Re: @verb issues

[Werner LEMBERG]

>> (1) ` and ' are changed to curly quotes,
>> (2) the text gets hyphenated, and
>> (3) the line break gets obeyed.
>> 
>> IMHO, (1) shouldn't happen.  While it can be configured with
>> `txicodequoteundirected` and `txicodequotebacktick`, it changes the
>> input without these two flags set.  [...]
> 
> I don't think it should be thought of as a conversion but as an
> alternative rendering of the ASCII characters ` and '.

I disagree, since this means that two input characters map to the same
output character, which is against the term 'verbatim', isn't it?
Additionally, you get the wrong values if you do a cut-and-paste
operation.

>> Item (2) is really bad, since it inserts a character, making it no
>> longer verbatim.
> 
> I agree, although there doesn't appear to be a way to get line
> breaking without hyphenation.  If we change verb to turn off the
> hyphenation character (by setting \hyphenchar), then the text
> extends into the margin.  Is this what we want?

No.  I think that spaces should be breakable, similar to `@code`.

> It seems to me that if we didn't obey line breaks, then we should
> also make the contents of @verb wrappable, [...]

Yes.

> @verb is a rarely used command AFAIK.

Indeed.  However, there is no other way in Texinfo to get a
non-indented, verbatim-like environment.  Too bad that
`@exampleindent` (for `@example`) is not intended to be used in the
middle of a document, since there is no possibility to restore the
previous value...

> I don't believe that using line breaks inside its argument is part
> of the envisioned usage.  Hence, if ignoring line breaks brings
> compatibility with HTML, this would be a clear win.

I agree.


    Werner