Subject: Re: bug#79419: "automake --add-missing" should not install an obsolete texinfo.tex file

From: Karl Berry <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2025 15:11:58 -0600

Hi Vincent.  As far as I know, --add-missing has never checked for
whether its versions are older. I don't know of a reasonable way to
change this -- it's a common problem, and also inevitable, given
asynchronous releases of everything involved. Instead, it doesn't
install over existing files.

I believe you can stop Automake from dealing with texinfo.tex by
1) specifying the no-texinfo-tex Automake option, or
2) (perhaps better) setting the TEXINFO_TEX variable, or 
3) creating doc/texinfo.tex yourself before running it, as in:
  ln -s /usr/share/texmf/tex/texinfo/texinfo.tex doc/texinfo.tex
or 4) removing the undesired link/copy afterward (of course).

I realize none of these are really satisfactory, but I can't think of
anything better.  I don't think it's feasible for automake to go poking
around the system trying to find other versions of the "missing" files
to compare against. There'd be no way to know what's really wanted,
seems to me.

For example, one could imagine running kpsewhich texinfo.tex and
comparing versions (already prone to problems) ... but you might be
making a test or other hierarchy where you explicitly do not want the
behavior to depend on what the current system has installed.

I'm open to other ideas. --best, karl.