accessing own info files

accessing own info files

[Michael Below]

Hi,

I want to use some info files I installed locally in ~/elisp/info

So far, I have set
INFOPATH=/usr/info/:/usr/share/info/:/usr/share/info/emacs-21/
        :/home/mbelow/elisp/info/

As far as I understand the Info documentation, the info mode merges
info files from all those directories into the top menu. But it
doesn't happen... As a next step, I tried making a "dir" file of my
own in /home/mbelow/elisp/info , because I thought maybe those dir
files are being merged. This changed the behaviour of info, but not as
intended: I keep getting 

Search Failed: "
^_"

whenever I call info.

Also I have tried to run "info -f elisp/info/dir", that tells me:
info: Cannot find node `Top'.

Below is my dir file, any ideas?

Ciao
  Michael

snip----

^_
File: dir	Node: Top

* Menu: Meine persönlichen Info-Dateien

Emacs-Erweiterungen für LaTeX
* auctex-mode:: Der major mode für LaTeX-Dateien
* bibtex-mode:: Der major mode für bibtex-Dateien
* preview-latex:: Voransicht von LaTeX-Elementen im Emacs-Buffer

Oort Gnus
* gnus:: Die Gnus-Doku an sich
* emacs-mime:: MIME-Support für Gnus
* message:: Der Modus zum Schreiben von Mail und News
* pgg:: Keine Ahnung
* sieve:: Ein Spamfilter


snip----
-- 
Der hohe Anteil an Dienstreisen fällt auf.
			Niklas Luhmann, Die Weltgesellschaft, ARSP 1971, 8

Re: accessing own info files

[Benjamin Riefenstahl]

Hi Michael,


Michael Below <mbelow@antithese.de> writes:
> [...] because I thought maybe those dir files are being
> merged. [...]

That's right.

> This changed the behaviour of info, but not as intended: I keep
> getting
> 
> Search Failed: "
> ^_"
> 
> whenever I call info.

The easiest (for me) is just to create "dir" files from a command-line
with install-info:

  $ install-info /usr/info/as.info /tmp/dir

on my machine will create a dir file in /tmp with a link to the GNU
assembler.

The command install-info is documented in the texinfo documentation in
the node (texinfo)Invoking install-info.


Hope this helps, benny

Re: accessing own info files

[Galen Boyer]

On Sun, 12 Jan 2003, mbelow@antithese.de wrote:

> I want to use some info files I installed locally in ~/elisp/info
>
> INFOPATH=/usr/info/:/usr/share/info/:/usr/share/info/emacs-21/
>         :/home/mbelow/elisp/info/
> 
> As far as I understand the Info documentation, the info mode merges
> info files from all those directories into the top menu.

Try

(add-to-list 'Info-directory-list "~/elisp/info")
-- 
Galen deForest Boyer
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.

Re: accessing own info files

[Michael Below]

Benjamin Riefenstahl <Benjamin.Riefenstahl@epost.de> writes:

> The easiest (for me) is just to create "dir" files from a command-line
> with install-info:
>
>   $ install-info /usr/info/as.info /tmp/dir
>
> on my machine will create a dir file in /tmp with a link to the GNU
> assembler.
>
> The command install-info is documented in the texinfo documentation in
> the node (texinfo)Invoking install-info.

Hmmm... I am a Debian user, which is generally a good thing, but in
this case it makes things less easy: Debian has got an own version of
install-info, coming with dpkg.

Now I tried:
~ $/usr/sbin/install-info --infodir=temp elisp/info/gnus
* Gnus: (gnus).            The newsreader Gnus.
install-info: failed to lock dir for editing! Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
~ $/usr/sbin/install-info --infodir=/home/mbelow/temp elisp/info/gnus
* Gnus: (gnus).            The newsreader Gnus.
install-info: failed to lock dir for editing! Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
~ $touch temp/dir
~ $/usr/sbin/install-info --infodir=/home/mbelow/temp elisp/info/gnus
* Gnus: (gnus).            The newsreader Gnus.


(Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden means "file or directory not
found" in english)... I made a "dir" file using touch, and now
install-info did run for minutes with very high load, it looks like it
expected something else from the dir file. Adding an entry to my
experimental dir file worked smoothly, but it didn't make it more
readable for info...

Should I file a bug report against the Debian install-info? Should I
reinstall texinfo from sources? Or is there an easier solution?

Michael
-- 
Der hohe Anteil an Dienstreisen fällt auf.
			Niklas Luhmann, Die Weltgesellschaft, ARSP 1971, 8

Re: accessing own info files

[Kai Großjohann]

Michael Below <mbelow@antithese.de> writes:

> (Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden means "file or directory not
> found" in english)... I made a "dir" file using touch, and now
> install-info did run for minutes with very high load, it looks like it
> expected something else from the dir file.

Yes.  Copy an existing dir file and delete the menu entries in it.
Debian's install-info expects a dir file containing the correct
template.

I really hate the fact that there are two versions of install-info.
-- 
Ambibibentists unite!

solution for accessing own info files

[Michael Below]

Michael Below <mbelow@antithese.de> writes:
> As a next step, I tried making a "dir" file of my
> own in /home/mbelow/elisp/info , because I thought maybe those dir
> files are being merged. This changed the behaviour of info, but not as
> intended: I keep getting 
>
> Search Failed: "
> ^_"

I found it (thanks to less): I had inserted the two characters caret
and underscore, but that's not what is meant by "^_" in the info
documentation, it has to be the single character I would describe as
C-_ in emacs notation.  Using vim, I was able to insert that
character, and now everything is working as I wanted it to be...

Ciao
  Michael
-- 
_Agricultural activity_ is the management by an enterprise of the
biological transformation of biological assets for sale, into
agricultural produce, or into additional biological assets.  IAS 41,5

Re: accessing own info files

[Benjamin Riefenstahl]

Hi Michael,

Michael Below <mbelow@antithese.de> writes:
> Should I file a bug report against the Debian install-info?

Yes, if I were a debian user, I would do that.  If they have reason to
provide an alternative, incompatible program for installing info
files, they should use a different name for it.

so long, benny

Re: accessing own info files

[Kai Großjohann]

Benjamin Riefenstahl <Benjamin.Riefenstahl@epost.de> writes:

> Yes, if I were a debian user, I would do that.  If they have reason to
> provide an alternative, incompatible program for installing info
> files, they should use a different name for it.

Well, Debian was there first.  So actually, GNU should have used
another name.

I guess the best we can hope for is for the two implementations to
provide similar features, so that they can be used interchangeably.
My current pet peeve with the Debian version is that it doesn't
create dir files automatically.  Anyone care to ask them to add that
feature?

It's difficult to convince the Debian maintainers that there is
another info directory besides /usr/share/info, and that the whole
world does not consist of Debian packages.
-- 
Ambibibentists unite!

Re: accessing own info files

[Peter S Galbraith]

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Kai Großjohann <kai.grossjohann@uni-duisburg.de> wrote:

> Benjamin Riefenstahl <Benjamin.Riefenstahl@epost.de> writes:
> 
> > Yes, if I were a debian user, I would do that.  If they have reason to
> > provide an alternative, incompatible program for installing info
> > files, they should use a different name for it.
> 
> Well, Debian was there first.  So actually, GNU should have used
> another name.
> 
> I guess the best we can hope for is for the two implementations to
> provide similar features, so that they can be used interchangeably.
> My current pet peeve with the Debian version is that it doesn't
> create dir files automatically.  Anyone care to ask them to add that
> feature?
> 
> It's difficult to convince the Debian maintainers that there is
> another info directory besides /usr/share/info, and that the whole
> world does not consist of Debian packages.

There's an old bug report here about compatibility here:

 http://bugs.debian.org/67237

Perhaps providing a patch would help things along.

