GNU bug report logs - #53316
28.0.91; Missing Transient manual in Emacs

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Message #74 received at 53316 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Richard Stallman <rms <at> gnu.org>
To: Jonas Bernoulli <jonas <at> bernoul.li>
Cc: p.stephani2 <at> gmail.com, rgm <at> gnu.org, eliz <at> gnu.org, larsi <at> gnus.org,
 53316 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#53316: 28.0.91; Missing Transient manual in Emacs
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2022 00:00:44 -0500

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  > The exporter currently can do this and similar:
  >   =code=    =>    @code{code}
  > once I am done it will be able to optionally do this and similar:
  >   $var$     =>    @var{var}

That syntax is convenient to use, but hard to extend to cover all the
Texinfo markup facilities.  There are LOTS of them.

  > Being asked for a spec is annoying, and so is the assumption that I
  > won't do the work.

Please don't take it personally.  It's not about you.  Designing the
interface is the hardest part of this, and other efforts have ended
up in a dead end.

What's hard is finding syntax for so many markup constructs.
I don't think the simple approach with one punctuation character
can handle it.  Also, Texinfo markup constructs nest.

I have seen systems inspired by markdown that were meant to be used
for manuals.  Each one handled only a subset of the jobs that Texinfo
markup constructs do.  The markup approach is so limiting that it
doesn't offer much room for syntax for a greater number of constructs.

I've found that people tend to implement a subset, and it is easy to
find usable syntax for a small number of constructs.  But there is no
natural way to extend it to do the whole job.  In effect, doing this
for a subset "first", expecting to add the others later, means a risk
of ending up in a dead end.

I'm sure you will finish this job, if you start with a plan for
handling all the markup constructs.

Have you got a list of Texinfo constructs to support?

If there is no way Org format can handle the repertoire of constructs
that we want for our manuals, we should not use Org format for the
source for a manual.  We should use Texinfo format.

-- 
Dr Richard Stallman (https://stallman.org)
Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project (https://gnu.org)
Founder, Free Software Foundation (https://fsf.org)
Internet Hall-of-Famer (https://internethalloffame.org)

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