Re: Making it possible to extend implicit INFOPATH

[Reuben Thomas]

On Sun, 4 May 2008, Benno Schulenberg wrote:

> Karl Berry wrote:
>
> > 3. Surely most new users reading the documentation want to learn
> > how to read Info documents.
>
> The very first line in the info-stnd document tells them to read the
> info document first if they don't know how to use 'info' yet.  Also
> the 'H' key will take them there.

Maybe there's a case for some merging here? While I appreciate that there 
are multiple info readers, info.texinfo really only applies to two readers: 
the standalone info reader, and Emacs's info reader. They work almost 
identically. Hence, having a separate info-stnd.texinfo is all but 
pointless. I would have thought it simpler and just as usable to have a 
single info manual covering info and the standalone reader, with a cross-ref 
to the Emacs manual's section on its info reader, where the differences and 
extensions in the Emacs reader can be elaborated.

In short, info vs info-stnd is making a distinction without a difference. If 
you look at both of them, the oddness is immediately apparent: for example, 
info-stnd claims to document only things specific to the standalone reader, 
but it documents all the movement commands that work in Emacs too!

(From another level up, we're arguably quarelling over a corpse here: 
whatever the FSF may desire, info is at best a dying format, even within 
GNU. That's not to say it is useless, nor to say that it won't last a good 
time yet, but another indication that simplification, where possible, is the 
best way to keep it useful.)

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