[ On Fri, September 25, 1998 at 21:08:39 (-0400), Todd Vierling wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: texinfo files
>
> As if Linux doesn't require the texinfo package to be installed for such
> functionality.  And Linux users almost never compile things that are
> available as packages, which include dependency info.  The argument just
> doesn't connect.

I wouldn't really know, actually.  The only Linux distribution I have
any experience with at all is the Red Hat one, and of course it did come
with ready-to-run packages for everything on the CD-ROM.  I didn't have
room on my Multia's disk for all the packages, of course, so I never
tried installing tex, or even texinfo.  It did come with the info(1)
browser and the minimal info files for the base system though.  Anyway,
trying to talk about various Linux packaging solutions probably isn't
going to help us figure this one out, at least not at the superficial
level.

My argument about Linux users might not "connect", but it's a reality.
I hear similar things from my Linux "friends" all the time, even when
talking about system documentation (though they're still far more proud
of LinuxDoc than anything else).

I guess one of the things that bugs me most about the idea of not
including *all* of the tools in the GNU texinfo package is that it
"breaks" the original package.  As someone who is quite familiar with
the GNU texinfo package I know I'd be extremely confused if I stumbled
on a system that had info(1), makeinfo(1), install-info(8), and
hopefully update-info(8), and gen-dir-node(8), etc., but not texi2dvi(1)
and texindex(1), I'd be quite puzzled by their absence.  After all
they're in the standard GNU distribution.  Why wouldn't they be in this
strange system I've stumbled upon?

Again, what about the potential version skew problems that can occur if
the user installs his own copy of the GNU texinfo package by whatever
means?

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

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