From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Luc Teirlinck Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Changes to Texinfo DTD Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2003 20:54:45 -0600 (CST) Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <200312040254.hB42sjq25857@raven.dms.auburn.edu> References: <8765heixvu.fsf@kanga.tapsellferrier.co.uk> <87ptfkdqss.fsf@kanga.tapsellferrier.co.uk> <20031122214251.GA14680@fencepost> <874qwuqjzw.fsf@mail.jurta.org> <200311241619.hAOGJ6W27027@raven.dms.auburn.edu> <200312030147.hB31lUh20316@raven.dms.auburn.edu> <2914-Wed03Dec2003181809+0200-eliz@elta.co.il> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1070506914 17163 80.91.224.253 (4 Dec 2003 03:01:54 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 4 Dec 2003 03:01:54 +0000 (UTC) Cc: juri@jurta.org, epameinondas@gmx.de, nferrier@tapsellferrier.co.uk, bob@rattlesnake.com, emacs-devel@gnu.org, karl@freefriends.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Thu Dec 04 04:01:51 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 1ARjkV-0004qG-00 for ; Thu, 04 Dec 2003 04:01:51 +0100 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ARjkU-0000gk-00 for ; Thu, 04 Dec 2003 04:01:51 +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 1ARkhn-00009G-3Y for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2003 23:03:07 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1ARkhe-00008s-SZ for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2003 23:02:58 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1ARkhP-0008UC-2z for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2003 23:02:57 -0500 Original-Received: from [131.204.53.104] (helo=manatee.dms.auburn.edu) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1ARkhO-0008Tw-KY for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Dec 2003 23:02:42 -0500 Original-Received: from raven.dms.auburn.edu (raven.dms.auburn.edu [131.204.53.29]) by manatee.dms.auburn.edu (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id hB431FKk017019; Wed, 3 Dec 2003 21:01:15 -0600 (CST) Original-Received: (from teirllm@localhost) by raven.dms.auburn.edu (8.11.6+Sun/8.11.6) id hB42sjq25857; Wed, 3 Dec 2003 20:54:45 -0600 (CST) X-Authentication-Warning: raven.dms.auburn.edu: teirllm set sender to teirllm@dms.auburn.edu using -f Original-To: eliz@elta.co.il In-reply-to: <2914-Wed03Dec2003181809+0200-eliz@elta.co.il> 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:18347 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:18347 Does anybody have any idea where we stand now with this thread and its various relatives? Is the following a reasonable summary? 1. The Info format is "here to stay". It is intended for readers with minimal capabilities and it is important that people can access documentation via these readers. 2. Emacs is not a reader with minimal capabilities. It could use XML to make Emacs info look as pretty as it can be, without paying a price in terms of functionality. 3. Oliver Scholz has a patch to allow the standalone reader to convert XML to Info format "on the fly", so people would only need to have the XML files installed to use both Emacs Info and standalone Info. Oliver's patch would add some "color" to standalone Info. (Unless these colors would be very customizable, or maybe even if they are, please provide a command line option to disable this. Not everybody can read yellow on white, cyan on white or red on black.) 4. Oliver is not volunteering to rewrite info.el to be able to use XML himself, although he has offered help, as explained in his earlier message. (I do not know XML and am not volunteering either.) Would there be anybody feeling comfortable with this, assuming this is really what we wanted to do? 5. Emacs will still need to be able to handle .info files, if no XML file is available, but certainly if we produce XML files from the .texi files, that case becomes marginal enough that we should not waste a lot of energy trying to do the impossible by attempting to present .info files in "nicer" ways than theoretically possible. Sincerely, Luc.