[PLUG] Online copies of textinfo content available?

[Richard Owlett]

*Are online copies of textinfo content available?*

The full documentation for Ed is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info > and XYZ programs are properly installed at your site, the command
info XYZ
should give you access to the complete manual.

I have problems with that.
1. *I don't want to install unneeded packages just to find out*
*whether or not the package _might_ be useful.*
2. The info output has an annoying format. A browser acceptable format
{plain text fine -- HTML *NOT* needed} is MUCH more functional.


I posted this question to debian-***@lists.debian.org .
The replies totally ignored my primary question and reason I asked
[emphasized in this copy].

Side question:
Could I have made any clearer what information I was looking for?
TIA

[King Beowulf]

Post by Richard Owlett
*Are online copies of textinfo content available?*

The full documentation for Ed is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the info > and XYZ programs are properly installed at your site, the
command
    info XYZ
should give you access to the complete manual.

I have problems with that.
1. *I don't want to install unneeded packages just to find out*
   *whether or not the package _might_ be useful.*
2. The info output has an annoying format. A browser acceptable format
   {plain text fine --  HTML *NOT* needed} is MUCH more functional.
The replies totally ignored my primary question and reason I asked
[emphasized in this copy].
Could I have made any clearer what information I was looking for?
TIA

Richard,

What documentation and where it is available depends on the project.

If the manpages (if any) are too terse, some projects provide infopages
that contain more details. Texinfo is designed to work with TeX and
Emacs for printing and viewing, and can also print sections or whole
manuals. Perhaps using info or emacs to print to a text file will do
what you need. For example:

$ info XYZ | col -b > XYZ.txt

Check the XYZ project website, github, sourceforge, etc for additional
documentation formats.

Also check your local drive. Depending on how XYZ was packaged to
install onto you linux disribution, you should find documentation under

/usr/doc/XYZ

-Ed

[Richard Owlett]

Post by King Beowulf

Post by Richard Owlett
*Are online copies of textinfo content available?*

The full documentation for Ed is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If
the info > and XYZ programs are properly installed at your site, the
command
    info XYZ
should give you access to the complete manual.

I have problems with that.
1. *I don't want to install unneeded packages just to find out*
   *whether or not the package _might_ be useful.*
2. The info output has an annoying format. A browser acceptable format
   {plain text fine --  HTML *NOT* needed} is MUCH more functional.
The replies totally ignored my primary question and reason I asked
[emphasized in this copy].
Could I have made any clearer what information I was looking for?
TIA

Richard,
What documentation and where it is available depends on the project.
If the manpages (if any) are too terse, some projects provide infopages
that contain more details.

My intentions were to:
1. restrict my "universe of discourse" to those commands/packages
whose man pages explicitly refer to Texinfo documents being
available.
2. not require the command/package to be present on the system being
used {e.g. using MS Windows}.

Post by King Beowulf
Texinfo is designed to work with TeX and
Emacs for printing and viewing, and can also print sections or whole
manuals. Perhaps using info or emacs to print to a text file will do
$ info XYZ | col -b > XYZ.txt
Check the XYZ project website, github, sourceforge, etc for additional
documentation formats.
Also check your local drive. Depending on how XYZ was packaged to
install onto you linux disribution, you should find documentation under
/usr/doc/XYZ
-Ed
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

[Richard Owlett]

Post by King Beowulf

[snip]

Also check your local drive. Depending on how XYZ was packaged to
install onto you linux disribution, you should find documentation under
/usr/doc/XYZ

Such path(s) do not exist on my machine.

Following nested Gnu links suggests there exists something referred to
as "INFOPATH" *BUT* no hint how to retrieve it. < *ARGHHHHH* >

[King Beowulf]

Post by Richard Owlett

[snip]

Also check your local drive.  Depending on how XYZ was packaged to
install onto you linux disribution, you should find documentation under
/usr/doc/XYZ

Such path(s) do not exist on my machine.

Ack. Another reason I do not use your distro. No offense. There are
usually either HTML or text or both documenation files shipped with
source archives. A binary packager that just tosses them...

