Re: Refcard for Gnus

[Reiner Steib]

On Wed, Dec 29 2004, Richard Stallman wrote:

>     currently the Reference Card for Gnus is not included in Emacs.  I
>     think it should be included.
>
> It would be good to include it.

Could someone check if Vladimir Alexiev <address@hidden>,
Felix Natter <address@hidden> and Luis Fernandes have copyright
assignments on file?  Else I will try to find out if their changes
require assignments.

,----[ gnusref.tex ]
|     Copyright \copyright\ 1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc.\\*
|     Copyright \copyright\ 1995 Vladimir Alexiev
|     $<address@hidden>$.\\*
|     Copyright \copyright\ 2000 Felix Natter $<address@hidden>$.\\*
|     Copyright \copyright\ 2001, 2002, 2003 \author.\\*
|     Created from the Gnus manual Copyright \copyright\ 1994 Lars Magne
|     Ingebrigtsen.\\*
|     and the Emacs Help Bindings feature (C-h b).\\*
|     Gnus logo copyright \copyright\ 1995 Luis Fernandes.\\*
`----


[ Changed order of quoting: ]

> The Emacs refcard is just one file.  Can the Gnus refcard be
> just one file?

If we resign from some "features", we could put it in just one LaTeX
file: a combination (say gnus-refcard.tex) of gnusref.tex and
refcard.tex.  Missing features would be: No graphical Gnus logo on the
reference card and no reference booklet.  If we want to keep the logo,
we need two files: gnus-refcard.tex and gnuslogo-refcard.eps.

If we go for one of those two options ((a) one LaTeX file or (b) one
LaTeX plus eps logo), syncing of the LaTeX file between Gnus and Emacs
would have to be done manually.  But it is not very hard, because the
content doesn't change often.  I would recommend to take one of these
options.

For completeness, I'll explain the other files a well.  You may skip
the rest of this article if you agree to (a) or (b).

> What role does each of those files play?

      54730  gnusref.tex [2]         gnusref.tex

Main input file.  It provides the actual content of the refcard (6
pages, two column layout) and reference booklet (20 pages, one column
layout) as LaTeX macros.

       5279  refcard.tex             gnus-ref.tex

LaTeX document for the reference card.  Needs gnusref.tex and a
graphical Gnus logo (gnuslogo-refcard.eps; or *.pdf generated using
epstopdf).

        539  bk-a4.tex               gnus-bk-a4.tex
        542  bk-lt.tex               gnus-bk-lt.tex

Small LaTeX wrapper files for the reference booklet (A4 and letter
paper size).  Needs [gnus-]booklet.tex (specifies layout and content),
gnusref.tex and a bigger graphical Gnus logo (gnuslogo-booklet.eps; or
*.pdf generated using epstopdf).

>        1792  Makefile [1]            gnus-Makefile
>
> Why does this need makefile rules?  

The user can create DVI, PS and PDF versions of the reference card and
booklet (for different paper sizes: a4 and letter).  The PDF versions
require the logo as PDF file which is generated by Makefile rules.
There are also Makefile rules for the paper size, e.g. you can say
"make PAPERSIZE=letter gnus-booklet.ps" to get the reference booklet
for letter paper.

> Assuming there is a real need for them, we should put the rules into
> etc/Makefile, rather than making a separate file.

The simplified Makefile (only stuff for refcard and booklet) has
around 50 lines.  It's easier to maintain when it is kept separate if
we include the booklet version, too.

Bye, Reiner.
-- 
       ,,,
      (o o)
---ooO-(_)-Ooo---  |  PGP key available  |  http://rsteib.home.pages.de/