Re: Should def line @ continuation insert a space?

[Patrice Dumas]

On Fri, Apr 07, 2023 at 09:00:45PM +0100, Gavin Smith wrote:
> This is input showing a def line continuation:
> 
> @deffn Function foo (bar,@
> baz)
> aaaaaaaaaa
> @end deffn
> 
> This is the output with Texinfo 4.13:
> 
>  -- Function: foo (bar, baz)
>      aaaaaaaaaa
> 
> 
> This is the output with Texinfo 7.0.3:
> 
>  -- Function: foo (bar,baz)
>      aaaaaaaaaa
> 
> In addition, with texinfo.tex, a space is output between "bar," and "baz".
> 
> I tried looking back through mailing lists and ChangeLog entries for
> any information but there isn't much.  From what I can see, this line
> continuation feature was added in December 2003 (entry on 2003-12-13 by
> Alper Ersoy), and included in Texinfo 4.7 in April 2004.
> 
> Was this perhaps a deliberate change made when texi2any was rewritten
> in Perl?

I do not remember clearly, but I think that it was based on two things.
First this allows to use continuation lines even when no space is
wanted.  And also it is my understanding of the manual, in particular
the following, which, for me, implies that continuation lines in def do
not produce a normal space:

   '@' does not function as a continuation character in _any_ other
 context.  Ordinarily, '@' followed by a whitespace character (space,
 tab, newline) produces a normal interword space (*note Multiple
 Spaces::).

-- 
Pat