Using a macro makes pdfetex quits and exits with bad status

[Christopher Dimech]

Let't try again

This is what I have done

 2001  cd /home/hagbard/Admir/source/texinfo
 2002  ls
 2003  rm configure
 2004  ./autogen.sh

 2000  cd /home/hagbard/Admir/build/texinfo
 2001  ../../source/texinfo/configure
 2002  make
 2003  sudo make install

Then I did

sudo make TEXMF=/usr/local/share/texmf install-tex

Here is the consequence

sudo make TEXMF=/usr/local/share/texmf install-tex
cd doc && make TEXMF=/usr/local/share/texmf install-tex
make[1]: Entering directory '/home/hagbard/Admir/build/texinfo/doc'
test -n "/usr/local/share/texmf" || (echo "TEXMF must be set." >&2; exit 1)
/bin/bash /home/hagbard/Admir/source/texinfo/build-aux/install-sh -d 
/usr/local/share/texmf/tex/texinfo /usr/local/share/texmf/tex/generic/epsf
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ../../../source/texinfo/doc/texinfo.tex 
/usr/local/share/texmf/tex/texinfo/texinfo.tex
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ../../../source/texinfo/doc/texinfo-ja.tex 
/usr/local/share/texmf/tex/texinfo/texinfo-ja.tex
/usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ../../../source/texinfo/doc/epsf.tex 
/usr/local/share/texmf/tex/generic/epsf/epsf.tex
for f in txi-ca.tex txi-cs.tex txi-de.tex txi-en.tex txi-es.tex txi-fi.tex 
txi-fr.tex txi-hu.tex txi-is.tex txi-it.tex txi-ja.tex txi-nb.tex txi-nl.tex 
txi-nn.tex txi-pl.tex txi-pt.tex txi-ru.tex txi-sr.tex txi-tr.tex txi-uk.tex; 
do \
  /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 ../../../source/texinfo/doc/$f 
/usr/local/share/texmf/tex/texinfo/$f; done
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/hagbard/Admir/build/texinfo/doc'

Finally I run texi2pdf,

hagbard@fuckup:
+ ~/01cuneus/tdr/06ch
texi2pdf 06a-amcoh.texi
/usr/local/bin/texi2dvi: texinfo.tex appears to be broken.
This may be due to the environment variable TEX set to something
other than (plain) tex, a corrupt texinfo.tex file, or
to tex itself simply not working.
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.18 (TeX Live 2017/Debian) 
(preloaded format=etex)
 restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./txiversion.tex
! I can't find file `texinfo.tex'.
l.1 \input texinfo.tex
                       @bye
(Press Enter to retry, or Control-D to exit)
Please type another input file name:
! Emergency stop.
l.1 \input texinfo.tex
                       @bye
No pages of output.
Transcript written on txiversion.log.
/usr/local/bin/texi2dvi: quitting.








> Sent: Friday, June 25, 2021 at 6:34 AM
> From: "Eli Zaretskii" <eliz@gnu.org>
> To: "Christopher Dimech" <dimech@gmx.com>
> Cc: gavinsmith0123@gmail.com, help-texinfo@gnu.org
> Subject: Re: Using a macro makes pdfetex quits and exits with bad status
>
> > From: Christopher Dimech <dimech@gmx.com>
> > Cc: gavinsmith0123@gmail.com, help-texinfo@gnu.org
> > Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2021 19:00:29 +0200
> >
> > I used
> >
> > cd /home/hagbard/Admir/build/texinfo
> > ../../source/texinfo/configure --prefix=/home/hagbard/Admir/bin/texinfo
> > make
> > sudo make install
>
> The --prefix sets several other directories, including $bindir,
> $datadir, and several others.  $bindir is supposed to be on PATH.  If
> it isn't, you most probably don't have the stuff expected to be in
> $datadir, either.  And that probably means you will have problems when
> invoking commands that need to run programs outside of Texinfo, like
> TeX etc.
>
> Why didn't you configure Texinfo to be installed in the usual place,
> under /usr/local or somesuch?
>
> > make TEXMF=/home/hagbard/Admir/bin/texinfo/bin install-tex
>
> This is wrong in any case, you should have the TEXMF tree in
>
>   /home/hagbard/Admir/bin/texinfo/share/texmf
>
> or somesuch.  And of course one problem is that there's no TEXMF tree
> there, because TeX was probably installed in the "usual" places,
> somewhere under /usr.  I have absolutely no idea what will happen with
> commands involving TeX in such a case.
>
> > Have only been doing what I have been instructed to do.
>
> That's the problem: the instructions assume you have a normal install,
> but you don't.  So the instructions can easily be wrong or inaccurate
> or incomplete, because no one expects such non-standard installations,
> and people usually don't have a lot of experience with those.
>
> > But I have observed some maintainers who consistently ridicule users
> > for deviating from the mainstream use of the software.
>
> No one ridiculed you.  You just need to realize that you are on your
> own when using this non-standard installation.
>
> > Why can't I have multiple versions of the program and run the ones I
> > want?
>
> You can, but you should know very well what you are doing, and how the
> different parts, in particular Texinfo and TeX, work together and what
> each one of them expects to find where.  If you don't know these
> details, my best recommendation is not to do that, as you will be
> facing an uphill battle.
>
> > Perhaps texinfo is a pain and you are unable to handle a solution
> > that is straightforward.
>
> Texinfo, as any other package, is supposed to be built and installed
> according to the supported procedures.  Anything else is always a
> pain, with any non-trivial package that installs many files, let alone
> depends on other packages that are installed separately.
>
> > At least Gavin tries his best to understand the difficulties users
> > face, unlike some others.
>
> I cannot speak for Gavin, I just wanted to warn you so you lower your
> expectations about the effectiveness and accuracy of the help you will
> get for your hand-made installation.  If you don't like what I'm
> telling you, feel free to disregard the advice and keep trying to make
> your installation work.
>
> > Can you give we a scheme that works so I can test the development version
> > independently of any other texinfo setup I have?
>
> No, I can't, not a practical scheme anyway.  For example, I have no
> idea how to force TeX to work correctly with texinfo.tex in one place
> and the full TEXMF tree in another.
>
> Why not simply install the development version instead the one you
> have already?  It will definitely be simpler to set up and use than
> what you are going through.
>