Subject: Re: 29.0.92; Provide additional details on GnuPG and EPA usage in epa.texi

From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 01 Jul 2023 21:49:11 +0300

> Date: Sat, 1 Jul 2023 19:56:08 +0200
> Cc: [email-masked]
> From: Jens Schmidt <[email-masked]>
> 
>    @cindex GnuPG version compatibility
>    @cindex version compatibility with GnuPG
>    @cindex compatibility with GnuPG
> 
> so I hope we're closing in.
> 
> Not sure though: Are these three entries "too redundant" in your
> opinion?  And if so, why would that hurt?

They are not redundant, since they all start differently.  But I would
suggest to consider the first one for removal.

> >> Similar problems arise if anybody actually cares looking at the 
> >> alphabetically ordered index, be it in an online reader or in 
> >> print. (After all an index should be there for alphabetical
> >> lookup, shouldn't it?)
> > 
> > Not in the on-line manual, no.  Index entries in Info are intended to
> > be used without going to the Index node at all.
> 
> What about those who use pdf or even print this stuff?

The alphabetic order of the index in the printed versions exists to
help finding the index entries.  People still first think about what
they want to find, and only then look it up.

> >> Finally, I noticed that the index entries are not quite consistent 
> >> w.r.t. tense: Some use present tense, some present continuous.  I 
> >> could change that ...
> > 
> > There are no rules here, only common sense and the projected use by 
> > the readers.
> 
> Does this "no rules" relate to only to my last statement or to index
> entries in general?

The former.

> Because in general you seem to have quite a bunch of rules, and
> well-founded ones, and if had known these before we could have saved
> a round-trip or two.  But I don't even dare to propose changing the
> Texinfo manual ...

The Texinfo manual doesn't need to be changed.  It's a very good
manual.  As for "no rules", the most important rule for index entries
is that they should fit what people have in mind when they look for
the subject.  All the rest are corollaries and gray hair gained by
experience.