Next: Invoking install-info, Previous: Other Info Directories, Up: Installing an Info File
When you install an Info file onto your system, you can use the program
install-info
to update the Info directory file dir.
Normally the makefile for the package runs install-info
, just
after copying the Info file into its proper installed location.
In order for the Info file to work with install-info
, you include
the commands @dircategory
and
@direntry
...@end direntry
in the Texinfo source
file. Use @direntry
to specify the menu entries to add to the
Info directory file, and use @dircategory
to specify which part
of the Info directory to put it in. Here is how these commands are used
in this manual:
@dircategory Texinfo documentation system @direntry * Texinfo: (texinfo). The GNU documentation format. * install-info: (texinfo)Invoking install-info. ... ... @end direntry
Here's what this produces in the Info file:
INFO-DIR-SECTION Texinfo documentation system START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY * Texinfo: (texinfo). The GNU documentation format. * install-info: (texinfo)Invoking install-info. ... ... END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
The install-info
program sees these lines in the Info file, and
that is how it knows what to do.
Always use the @direntry
and @dircategory
commands near
the beginning of the Texinfo input, before the first @node
command. If you use them later on in the input, install-info
will not notice them.
As a matter of convention, please start the description for the main entry (above, ‘The GNU documentation format’) at column 32. This will make it align with most others. Description for individual utilities best start in column 48, where possible.
If you use @dircategory
more than once in the Texinfo source,
each usage specifies the `current' category; any subsequent
@direntry
commands will add to that category.
When choosing a category name for the @dircategory
command, we
recommend consulting the Free Software Directory. If your program is not listed there,
or listed incorrectly or incompletely, please report the situation to
the directory maintainers (bug-directory@gnu.org) so that the
category names can be kept in sync.
Here are a few examples (see the util/dir-example file in the
Texinfo distribution for large sample dir
file):
Emacs Localization Printing Software development Software libraries Text creation and manipulation
Each `Invoking' node for every program installed should have a
corresponding @direntry
. This lets users easily find the
documentation for the different programs they can run, as with the
traditional man system.