Peter

Re: accessing own info files

[Benjamin Riefenstahl]

> Benjamin Riefenstahl <Benjamin.Riefenstahl@epost.de> writes:
> > Yes, if I were a debian user, I would do that.  If they have
> > reason to provide an alternative, incompatible program for
> > installing info files, they should use a different name for it.

kai.grossjohann@uni-duisburg.de (Kai Großjohann) writes:
> Well, Debian was there first.  So actually, GNU should have used
> another name.

Ah, I didn't know that.  And yes, I agree.

IOW a bug-report to the texinfo maintainer would be in order.  Of
course a solution would also be to agree on a common implementation
;-).

Re: accessing own info files

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   > Well, Debian was there first.  So actually, GNU should have used
   > another name.

   Ah, I didn't know that.  And yes, I agree.

The GNU version is far more wide spread than the Debian version, it
would be easier to fix Debian's version since people using Debian are
the only party that is affected by the version havoc (switches that
are non-existant in the Debian version of install-info for example,
but exist in the GNU version).

What is the reason why Debian needs to keep a less "complete" version
of install-info anyway (I don't care who was there first)?

Re: accessing own info files

[Kai Großjohann]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@kemisten.nu> writes:

> What is the reason why Debian needs to keep a less "complete" version
> of install-info anyway (I don't care who was there first)?

How about you bring up that subject with them?  I don't want them to
kick my ass once again ;-)

-- 
Ambibibentists unite!

Re: accessing own info files

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   How about you bring up that subject with them?  I don't want them
   to kick my ass once again ;-)

I think that if a Debian Developer would bring up the subject they
would be more likley to change their version.  But if no DD wants to
get his/hers ass kicked, then I guess I could sacrafice mine.

What lists would be suggested to get ones ass kicked? bug-texinfo and
debian-devel?

Re: accessing own info files

[Michael Below]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@kemisten.nu> writes:
> What is the reason why Debian needs to keep a less "complete" version
> of install-info anyway (I don't care who was there first)?

In Debian, install-info comes with the package management tools, not
with texinfo. It is a tool for automated installation of documentation
for the installed packages. So probably the developers decided to
leave out everything not needed for this task, to keep the package
management tools lean.

Michael
-- 
_Agricultural activity_ is the management by an enterprise of the
biological transformation of biological assets for sale, into
agricultural produce, or into additional biological assets.  IAS 41,5

Re: accessing own info files

[Kai Großjohann]

"Alfred M. Szmidt" <ams@kemisten.nu> writes:

> What lists would be suggested to get ones ass kicked? bug-texinfo and
> debian-devel?

I submitted a bug report against the dpkg package ("dpkg -S
install-info" says that this is the right package).  I think.  I
might also have sent a message to debian-devel, I can't remember.

Not sure whether that was right.
-- 
Ambibibentists unite!

Re: accessing own info files

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   > What is the reason why Debian needs to keep a less "complete"
   > version of install-info anyway (I don't care who was there
   > first)?

   It is a tool for automated installation of documentation for the
   installed packages.

And the GNU version of install-info is what exactly? The automated
writting of documentation for installed packages? :-) Seriously, I do
not see any difference between GNU's version and Debian's version,
they both install/remove entries from $(infodir)/dir, only that they
do it a bit differently code wise, and option wise.

You give no reason on why Debian needs to keep a less featured version
of install-info that is also incompatible with GNU install-info, which
also is more widly used.  Also, it is GNU texinfo that decides what
the dir file should look like, thus GNU's install-info is the
"upstream" version anyway.

Re: accessing own info files

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   > What lists would be suggested to get ones ass kicked? bug-texinfo and
   > debian-devel?

   I submitted a bug report against the dpkg package ("dpkg -S
   install-info" says that this is the right package).  I think.  I
   might also have sent a message to debian-devel, I can't remember.

I'll try to do the same when I have finished a couple of my projects,
which should take about a week or so.  So if someone else can do it a
bit faster, by all means do it!  And I can spare my ass for another
time.