Re: inforef

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2004 23:15:00 -0600 (CST)
> From: Luc Teirlinck <address@hidden>
> Cc: address@hidden, address@hidden, address@hidden
> 
> Except that a reference is useless if you give the user no indication
> whatsoever on how to find that reference.

The assumption is that a user who prints a manual likes his/her
manuals in print, so he/she probably prints them all.

Alternatively, he/she can grep for the manual's title (under
@titlepage), if the Texinfo sources are available, or simply guess
that the Info file `emacs-mime' might be the manual whose title is
"Emacs MIME Manual".

> The problem with hardcopy is that you can not click on a link to
> produce the printed manual referred to.

Well, we cannot help that, can we?  Referring to an Info manual won't
help, as a user who holds a printed manual might have no idea how to
get hold of Info manuals, or can even be far away of any computer.

Yes, the situation isn't perfect, but it's been like that for eons,
and as far as I can remember, you are the first one to complain.

> I have no problem whatsoever replacing the @inforef with an @xref.

Yes, please do.  That is how GNU documentation is written since about
forever.  I see no reason to change that now.