Re: Bug#139569: patch: info patch doesn't lead to the info docs (fwd)

[Paul Eggert]

> Fabrice Bauzac <address@hidden> writes:
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> When I type "info patch", info doesn't find the Texinfo node:
> 
> (diff)Invoking Patch
> 
> So, info leads to the manual page.
> The problem is, I don't know how to correct it.
> The problem seems to appear for diff3 as well.

I can reproduce the problem on my Debian GNU/Linux host, which uses
GNU texinfo 4.0.  However, when I compile, install, and use GNU
texinfo 4.1 (from GNU sources) into a temporary directory, and then
use GNU texinfo 4.1 to build and install GNU diffutils, the problem
goes away.

So it appears to me to be a bug in Debian install-info, either
because it uses GNU texinfo 4.0, or because of some Debian
modification to GNU texinfo.

Here is how I reproduced the problem.  I built and installed Diffutils
with 'sh configure --prefix=/tmp/prefix; make; make install'.  I then
set INFOPATH=/tmp/prefix/info and ran the command 'info patch' and
'info diff3'.


> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Michael Fedrowitz <address@hidden> replies:
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Note that the info manual is rather
> outdated though, so you will probably want to use the man page anyway.

This problem has been fixed in Diffutils 2.8, whose info file has been
updated to describe patch 2.5.4.  I just cut the release for Diffutils
2.8, which will be the next official release once the ftp.gnu.org guys
get around to copying it.  You can get it at:

ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/diffutils/diffutils-2.8.tar.gz


> Is this really ok, or is this a bug in Debian's install-info?

I think it's a bug in Debian's install-info.