Re: [help-texinfo] Problems with inconsistent indentation in a @table in an @itemize.

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hello, Gavin.

Thanks for the reply.

On Sat, Mar 09, 2019 at 22:14:00 +0000, Gavin Smith wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 06, 2019 at 06:52:16PM +0000, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> > Hello, Texinfo.

> > In a part of the (Emacs) CC Mode manual, I'm now seeing this
> > indentation in text built by makeinfo in Texinfo 6.6:

> >      Style
> >  File Style(2)
> >  Top-level command or "customization interface"
> >  Hook
> >  File Local Variable setting

> > , where originally the following correct indentation was generated:

> >     Style
> >     File Style(2)
> >     Top-level command or "customization interface"
> >     Hook
> >     File Local Variable setting

> > .  The source which produces these snippets is:

> > @itemize @w{}
> > @item
> > @table @asis
> > @item Style
> > @itemx File address@hidden earlier versions of @ccmode{}, a File
> > Style setting took precedence over any other setting apart from a File
> > Local Variable setting.}
> > @itemx Top-level command or ``customization interface''
> > @itemx Hook
> > @itemx File Local Variable setting
> > @end table
> > @end itemize


> Have you tried any versions in between Texinfo 6.6 and Texinfo 4.13?

No, I haven't.

> I tried Texinfo 5.2 and got the same results (once I had deleted the
> undefined @ccmode{} macro in that input).

The same as my faulty version, or the same as my correct version?  :-)

> The input that you have posted is quite strange and not what the @table 
> and @itemize commands are intended for.  They are not for controlling 
> the exact layout of text.

This source is quite old, from the time of the C Texinfo.  I needed a
list of items, each on its own line.  @item infuriatingly inserted a
blank line in front of its text.  Only @itemx didn't do this.  To use
@itemx, I needed a @table.  The outer @itemize is to indent this list.  I
know these annoyances have been fixed in perl Texinfo.

But even if these commands aren't intended to be used like that, surely
they should still work.  Surely an @itemx should be aligned under the
introducing @item, no matter what.  No?

> More generally, it might be meaningful sometimes for a @table to occur 
> within an @itemize and in that case it should be indented properly.  But 
> it doesn't look like this is supported.

Is this not a bug?

> It doesn't look right with TeX either, where there is empty space above
> the table.

Yes.  But the TeX output is less of a concern.  I'm not aware of anybody
ever having used it, except for me in testing it.

What I've done as a workaround is to create two versions of this list, one
for C Texinfo, the other for perl Texinfo, using txicommandconditionals
to chose the appropriate one.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).