Re: macro expansion in makeinfo

[Vladimir Volovich]

"EZ" == Eli Zaretskii writes:

 EZ> I don't know what is texi2pdf.  Can't you use "texi2dvi --pdf"
 EZ> instead?

texi2pdf is a small script which calls texi2dvi --pdf

 EZ> Anyway, the problem is that macros shouldn't be used inside
 EZ> @defmac at all.  It's not specific to texi2pdf.

i understand that it's not specific to texi2pdf (or texi2dvi)
the latter calls makeinfo to expand texinfo files, and this
does not work for macros inside @def... commands

 >> so as you write that "All the @def... commands are implemented as
 >> a gross hack" - why not make macros expand everywhere (including
 >> @defmac - as they do outside @defmac)

 EZ> Because makeinfo will fail with 100% probability if we expand
 EZ> macros in @defmac: the unescaped {} braces will cause the reader
 EZ> loop to barf.

 EZ> Can you explain the actual reason for using that macro in
 EZ> @defmac?  If I understand the reason, I might be able to suggest
 EZ> a work-around.

you can look at autoconf.texi in the current autoconf sources (i
loaded them via CVS), - it uses @ovar macros (and maybe some others)
heavily in @defmac

it would be good to know the recommended way of writing texinfo files
to achieve the same effect.

Best,
v.