> Date: Sun, 12 Nov 2000 01:32:43 -0600 > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > As I explained in another message, yes, an xref in the info > file of a non default info file may well lead to the default version > of the target. A correct solution of course would be to make the info > document system version aware
Practical suggestions for this version-awareness are welcome. One solution I have in mind is some way for the user to tell an Info reader explicitly what version of a certain file to fetch, via some variable or command. This, in addition to putting Info files in version-specific directories, should solve all the possible cases which were raised in this thread, including installation of Gnus on top of a version that came with the latest Emacs distro. > Stand alone viewers are not as easy; (I am averse to the > solution of writing wrapper scripts for each stand alone info viewer > that reorder the info path (info-e20, info-e21, etc)). I don't see where stand-alone readers don't fit into this scheme. Could you point out the problems with stand-alone readers you have in mind? > We'll be happy to listen to a solution for the remainder of > the cases; however, I do believe this is not something to be handled > at the packaging level; but it is a design issue with texinfo system > as a whole. I don't think packaging should solve these problems. I started this thread with the intent to learn about problems and their possible solutions based on Debian experience. I never meant to say that the Debian packaging should have solved those problems, or that Debian are responsible for them. The only complaint I have about the specific (and the only) Debian system which I sometimes use on fencepost.gnu.org is that C-h C-f is broken there. I understand the reasons for post-processing Info files, but unfortunately it breaks features which work in a simple single-version installation for the sake of allowing multiple versions for which I personally have no use. (I'd imagine that fencepost.gnu.org is one machine where there should always be the latest Emacs, and it alone ;-) > the info system is trying to be a document management > system for program documentation; perhaps it should borrow some > versioning concepts from formal SGML document management systems? Could you please elaborate on those concepts, and on how do they pertain to Texinfo? > Incidentally, what is supposed to be the general solution, ie, > for non Debian systems? How are multiple versions of programs > providing documentation in info formats handled? They aren't; Info does not currently support different versions of the same manual on the same machine. I started this discussion in the hope that we could arrive at possible solutions, or directions to solutions. (Karl Berry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> is the GNU Texinfo maintainer, in case you didn't know.)
