":" in Scheme names.

[Aubrey Jaffer]

After updating to texinfo 4.1 makeinfo gives hundreds of messages,
then fails processing slib.texi:

  ...
  slib.texi:10619: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry 
`process:schedule!'.
  slib.texi:10804: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry 
`si:conversion-factor'.
  slib.texi:11040: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry `two-arg:/'.
  slib.texi:11047: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry `two-arg:-'.
  slib.texi:11068: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry 
`two-arg:apply'.
  slib.texi:11326: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry 
`repl:top-level'.
  slib.texi:11334: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry `repl:quit'.
  slib.texi:11532: warning: Info cannot handle `:' in index entry 
`debug:max-count'.
  make: [slib2d4.info] Error 2

These messages are triggered by definitions like:

  @deffn Procedure repl:quit
  Exits from the invocation of @code{repl:top-level}.
  @end deffn

The colon character (:) has been a legal component of Scheme
identifiers since before 1986.  Although they didn't index correctly,
earlier versions of makeinfo did not bail when encountering them.

228 of SLIB's 1200 index entries are names incorporating colons.  SLIB
is a GNU Project used by Guile.  Changing hundreds of decade-old
function names in a dozen Scheme implementations seems an unreasonable
burden merely to continue using texinfo.

Is texinfo going to support Scheme?


  address@hidden slib]$ uname -a
  Linux aubrey.jaffer 2.4.18-10 #1 Wed Aug 7 11:39:21 EDT 2002 i686 unknown
  address@hidden slib]$ rpm -qi texinfo
  Name        : texinfo                      Relocations: /usr 
  Version     : 4.1                               Vendor: Red Hat, Inc.
  Release     : 1                             Build Date: Tue 05 Mar 2002 
06:14:40 AM EST
  Install date: Mon 19 Aug 2002 08:51:56 PM EDT      Build Host: 
daffy.perf.redhat.com
  Group       : Applications/Publishing       Source RPM: texinfo-4.1-1.src.rpm
  Size        : 1481111                          License: GPL
  Packager    : Red Hat, Inc. <http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla>
  Summary     : Tools needed to create Texinfo format documentation files.