Re: Org mode and Emacs

[Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>]

Bastien Guerry <bzg@gnu.org> writes:

> Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> The term "as good as" may suggest, incorrectly, that this is a matter
>> of comparing the two formats over some sense of _quality_.  But that's
>> not what this is about.  The improvements I've proposed for Org format
>> are a matter of _supporting the range of necessary constructs_.
>
> I'm confident we can support the necessary constructs in Org.
>
>>   > Let's simply try to improve Org in general, and see if more GNU
>>   > maintainers want to use it as their native documentat format (the
>>   > example of Org's documentation shows it's already possible.)
>>
>> We need to be careful here.  What does the existence of Org mode
>> documentation written in Org format actually show -- given that the
>> format doesn't support all the constructs that are needed in general?
>>
>> It might show that the Org mode documentation doesn't make all the
>> textual distinctions properly -- that it fails to follow our style
>> guide.  If so, then it is "possible" but only with flawed output.
>
> If a .texi expert can report such flaws in the Org manual, we can then
> fix them and, if needed, implement the necessary constructs.

I don't know if this is of any use, but the initial manual for Compat
(https://elpa.gnu.org/packages/compat.html) was written using Org and
ox-texinfo and I later switched to writing .texi directly.  This commit
here documents the switch that includes a partial rewrite.

https://git.sr.ht/~pkal/compat/commit/dd48603a136881a5321de4419be95ea873496172

Some things here might be difficult to map, such as the proper usage of
reference macros or the different kinds of markup from (texinfo) Indicating.

>
>> But not necesarily.  Perhaps it shows that the Org mode documentation
>> needs only a limited subset of those constructs, and those are all
>> implemened in Ogr format.  If so, that could mean that Org format is
>> fine for the Org mode manual in prticular, but is not adequate for the
>> whole range of our documentation.
>
> I believe this is more plausible.
>
>> Either way, to make Org format adequate for that whole range of
>> constructs, in all the output formats, will require working
>> specifically towards that goal.
>
> Agreed, and this is what Org maintainers are working on.