Re: inconsistent spaces in menu and in node and @-commands

[Gavin Smith]

On Wed, Aug 17, 2022 at 07:11:05PM +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> A case that could probably happen in practice (not necessarly the case I
> present, but there are many variations).  In node names/anchors, the
> spaces are in general collapsed into one space, while in a menu entry
> they are not.  In general it is not a problem, but when there are
> @-commands this can lead to strange situations in which the menu lines
> that reach the node name are the one that also trigger an error and
> conversely the lines that do not trigger an error do not reach the node.
> Here is an example:
> 
> @menu
> * chap  b::             Error on node name, found
> * chap @: b::           found even if spacing in Info is different from
>                          spacing in tag table
> * label: chap @: b.     Not found
> * label: chap b.        Error on node name, found
> @end menu
> 
> @node chap @: b
> 
> 
> I do not like that situation but I am not certain on what would be the
> best course of action.  Change the Info readers such that the spaces
> within node names in menu are always non significant?

This seems to be simple to do:

diff --git a/info/scan.c b/info/scan.c
index e14641b3a4..f59fbb9ce8 100644
--- a/info/scan.c
+++ b/info/scan.c
@@ -1298,6 +1298,7 @@ scan_reference_target (REFERENCE *entry, NODE *node, int 
in_parentheses)
                                     &entry->nodename);
       if (inptr[length] == '.') /* A '.' terminating the entry. */
         length++;
+      canonicalize_whitespace (entry->nodename);
 
       if (node->flags & N_IsDir)
         {

Could you check if that solves the issue?  I tested it with the input
you sent and all of the menu entries work then.

> Check in texi2any
> that the expansion of the node on the menu line match or not and
> determine based on that information rather than on the Texinfo node name
> whether an error should be output?

It's more complicated that way.