Re: Texinfo -> HTML issues

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Aubrey Jaffer <address@hidden>
> Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 19:36:13 -0400 (EDT)
> 
>  | > Please make this recoding an option to makeinfo.
>  | 
>  | I don't think this is a good idea: if a user option can control file
>  | names, cross-document references will not be reliable.
> 
> Because makeinfo supports both split HTML files and unsplit HTML
> files, it already has that problem.

No, it doesn't: the references are produced so that they work either
way.  Please try it, and you will see.

> If-this-is-the-final-word-on-file_002dnames_002c-then-I-will-create-my_000a
> own-version-of-makeinfo_002e

I don't give final-words-on-anything here.  Karl does.

>  | > Certain characters like "/" or "\" are bad for filesystems.  But they
>  | > need not be ASCII coded; just convert them to "-".  The only time this
>  | > will lose is if someone has nodes named "File I/O" and "File I-O" --
>  | > not a common occurence.
>  | 
>  | The question is: what do we do when we ``lose'' like that?
> 
> You give the same advice as was given me when I tried to have two
> sections with the same name: "Node names [and the files they map to]
> must be unique".

The first part is true (it's a constraint of the Texinfo language),
but he last one cannot be what we tell users: it is unacceptable.
Because mapping node names to file names is a complex process whose
particulars depend on the underlying filesystem, a user cannot easily
figure out what to do to avoid file-name clashes.  So some solution is
needed that always produces valid HTML files with working references.

>  | > How many years will makeinfo continue to produce nonconforming HTML in
>  | > support of this rumored browser bug?
>  | 
>  | It's not rumored, it's real.
> 
> Which browser?  Which version?

IIRC, Netscape and IE.  I forget the versions, sorry.