Subject: bug#75638: [PATCH] Include various GNU manuals in info-url-alist

From: Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2025 17:41:37 +0200

> From: Björn Bidar <[email-masked]>
> Cc: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>,  Andrea Corallo
>  <[email-masked]>,  Juri Linkov <[email-masked]>,  [email-masked]
> Date: Sat, 18 Jan 2025 16:23:33 +0200
> 
> Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> writes:
> 
> > The canonical place that associates Texinfo manuals with the URLs of
> > their Web pages is the file util/htmlxref.cnf in the Texinfo source
> > tree.
> 
> If this file exists why do we not use it then?

It was never needed before.  The current code supports only the Emacs
manuals, and for those we always know where they are kept, because we
upload them there.

> > I'm not sure I like this direction of extending Info-goto-node-web.
> > It was designed to support the Emacs manuals.
> 
> Info is for reading info Texinfo manuals not just Emacs manuals right?
> If so the command isn't just specific to Emacs manuals. 

I'm not talking about Info in general, I'm talking about this
particular command.

> > Adding all this stuff to it takes us very far from that goal, and
> > I'm not sure why would we  want that.
> 
> To link to documentation for example. For example a project I'm working
> on uses Autoconf. To explain a change I've made I linked to the manual
> on the GNU website. Linking to HTML version of the manual is the most
> accessible in a editor neutral context.

First, we have in Emacs a format for linking to Info documentation.
The command 'w' in Info copies the link to the kill-ring, so you can
later yank it into a different place.  The link is in the form
"(FILENAME) NODENAME", and the Info reader can interpret it.

And second, the use case you describe sounds like a weak justification
for such a significant change and future maintenance burden.  I'm
interested to hear the opinions of the other maintainers.

> > Proliferating use of HTML docs on the Web (as opposed to
> > local Info manuals) is not a goal I'd like us to pursue.
> >
> I would like to link to Info manuals so they can be opened with Info but
> there is no such a thing.

When using Info for accessing the linked manual, there is: see above.

> > In any case, if this is installed, the doc string of
> > Info-goto-node-web should also be updated, as it no longer goes only
> > to gnu.org Web server.  A NEWS entry is probably also warranted.
> 
> That does make sense. IMHO it is a little confusing that the function
> refers to gnu.org when the server isn't the only one hosting Info manuals.

The doc string is pertinent for the Emacs manuals, which are hosted on
the gnu.org server.