Re: with HTML output, @minus{} is converted to a hyphen instead of a real minus character

[Patrice Dumas]

On Thu, Oct 13, 2022 at 02:04:53AM +0200, Vincent Lefevre wrote:
> > The default and effect depends on the output format.  In the upcoming
> > release, this is now:
> > 
> >       --disable-encoding      do not output accented and special characters
> >                                 in Info output based on document encoding.
> >       --enable-encoding       based on document encoding, output accented
> >                                 characters in XML-based output as well as
> >                                 special characters in HTML instead of
> >                                 entities.
> > 
> > Does this seems clear to you?  Do you see a way to clarify, if not?
> 
> Sorry, but I don't understand at all.
> 
> For --disable-encoding, do you mean that if one has
> "@documentencoding UTF-8" with a "é" written in UTF-8 in the document,
> then the accented character will not be present in the Info output
> because it is based on the document encoding?

No, in every case, and é in the document will remain an é.

> And if one has "@'e"
> in the document, the accented character will be present (as not being
> based on the document encoding)? This looks weird.

Indeed, I agree that it could mean what you are saying.  What will
actually happen is that 'e will be used for @'e with --disable-encoding.

> For --enable-encoding, do you mean that the output encoding is
> regarded as being the same as the input encoding? But this would be a
> strange decision: the machine on which the source document is written
> has nothing to do with the machines on which the document will be
> read. So the encodings do not have to be the same. The locale should
> be used for the output encoding as this is needed by "info".

This is indeed the case that the output encoding is the same as the
input encoding in the general case.  The --epub output is an exception,
as the output encoding is always UTF-8, as dictated by the EPUB standard.
The information on the file encoding is available in all the output
formats, including Info, so the browser (for HTML), Info reader, LaTeX
processor, XML processor, DocBook converter should all be able to read
and, possibly (as is the case in general for Info), convert.

That being said, this is not very important, as UTF-8 is likely to
become used for everything.

-- 
Pat