Post by Richard Owlett
Following nested Gnu links suggests there exists something referred to
as "INFOPATH" *BUT* no hint how to retrieve it. < *ARGHHHHH* >

if 'echo $INFOPATH' is empty, ah well, the default path is then used.

All the documentation INFO files are usually here:

/usr/share/info

which is a usually a symlink to

/usr/info.

You could write a shell script to dump them all as plain text to a fat32
(vfat) formatted USB drive and then read them on any PC device.

If the infopage you want is not there because the application package
was not installed, well, then you need to read the documentation on the
developer web site in whatever format they decide to provide.

-Ed

[Richard Owlett]

Post by King Beowulf

Post by Richard Owlett

[snip]

Also check your local drive.  Depending on how XYZ was packaged to
install onto you linux disribution, you should find documentation under
/usr/doc/XYZ

Such path(s) do not exist on my machine.

Ack. Another reason I do not use your distro. No offense.

ROFL Who? Me? Atypical permutation of viewpoints?

Post by King Beowulf
There are
usually either HTML or text or both documenation files shipped with
source archives. A binary packager that just tosses them...

IIUC That, for me, is not a "bug" but a "feature".
When I started investigating Linux I was on dial-up. Even now I have a
low data cap. One of my "round TUIT" projects is a less obese version of
Debian distro.

Post by King Beowulf

Post by Richard Owlett
Following nested Gnu links suggests there exists something referred to
as "INFOPATH" *BUT* no hint how to retrieve it. < *ARGHHHHH* >

if 'echo $INFOPATH' is empty, ah well, [snip;]
You could write a shell script to dump them all as plain text to a fat32
(vfat) formatted USB drive and then read them on any PC device.
If the infopage you want is not there because the application package
was not installed, well, then you need to read the documentation on the
developer web site in whatever format they decide to provide.

Not necessarily.
Reasoning by analogy:
Man pages are available online.
Some admit there is information elsewhere and can be had simply.
Therefor one would expect to retrieve that information as simply as the
man page was retrieved.

I'll investigate a script taking a single argument {pkg name} and
displaying in preferred browser. I should be able to meet my "simplicity
of use" goal.

Unfortunately, though retired I am still constrained by 24 hr days ;/

[Russell Senior]

You mean something like this?

https://www.gnu.org/software/ed/manual/ed_manual.html

Post by Richard Owlett
*Are online copies of textinfo content available?*

The full documentation for Ed is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the

info > and XYZ programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info XYZ
should give you access to the complete manual.

I have problems with that.
1. *I don't want to install unneeded packages just to find out*
*whether or not the package _might_ be useful.*
2. The info output has an annoying format. A browser acceptable format
{plain text fine -- HTML *NOT* needed} is MUCH more functional.
The replies totally ignored my primary question and reason I asked
[emphasized in this copy].
Could I have made any clearer what information I was looking for?
TIA

You might have included a prefatory remark like this: "I used the likely
keywords, x, y, and z, in a google search and I couldn't manage to find it"
and then not needed to be clear at all in your query, because no query
would be needed.

Post by Richard Owlett
_______________________________________________
PLUG mailing list
http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug

[Richard Owlett]

Post by Russell Senior
You mean something like this?
https://www.gnu.org/software/ed/manual/ed_manual.html

No cigar. <chuckle &/or groan>
For "ed" that would more than the required content.
The _apparent_ purpose is to remind an competent user of options.
A good "info" would guide a new/infrequent user in how he might
typically use it.

Post by Russell Senior

Post by Richard Owlett
*Are online copies of textinfo content available?*

The full documentation for Ed is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the

info > and XYZ programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info XYZ
should give you access to the complete manual.

I have problems with that.
1. *I don't want to install unneeded packages just to find out*
*whether or not the package _might_ be useful.*
2. The info output has an annoying format. A browser acceptable format
{plain text fine -- HTML *NOT* needed} is MUCH more functional.
The replies totally ignored my primary question and reason I asked
[emphasized in this copy].
Could I have made any clearer what information I was looking for?
TIA

You might have included a prefatory remark like this: "I used the likely
keywords, x, y, and z, in a google search and I couldn't manage to find it"
and then not needed to be clear at all in your query, because no query
would be needed.