifx @itemcontents @empty ... l.472 @itemize @asis /tmp/gnulib/doc/gnulib-tool.texi:472: ==> Fatal error occurred, no output PDF file produced! Transcript written on gnulib.log. /arch/x86_64-linux-gnu/gnu-inst-texinfo/7.1/bin/texi2dvi: pdfetex exited with bad status, quitting. make: *** [Makefile:34: gnulib.pdf] Error 1 Here are four good reasons for supporting @itemize @asis: * @table @asis is supported, see [1] "You may use the @asis command as an argument to @table. @asis is a command that does nothing: ..." * In HTML and info modes, 'makeinfo' does not produce an error for @itemize @asis. * Several packages use @itemize @asis in their documentation: [2] * The workaround, which is to use @w{} instead of @asis, is hard to find [3]. Bruno [1] https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/_0040table.html [2] https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=%40itemize+%40asis&literal=1 [3] https://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=emacs.git;a=commitdiff;h=49ffdce87c1a2502af6f6459d1ecf10fe0104530