From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: karl@freefriends.org (Karl Berry) Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: terminal escapes in Info files? Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:20:55 -0500 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <200310261220.h9QCKsb15110@f7.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1067171034 8607 80.91.224.253 (26 Oct 2003 12:23:54 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 26 Oct 2003 12:23:54 +0000 (UTC) Cc: dirt@gtk.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Sun Oct 26 13:23:52 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ADjw0-00041m-00 for ; Sun, 26 Oct 2003 13:23:52 +0100 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ADjvz-0002SK-00 for ; Sun, 26 Oct 2003 13:23:51 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1ADjva-0008Hc-MK for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:23:26 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1ADjuF-0008Dv-OE for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:22:03 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1ADjtA-0007c4-RT for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:21:27 -0500 Original-Received: from [209.61.216.22] (helo=f7.net) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1ADjtA-0007bn-3r for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:20:56 -0500 Original-Received: (from karl@localhost) by f7.net (8.11.7-20030920/8.11.7) id h9QCKsb15110; Sun, 26 Oct 2003 07:20:55 -0500 Original-To: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs development discussions. List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:17436 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:17436 Dear Emacs developers, Alper Ersoy (GTK developer, cc'd here) suggested to me that we enhance Info format by allowing terminal escapes. For example, @strong{this is bold} in the Texinfo source could then end up getting displayed in standout mode. I can imagine two ways to implement this: 1) write ANSI terminal escape codes directly in the Info file. (Even on non-ANSI terminals, if there are any left, these could be translated to appropriate termcap sequence.) 2) use the mechanism we created for @image to write a generic command in the Info file, something like ^H^[display bold^H^]this is bold^H^[end display^H^] In either case, the escapes would only be enabled with an option to makeinfo for now, to provide for a phase-in period. So here are my questions: - what do you-all think of the idea in general? - is one of (1) or (2) significantly easier to implement in Emacs? (2) is already implemented in standalone Info, via the --raw-escapes option, but this is not a determining factor in my mind. I know that Emacs's terminal-mode will interpret terminal escapes, but I don't know how easily that (or any other such support) can be integrated into info read. - would anyone like to volunteer to implement this for Emacs :)? Neither Alper nor I can do it. We can handle the makeinfo/standalone info changes, of course. Thanks, karl P.S. Here are some references, FWIW: - A list of escapes: http://www.isthe.com/chongo/tech/comp/ansi_escapes.html - Documentation on using escapes in bash prompts: http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/Bash-Prompt-HOWTO/c341.html - ANSI support in various terminals: http://search.cpan.org/~rra/ANSIColor-1.07/ANSIColor.pm#NOTES