Re: pxref in texinfo export

[Jonathan Leech-Pepin <jonathan.leechpepin@gmail.com>]

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(Here are the attached files, forgot to add them)

On 25 February 2013 15:24, Jonathan Leech-Pepin <
jonathan.leechpepin@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> On 25 February 2013 14:01, Subhan Tindall <subhan.tindall@rentrakmail.com>wrote:
>
>> The point being that compiling .texinfo source into an Info file
>> treats references differently. For example:
>> (@pxref{my_node_name}).  will compile just fine.
>> (@ref{my_node_name}). will not.
>
>
> Both work perfectly fine for me.
> makeinfo (GNU texinfo) 5.0
>
>
>> There are also differences in case
>> (see v. See, note v. Note), and differences in output by ref type
>> depending on target output of file (info, DVI, HTML,...). For example,
>> @pxref generates different punctuation for typeset v. info files, @ref
>> does not generate a 'See ' in printed material while @xref does, etc.
>>
>> Although the differences are subtle, they really are not equivalent
>> and should not be treated as such.
>>
>
> With a slight amount of work on the user's part, they can be made
> functionally equivalent on export.
>
> Using the two attached minimal .texi files (good-ref.texi is using
> @xref/@pxref as is preferred while ref.texi is using @ref with
> appropriate See/see added in the text) and disregarding filename
> differences (since they are noted in the info output) I get the
> following differences:
>
> > makeinfo --html --no-split good-ref.texi ref.texi
> 0 Diffs
>
> > makeinfo --docbook --no-split good-ref.texi ref.texi
> Filename ID appears in diff
>
> > makeinfo --xml --no-split good-ref.texi ref.texi
> Filename difference.
>
> Links are different since TexinfoML does still distinguish xref/pxref
> and ref in how they create the links.
>
> > makeinfo --no-split good-ref.texi ref.texi
>
> The info file does show the expected differences between the two
> documents, notably that the "@xref{}" becomes "*Note" while the
> equivalent "See @ref{}" becomes "See *note" with @pxref{}->*note vs
> see @ref{} -> see *note.
>
> However once they are viewed within the *info* buffer (C-u C-h i
> good-ref.info/ref-only.info) the lines in question are visually
> identical since *Note becomes "See" and *note becomes "see" if there
> is not already "see" present.
>
> I will not disagree that @ref, @pxref and @xref are subtly different,
> however with slight user intervention @ref can be used in the same
> above locations by simply replacing:
>
> @xref{}  -> "See @ref{}"
> @pxref{} -> "see @ref{}"
>
> I had to compare these possible outcomes when working on the texinfo
> exporter.  Since links are parsed before being included in their
> paragraphs, I did not have a way to obtain context and therefore
> attempt to guess (and be successful) at which type of reference was
> intended by a link in Org.  Restricting it to @ref{} in all cases,
> even if it added a slight burden to the user (4 additional characters
> to type in Org) if they wanted to emulate @xref or @pxref was in my
> opinion the best choice.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Jon
>
> [...]
>
>

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