Subject: Re: bug#76901: [PATCH] ; * doc/emacs/trouble.texi (Coding Standards): Add manual reference

From: Jeremy Bryant <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2025 23:07:40 +0000

OK - Revised patch attached, reasoning below.

Eli Zaretskii <[email-masked]> writes:

>> From: Stefan Kangas <[email-masked]>
>> 
>> I would guess that the reason why there is no reference is that most
>> GNU/Linux distributions do not distribute this Info manual, or at least
>> they don'tt by default or with commonly installed packages.

Debian GNU/Linux includes it, in the gnu-standards package, which
includes both GNU standards and information for Maintainers, available
in Info, HTML, PDF.

File list of package gnu-standards:

/usr/share/doc-base/gnu-standards.gnu-coding-standards
/usr/share/doc-base/gnu-standards.gnu-maintainers-information
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/copyright
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/maintain.dvi.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/maintain.html
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/maintain.pdf.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/maintain.text.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/standards.dvi.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/standards.html
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/standards.pdf.gz
/usr/share/doc/gnu-standards/standards.text.gz
/usr/share/info/maintain.info.gz
/usr/share/info/standards.info.gz

AFAICT, other Debian derivatives such as Ubuntu have the same package.
The upstream GNU package is gnustandards
https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Gnustandards

Guix also includes gnustandards, which like other Guix packages can be
installed on top of any other GNU/Linux distribution.

>> 
>> It's also never available as a printed manual, AFAIK.
>> 
>> I have no opinion on adding such a reference now.  Eli, WDYT?
>
> We have there a reference to the manual in HTML, isn't that enough?

IMHO we should try to have GNU documentation available locally,
encourage access locally, not just over the web, for the sake of user
freedom.
There are also practical considerations, such as users on laptops
travelling without a network connection.

> In any case, having a URL and then a cross-reference to the Info
> manuals in the next sentence sounds strange to me.  At the very least,
> we should have there text saying that the manual can be either read
> on-line in HTML format (with the URL), or locally in Info (with a Info
> reference), to explain why we have both.

I accept that, and attach a revised patch with the changes made.  Any
further work please let me know.

>From 513fbf407ebea1681637cc38dad1a0cfd91c5552 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jeremy Bryant <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2025 22:25:03 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] ; * doc/emacs/trouble.texi (Coding Standards): Add manual
 reference

---
 doc/emacs/trouble.texi | 7 ++++---
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/emacs/trouble.texi b/doc/emacs/trouble.texi
index 2211369b121..95860e9f00f 100644
--- a/doc/emacs/trouble.texi
+++ b/doc/emacs/trouble.texi
@@ -1494,9 +1494,10 @@ Coding Standards
 @subsection Coding Standards
 @cindex coding standards for Emacs submissions
 
-Contributed code should follow the GNU Coding Standards
-@url{https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/}.  This may also be available
-in info on your system.
+Contributed code should follow the GNU Coding Standards.  This manual
+is available on-line at @url{https://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/}.  It
+may also be available locally in Info on your system, see @pxref{Top,,,
+standards, GNU Coding Standards}.
 
 If it doesn't, we'll need to find someone to fix the code before we
 can use it.
-- 
2.47.2