Re: makeinfo 7.1 misses menu errors

[Karl Berry]

Hi Patrice,

    then they can set CHECK_NORMAL_MENU_STRUCTURE on
    explicitely.

It's easy to say that, but it creates an incompatibility for the 99.99%
case.  I can't set it for makeinfo 7.x without giving people using 6.x
(which is most everyone, downstream) a useless warning. Nor can I omit
it without great chance of messing up the manual.

Also, it feels painful to have to set a config file variable at all to
get a useful feature which has always been enabled by default. Indeed,
having better error messages was one of the primary advantages of C
makeinfo over Elisp texinfo-format-buffer, umpteen years ago.

    My point is that some users may want to have menus that do not follow the
    sectioning structure, it is perfectly correct, 

I understand. But my point is that, although it can be correct in
theory, in practice it is 99.99% (at least) caused by a mistake, not
intentional.  Therefore it sure seems to me that makeinfo should follow
the 99.99% case, not the .001% case, just because of some theoretical
possibility.

The new features to support normally-structured manuals are great, but
because they are so new, they can't yet be used for manuals intended to
be widely distributed.  I could not use them for automake, for example,
without causing tremendous trouble with all the distros and users using
older makeinfos. Which will be the case for many years yet.

    I agree that setting CHECK_NORMAL_MENU_STRUCTURE on is best for most
    manuals.  However, it would lead to emitting warnings for correct, even
    if rare cases, which I find very unfortunate.  

I understand the principle, but for me the lossage in practice is even
more unfortunate (by far). It sure seems to me that the "rare" case
should be the one to have to make the config file setting. Indeed, the
very fact of making that config file setting would helpfully alert
contributors and builders that "this is not a normally-structured
manual".

I dearly hope you will reconsider. --thanks, karl.