bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

[Richard Stanton]

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This bug report will be sent to the Bug-GNU-Emacs mailing list
and the GNU bug tracker at debbugs.gnu.org.  Please check that
the From: line contains a valid email address.  After a delay of up
to one day, you should receive an acknowledgement at that address.

Please write in English if possible, as the Emacs maintainers
usually do not have translators for other languages.

Please describe exactly what actions triggered the bug, and
the precise symptoms of the bug.  If you can, give a recipe
starting from `emacs -Q':

My dir file for info-mode (the default file that came with Emacs) starts
(ignoring the header material):

* Menu:

* Info: (info).                 How to use the documentation browsing system.

Emacs
* Emacs: (emacs).               The extensible self-documenting text editor.
* Emacs FAQ: (efaq).            Frequently Asked Questions about Emacs.

GNU Emacs Lisp
* Emacs Lisp Intro: (eintr).    A simple introduction to Emacs Lisp programming.
* Elisp: (elisp).               The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.

[...]

When I execute C-h I in Emacs (started with no init.el file), the *info* buffer pops up OK, but starts like
this:

* Menu:

* Info: (info).                 How to use the documentation browsing system.

Emacs
* Emacs                         The extensible self-documenting text editor.
* Emacs FAQ                     Frequently Asked Questions about Emacs.
* Emacs Lisp Intro              A simple introduction to Emacs Lisp programming.
* Elisp                         The Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.

[...]

Apart from the first "Emacs" heading, all subsequent headings do not appear in
the *Info* buffer, even though they're all present in the dir file.


If Emacs crashed, and you have the Emacs process in the gdb debugger,
please include the output from the following gdb commands:
    `bt full' and `xbacktrace'.
For information about debugging Emacs, please read the file
c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/etc/DEBUG.


In GNU Emacs 24.0.94.1 (i386-mingw-nt6.0.6002)
of 2012-02-26 on MARVIN
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 6.0.6002
Configured using:
`configure --with-gcc (4.6) --no-opt --enable-checking --cflags
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.8/include
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libXpm-3.5.8/src
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/libpng-dev_1.4.3-1/include
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/zlib-dev_1.2.5-2/include
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/giflib-4.1.4-1/include
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/jpeg-6b-4/include
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/tiff-3.8.2-1/include
-ID:/devel/emacs/libs/gnutls-3.0.9/include'

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: ENU
  value of $XMODIFIERS: nil
  locale-coding-system: cp1252
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Message

Minor modes in effect:
  mml-mode: t
  tooltip-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  tool-bar-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  file-name-shadow-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  blink-cursor-mode: t
  auto-composition-mode: t
  auto-encryption-mode: t
  auto-compression-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t
  transient-mark-mode: t
  abbrev-mode: t

Recent input:
d e SPC s t a r t s : <return> <return> C-x o C-x o
<up> <up> M-f M-f M-f M-f M-f M-f C-a M-f M-f M-f M-f
M-f M-f SPC ( t h e SPC d e f a u l t SPC f i l e SPC
t h a t SPC c a m e SPC w i t h SPC E m a c s ) <down>
<return> C-x o C-x b d SPC <return> <down> <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <up> <up> <up> C-@ <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<down> M-w C-x o C-y C-x C-x <up> <up> <up> <up> <up>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<up> <up> <up> <up> <left> <backspace> <backspace>
SPC ( i g n o r i n g SPC t h e SPC h e a d e r SPC
m a t e r i a l ) : <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<up> <up> <up> <up> <return> C-y C-x C-x <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<down> <return> [ . . . ] <return> <return> T h e n
<backspace> <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> W h
e SPC n <backspace> <backspace> n SPC I SPC e x e c
u t e SPC C-a <C-end> C-x C-x <right> C-e <backspace>
C-y <C-home> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <up> <up>
<up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <up> <down> C-@ <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
<down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down> <down>
M-w M-x r e p o r t - e m a SPC b u SPC <return>

Recent messages:
Checking 65 files in c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/lisp/obsolete...
Checking 2 files in c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/leim...
Checking for load-path shadows...done
Mark set
Saved text from "* Menu:

* Info: (info).                "
Mark set [2 times]
Auto-saving...done
Mark set [4 times]

Load-path shadows:
c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/site-lisp/dvc/lisp/ewoc hides c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/site-lisp/dvc/lisp/contrib/ewoc
c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/site-lisp/org-mode/.dir-locals hides c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/lisp/gnus/.dir-locals
c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/site-lisp/dvc/lisp/ewoc hides c:/emacs/emacs-24.0.94/lisp/emacs-lisp/ewoc

