Re: alternative "info" reader (was: kernel makeoptions)

[Chuck Swiger <cswiger%mac.com@localhost>]

On Feb 26, 2011, at 11:49 PM, Thomas Mueller wrote:
> I'd like to get rid of info!  Either man or HTML is much better, even plain 
> text is preferable to info.

It may help to understand that info documentation was chosen as an alternative 
to roff macros by RMS and the GNU project since it provided better indexing and 
cross-linking.  This was long before the web existed or folks processing 
manpages (ie, the "See also" section) into HTML documents with working 
hyperlinks.

From that central point, two major consequences should be noted:

1) Info docs were designed to be written and read in emacs; info is a 
stand-alone reader program which uses emacs-like keybindings.  If you get 
emacs, you should be fine in info.  If you don't understand emacs, well, info 
is likely to be obscure also.

2) All GNU software uses info as the primary means of documentation.  While a 
few GNU project maintainers try to keep manpages updated, the manpages for most 
GNU software (ie, the compiler toolchain) are outdated and are updated 
infrequently compared to the info docs.  Often by volunteers from the BSD 
community, who do tend to prefer manpages...  :-)

Considering that the NetBSD project is either stuck with gcc-4.2 & 
binutils-2.17, or has to adopt GPLv3 to go with gcc-4.3+ & binutils-2.20+, 
folks might want to give some thought to Clang/LLVM as an alternative.

Regards,
-- 
-Chuck