Re: Patch to disable links line in *info* buffer

[Robert J. Chassell]

Miles Bader <address@hidden> suggests:

       ... we could keep the `Next:' &c tags in the header-line, and
       put _only_ the `File:' and `Node:' tags in the (displayed)
       buffer -- that way, there wouldn't be any redundancy, and the
       string that people most commonly might want to copy is
       available in the buffer for copying.

       This would also have the advantage that the first line usually
       wouldn't wrap, as it often does currently.

Yes, this should work!

The output would look like this, where the first line is the new style
*info* header line, the second line is similar to the first line of an
old-style Info file, but contains only the `File:' and `Node:' tags,
and the following visible line is the title in whatever face or voice
you have set for Info:

    Next: Printed Books,  Prev: Using Texinfo,  Up: Overview
    File: texinfo,  Node: Info Files

    Info files

      An Info file is a Texinfo file formatted so that the Info
    documentation reading program can operate on it.  (`makeinfo' and
    `texinfo-format-buffer' are two commands that convert a Texinfo file
    into an Info file.) ....


When I want to send a a long-winded, but I hope informative and
inspiring reference to someone, I copy

    File: texinfo,  Node: Info Files

as usual.  When I want to send a more efficient reference to a
knowledgeable person, I use the `Info-specify-current-node-name'
command to construct the expression:

    (texinfo)Info Files

(The `Info-specify-current-node-name' is simply the
`Info-copy-current-node-name' command renamed to make more sense than
the latter, which does *not* copy the node name, which is not
mentioned in the new style *info* header line.


[digression]

By the way, how do you fix an instance of a `plain vanilla' Emacs from
the current CVS sources so that you can move around an Info file using
the next, prev, and up key and mouse bindings?

This bug was reported some time ago but no permanent fix has been
installed in CVS; I simply cannot remember the temporary fix someone
suggested so I can use the new style *info* header lines.

I normally `(setq Info-use-header-line nil)' in my .emacs file, which
solves the problem for me, but for testing, I run

     /usr/local/bin/emacs -q --no-site-file --eval '(blink-cursor-mode 0)'

and Info fails when I type `n' in a node, with the error message:

    Info-extract-pointer: Node has no Next

(This morning's CVS snapshot, Tue, 2002 Jun 11 11:39 UTC,
GNU Emacs 21.3.50.29 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, X toolkit).)

--
    Robert J. Chassell                  address@hidden
    Rattlesnake Enterprises             http://www.rattlesnake.com