Features:
(newcomment shadow sort gnus-util mail-extr emacsbug message format-spec
rfc822 mml mml-sec mm-decode mm-bodies mm-encode mail-parse rfc2231
mailabbrev gmm-utils mailheader sendmail regexp-opt rfc2047 rfc2045
ietf-drums mm-util mail-prsvr mail-utils help-mode view info easymenu
preview-latex tex-site auto-loads time-date tooltip ediff-hook vc-hooks
lisp-float-type mwheel dos-w32 disp-table ls-lisp w32-win w32-vars
tool-bar dnd fontset image fringe lisp-mode register page menu-bar
rfn-eshadow timer select scroll-bar mouse jit-lock font-lock syntax
facemenu font-core frame cham georgian utf-8-lang misc-lang vietnamese
tibetan thai tai-viet lao korean japanese hebrew greek romanian slovak
czech european ethiopic indian cyrillic chinese case-table epa-hook
jka-cmpr-hook help simple abbrev minibuffer loaddefs button faces
cus-face files text-properties overlay sha1 md5 base64 format env
code-pages mule custom widget hashtable-print-readable backquote
make-network-process multi-tty emacs)

--

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bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

[Glenn Morris]

Richard Stanton wrote:

> Apart from the first "Emacs" heading, all subsequent headings do not
> appear in the *Info* buffer, even though they're all present in the
> dir file.

I believe you are seeing the effect of Info-streamline-headings.
Set it to nil if you prefer.

bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

[Drew Adams]

> > Apart from the first "Emacs" heading, all subsequent headings do not
> > appear in the *Info* buffer, even though they're all present in the
> > dir file.
> 
> I believe you are seeing the effect of Info-streamline-headings.
> Set it to nil if you prefer.

Interesting.  I see two bugs here:

1. This change should be mentioned in the NEWS.

2. `Info-streamline-headings' should be a user option, not a defvar.

bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

[Stefan Kangas]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> > Apart from the first "Emacs" heading, all subsequent headings do not
>> > appear in the *Info* buffer, even though they're all present in the
>> > dir file.
>>
>> I believe you are seeing the effect of Info-streamline-headings.
>> Set it to nil if you prefer.
>
> Interesting.  I see two bugs here:
>
> 1. This change should be mentioned in the NEWS.

8 years later, I guess it's a bit late for that.

> 2. `Info-streamline-headings' should be a user option, not a defvar.

I'm not sure that this is something that people will commonly want to
customize.

bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

[Drew Adams]

> > 2. `Info-streamline-headings' should be a user option, not a defvar.
> 
> I'm not sure that this is something that people will commonly want to
> customize.

Why not?  (And why must an option be something that's
_commonly_ modified by users?)

In this bug report you have a user asking about the
format/content of Info, with no way to find out about
what's happening, without filing a bug.

`Info-streamline-headings' isn't covered in any manual,
AFAICT.

Maybe this variable isn't intended for users.  Dunno.
But at least we've heard from one user asking about
the its _effect_.

bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

[Stefan Kangas]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> > 2. `Info-streamline-headings' should be a user option, not a defvar.
>>
>> I'm not sure that this is something that people will commonly want to
>> customize.
>
> Why not?  (And why must an option be something that's
> _commonly_ modified by users?)

I just don't think it's all that useful.

> In this bug report you have a user asking about the
> format/content of Info, with no way to find out about
> what's happening, without filing a bug.

But that was because there had just been a change, many moons ago.
Right?  Or have we seen many questions since?

IMO, Info-streamline-headings is fine for what it's trying to do, which
AFAICT is mainly to consolidate all Emacs stuff under one heading.

But it seems to me that the GNU project/Info or whoever should rather
make sure that the organization of headlines makes sense.  It seems
pretty chaotic on my machine, and different projects seem to follow
various different conventions.  So I'd personally rather users filed bug
reports to the respective projects, or to makeinfo, or against the GNU
coding standards or something.

bug#11168: All headers but one missing in main *Info* buffer

[Stefan Kangas]

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:
>
>>> > 2. `Info-streamline-headings' should be a user option, not a defvar.
>>>
>>> I'm not sure that this is something that people will commonly want to
>>> customize.
>>
>> Why not?  (And why must an option be something that's
>> _commonly_ modified by users?)
>
> I just don't think it's all that useful.
>
>> In this bug report you have a user asking about the
>> format/content of Info, with no way to find out about
>> what's happening, without filing a bug.
>
> But that was because there had just been a change, many moons ago.
> Right?  Or have we seen many questions since?
>
> IMO, Info-streamline-headings is fine for what it's trying to do, which
> AFAICT is mainly to consolidate all Emacs stuff under one heading.
>
> But it seems to me that the GNU project/Info or whoever should rather
> make sure that the organization of headlines makes sense.  It seems
> pretty chaotic on my machine, and different projects seem to follow
> various different conventions.  So I'd personally rather users filed bug
> reports to the respective projects, or to makeinfo, or against the GNU
> coding standards or something.

No further comments within 4 weeks, so I'm closing this bug.