Re: Running external info within Emacs

[Arash Esbati <arash@gnu.org>]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

> So inside Emacs, the only command that works is "info dir", and all
> the other "info FOO" commands, where FOO ≠ dir, fail?

I think I have a pointer: Eval'ing (getenv "INFOPATH") in scratch gives
(linebreaks added for legibility):

  C:\\msys64\\mingw64\\local\\info;
  C:\\msys64\\mingw64\\share\\info;
  C:\\msys64\\usr\\local\\info;
  C:\\msys64\\usr\\share\\info;
  C:\\msys64\\usr\\info;
  C:\\msys64\\share\\info;
  C:\\texlive\\2023\\texmf-dist\\doc\\info;
  C:\\emacs\\share\\info

Now I eval (async-shell-command "info -x 2 latex2e") for debug infos:

  info: inaccessible directory C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \msys64\mingw64\local\info;C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \msys64\mingw64\share\info;C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \msys64\usr\local\info;C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \msys64\usr\share\info;C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \msys64\usr\info;C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \msys64\share\info;C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \texlive\2023\texmf-dist\doc\info;C not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory \emacs\share\info not added to INFOPATH
  info: adding /usr/share/info to INFOPATH
  info: found file /usr/share/info/dir
  info: looking for file "latex2e"
  info: looking for file latex2e in /usr/share/info
  info: closing -
  info: No menu item 'latex2e' in node '(dir)Top'

info seems to see the Windows style paths and chokes.  If I change
"INFOPATH" to unix style and run the command like this:

  (with-environment-variables (("INFOPATH"
                                "\
  /C/msys64/mingw64/local/info:\
  /C/msys64/mingw64/share/info:\
  /C/msys64/usr/local/info:\
  /C/msys64/usr/share/info:\
  /C/msys64/usr/info:\
  /C/msys64/share/info:\
  /C/texlive/2023/texmf-dist/doc/info:\
  /C/emacs/share/info"))
    (async-shell-command "info -x 2 latex2e"))

I get:

  info: inaccessible directory /C/msys64/mingw64/local/info not added to INFOPATH
  info: adding /C/msys64/mingw64/share/info to INFOPATH
  info: adding /C/msys64/usr/local/info to INFOPATH
  info: adding /C/msys64/usr/share/info to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory /C/msys64/usr/info not added to INFOPATH
  info: inaccessible directory /C/msys64/share/info not added to INFOPATH
  info: adding /C/texlive/2023/texmf-dist/doc/info to INFOPATH
  info: adding /C/emacs/share/info to INFOPATH
  info: duplicate directory /usr/share/info not added to INFOPATH
  info: found file /C/msys64/usr/share/info/dir
  info: found file /C/texlive/2023/texmf-dist/doc/info/dir
  info: found file /C/emacs/share/info/dir
  info: looking for file "latex2e"
  info: looking for file latex2e in /C/msys64/mingw64/share/info
  info: looking for file latex2e in /C/msys64/usr/local/info
  info: looking for file latex2e in /C/msys64/usr/share/info
  info: looking for file latex2e in /C/texlive/2023/texmf-dist/doc/info
  info: found file /C/texlive/2023/texmf-dist/doc/info/latex2e.info
  info: writing node (latex2e.info)Top...
  info: writing node (latex2e.info)About this document...
  [...]
  File: latex2e.info,  Node: Top,  Next: About this document,  Up: (dir)

and it works.  So your first idea about "INFOPATH transformation several
times" was correct.  Is there a fix for this?  WDYT?  I can of course
(setenv "INFOPATH" "...") in my init file, but that's not my first
choice.

Best, Arash