Re: summary possible errors in reading Texinfo manual

[Gavin Smith]

On 11 November 2016 at 07:43, Wensheng Xie <address@hidden> wrote:
> Dear Texinfo:
>
> The following are issues I found when reading the manual -
> https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/index.html#SEC_Contents
>
> [ ] 8.4 @example: Example Text: "(see @noindent." should be "(see
> @noindent).".

OK.

> [ ] 8.14 @cartouche: Rounded Rectangles: example and output from the example
> does not match

OK.

> [ ] 9.4.1 Using the @table Command: "is an ‘indicating” command" should be
> "is an “indicating” command".

OK.

> [ ] general question: when are there both indexes on the top and at the
> bottom - 12.3.3 Ending a Sentence; and when is there only index on the top -
> 12.3.4 @frenchspacing val: Control Sentence Spacing?

It's a mystery to me.

> [ ] 15 Internationalization: "If you are yourself helping to translate the
> fixed strings" is not normal. Can we change "yourself" to "the one"?

OK.

> [ ] 15.1 @documentlanguage llcc: Set the Document Language: “Function’
> should be "Function".

OK.

> [ ] 16.6 Testing for Texinfo Commands: @ifcommanddefined,
> @ifcommandnotdefined:The sentence "This conditional will also consider true
> any new commands defined by the document" is hard to follow. Should it be
> "This conditional will also consider true if any new commands defined by the
> document"?

It means "This conditional will also consider any new commands defined
by the document to be true". It is correct grammar but I will change
it so it is clearer.

> [ ] general question: Why the top line text is not alwyas the same as the
> real section name, e.g. 18 Include Files: The top line "Next: Hardcopy"
> should be 19 Formatting and Printing Hardcopy. 19.4 Print with lpr from
> Shell: top line "Next: Within Emacs" should be 19.5 Printing From an Emacs
> Shell.

I am not completely sure but I believe the reason was that when the
Info format (which later became Texinfo) was invented in around 1976,
mouses didn't exist to click on links and they wanted people to be
able to follow links by typing in the name of a node, so they made it
possible for the node name to be shorter and easier to type in. The
benefits of this are much more questionable today, of course. Another
advantage is that it can make the navigation bar shorter and less
likely to wrap across the screen.

> [ ] 19.2 Format with texi2dvi: "as a convenience for AUC-TeX (see AUC-TeX,
> as it prefers to" misses ")".

OK.

> [ ] The 20.2 Invoking texi2any/makeinfo from a Shell: "texi2any program
> accept many options." should be "… accepts …".

OK.

> [ ] 20.5.4 Other Customization Variables: "in Docbook." misses the
> character.

I don't see an error here.

> [ ] 22.1 HTML Translation: "(see Customization Variables." misses ")".

OK.

Many thanks for these reports. It is very impressive that you read the
whole manual.