Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"?

Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"?

[Axel Beckert]

Hi,

according to https://wiki.debian.org/Texi2htmlTransition and
http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/, texi2html is deprecated and should
be replaced with makeinfo and appropriate options.

For Debian's zsh package, I've added the following patch for now:

Index: zsh/Doc/Makefile.in
===================================================================
--- zsh.orig/Doc/Makefile.in    2013-01-14 01:49:37.000000000 +0100
+++ zsh/Doc/Makefile.in 2013-08-26 08:25:54.468926080 +0200
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
 MAKEINFO = makeinfo
 TEXI2DVI = texi2dvi
 DVIPS = dvips
-TEXI2HTML = @TEXI2HTML@ --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files
+TEXI2HTML = makeinfo --html --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files
 
 .SUFFIXES: .yo .1

This is the minimal variant to get the HTML docs being built without
texi2html, but I suspect there could be adapted variable names and the
check for texi2html could be removed from configure.ac.

In general, the move from the standalone texi2html to texinfo's
makeinfo for HTML generation would mean that the list of build
dependencies could be reduced without losing any functionality or
having to add another build dependency -- because makeinfo is already
needed for building other variants of Zsh's documentation.

		Kind regards, Axel
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Re: Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"?

[Bart Schaefer]

On Aug 26, 11:35am, Axel Beckert wrote:
} Subject: Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"
}
} -TEXI2HTML = @TEXI2HTML@ --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files
} +TEXI2HTML = makeinfo --html --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files

I'd recommend modifying the configure test to set @TEXI2HTML@ to the
value "makeinfo --html" rather than removing the test altogether.

Re: Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"?

[Bart Schaefer]

On Aug 26, 11:35am, Axel Beckert wrote:
}
} according to https://wiki.debian.org/Texi2htmlTransition and
} http://www.nongnu.org/texi2html/, texi2html is deprecated and should
} be replaced with makeinfo and appropriate options.

Should we also be defaulting to "makeinfo --pdf" rather than texi2pdf?

I note that we've already started using "texi2html --split=chapter" in
spite of the transition document's claim that --split_chapter is still
the option for texi2html.

I notice we don't have a configure test for the existence of makeinfo, it
is simply assumed, so it should be sufficient just to do this:

diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index c3debd8..593f01c 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -572,8 +572,8 @@ fi
 AC_SUBST(YODL_OPTIONS)
 
 AC_CHECK_PROGS([PDFETEX], [pdfetex], [: pdfetex])
-AC_CHECK_PROGS([TEXI2PDF], [texi2pdf], [])
-AC_CHECK_PROGS([TEXI2HTML], [texi2html], [])
+AC_CHECK_PROGS([TEXI2PDF], [texi2pdf], [makeinfo --pdf])
+AC_CHECK_PROGS([TEXI2HTML], [texi2html], [makeinfo --html])
 AC_CHECK_PROGS([ANSI2KNR], [ansi2knr], [: ansi2knr])
 
 if test x"$ansi2knr" = xyes && test x"$ANSI2KNR" = x": ansi2knr"; then


-- 
Barton E. Schaefer

Re: Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"?

[Bart Schaefer]

On Aug 26, 11:35am, Axel Beckert wrote:
} Subject: Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"
}
} -TEXI2HTML = @TEXI2HTML@ --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files
} +TEXI2HTML = makeinfo --html --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files

Hmm, I should have tried that before sending my other patch.

makeinfo: --split-size arg must be numeric, not `chapter'.

So either the transition document is wrong, or there's a makeinfo version
dependency here.

Re: Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"?

[Axel Beckert]

Hi,

On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 07:35:33AM -0700, Bart Schaefer wrote:
> On Aug 26, 11:35am, Axel Beckert wrote:
> } Subject: Replace deprecated "texi2html" with recommended "makeinfo --html"
> }
> } -TEXI2HTML = @TEXI2HTML@ --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files
> } +TEXI2HTML = makeinfo --html --output . --ifinfo --split=chapter --node-files
> 
> Hmm, I should have tried that before sending my other patch.
> 
> makeinfo: --split-size arg must be numeric, not `chapter'.
> 
> So either the transition document is wrong, or there's a makeinfo version
> dependency here.

I think the latter. makeinfo got pickier about its arguments with
texinfo 5.x -- then again my version worked with texinfo 5.x, so I
suspect it may not work properly or at least differently with earlier
versions.

		Kind regards, Axel
-- 
/~\  Plain Text Ribbon Campaign                   | Axel Beckert
\ /  Say No to HTML in E-Mail and News            | abe@deuxchevaux.org  (Mail)
 X   See http://www.asciiribbon.org/              | abe@noone.org (Mail+Jabber)
/ \  I love long mails: http://email.is-not-s.ms/ | http://noone.org/abe/ (Web)