Re: html texinfo install?

[Bruce Korb]

Karl Berry wrote:
> 
> Hi folks,

> The obvious directory would be $(datadir)/html by analogy with
> $(datadir)/info, but it seems a bit arrogant to use such a generic name

Not arrogant so much as conflicting with where folks might want to
stash their own stuff.

> for something which only relates to Texinfo manuals.  Maybe texinfo/html
> -- then we could have texinfo/xml/ and texinfo/docbook/ and ..., if we
> liked.  Thus:
> texinfodata = $(datadir)/texinfo
> texinfohtml = $(texinfodata)/html

The nice part of this solution is it makes obvious the disposition
of other kinds of output :)

> Also, I'm not sure if make all should make them and make install should
> install them by default.  I'm inclined to say no, because including the
> HTML in the distributions (which would be the implication) seems like a
> lot of bloat, and I haven't exactly been flooded with complaints on the
> subject.  Alexandre suggested separate make [un]install-texinfohtml
> targets, which sounds fine to me.
> 
> Reactions?

Usually, I don't object to long names.  Here, though, I would lean toward
dropping 7 letters that don't seem that helpful:  "texinfo" and wind up with:

  make html
  make install-html
  make uninstall-html

Separating it from make / make install / make uninstall is a good idea.
Separating it from "make *clean" et. al. would not be.

=================

While I'm writing about texinfo stuff, I have a little feature request:
Please do not suppress the emission of the texinfo commands in the
absence of a .texi source document.  As it happens, .texi sources are
not always hand crafted.  Sometimes, they are derived or generated in
some fashion.  It is really hacky to have to create a dummy .texi file
in order to confuse the automake code into producing .texi rules.  It
may be that you cannot do some automated analysis of the .texi files,
but you can't do much effective analysis on a two line dummy file anyway.
Please alter the code so that it believes me when I tell it I want to
be able to produce a .info from a .texi.  Thanks!

Regards, Bruce