[Help-texinfo] Re: Suggestion for another warning

[Akim Demaille]

>>>>> "Karl" == Karl Berry <address@hidden> writes:

Akim> There is one warning that would catch a fairly common error in
Akim> uses of deffn etc.: checking there is no paren in the name of
Akim> the function macro etc., since people tend to forget to put a
Akim> space between the paren.

Karl> It seems like parentheses should not generally be used in the
Karl> the @def... commands in the first place?

Sorry, I've been unclear.  Here's an example from Autoconf:

   @defmac AC_CHECKING (@var{feature-description})
   @maindex CHECKING
   Same as @samp{AC_MSG_NOTICE([checking @var{feature-description}...]}.
   @end defmac

If I omit the space between `AC_CHECKING' and `(@var...' then
texinfo.tex thinks `(@var{feature-description})' is part of the name
and typesets it in bold.  The same problem happens when you describe C
functions and forget the space between the name of the function and
the parens.

What I'm suggesting is that makeinfo could warn about the presence of
a parens in the name being defined.  

But maybe Eli is suggesting that the space be ``optional'', which
means texinfo.tex should be fixed to stop groking the name at the
first paren.  I have no strong opinion on this, but makeinfo and
texinfo.tex should definitely agree.

        Akim