bug#25781: Install misc documentation to /usr/share/doc/emacs-##

bug#25781: Install misc documentation to /usr/share/doc/emacs-##

[Glenn Morris]

Package: emacs
Version: 25.1
Severity: wishlist

The (file hierarchy) standard place for software to install
miscellaneous (non-Info, non-man) documentation, examples files, etc on
Unix systems is /usr/share/doc/package-version. In autoconf, this is the
standard variable docdir, eg /usr/share/doc/emacs-25.1 .

On both Red Hat and Debian systems, I have several thousand directories
in /usr/share/doc, but Emacs does not install anything there. IMO, much
of the stuff that Emacs installs in /usr/share/emacs/25.1/etc belongs in
/usr/share/doc/emacs-25.1. The exceptions would be any actual data files
that Emacs needs at runtime (eg ps-prin0.ps).

Motivation:
It's good to follow standards. Maybe Emacs predates the standard in
this case, but it seems past time to adapt. It will be a bit confusing
at first for those of us used to the old locations, but it will improve
discoverability for new users and sysadmins.


In practical terms, this could be done by a special install rule that
puts things from the existing etc/ source directory in the right place,
or a new directory (sadly doc/misc is already taken) could be added to
the source, and files moved there from etc/.

bug#25781: Install misc documentation to /usr/share/doc/emacs-##

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Date: Fri, 17 Feb 2017 22:24:24 -0500
> 
> The (file hierarchy) standard place for software to install
> miscellaneous (non-Info, non-man) documentation, examples files, etc on
> Unix systems is /usr/share/doc/package-version. In autoconf, this is the
> standard variable docdir, eg /usr/share/doc/emacs-25.1 .
> 
> On both Red Hat and Debian systems, I have several thousand directories
> in /usr/share/doc, but Emacs does not install anything there. IMO, much
> of the stuff that Emacs installs in /usr/share/emacs/25.1/etc belongs in
> /usr/share/doc/emacs-25.1. The exceptions would be any actual data files
> that Emacs needs at runtime (eg ps-prin0.ps).

I agree.  Can you propose a list of files that should be installed in
docdir?  If some of these files are accessed by Emacs features (e.g.,
NEWS), we will also have to change the corresponding code to access
them both in non-installed and installed Emacs.  (This is something
most, if not all, projects I built don't get right, btw.)

> In practical terms, this could be done by a special install rule that
> puts things from the existing etc/ source directory in the right place,
> or a new directory (sadly doc/misc is already taken) could be added to
> the source, and files moved there from etc/.

I'd prefer not to move files in the repository, as doing that runs
afoul of important Git features.

Thanks.