From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on dcvr.yhbt.net X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-4.1 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_00,MAILING_LIST_MULTI, RCVD_IN_DNSWL_MED,RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_H4,RCVD_IN_MSPIKE_WL,SPF_HELO_PASS, SPF_PASS shortcircuit=no autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from lists.gnu.org (lists.gnu.org [209.51.188.17]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by dcvr.yhbt.net (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 0D7E11F4B4 for ; Sun, 27 Dec 2020 01:05:43 +0000 (UTC) Received: from localhost ([::1]:59616 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1ktKVB-0006Rq-TK for normalperson@yhbt.net; Sat, 26 Dec 2020 20:05:41 -0500 Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:59528) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1ktKV6-0006PF-O9; Sat, 26 Dec 2020 20:05:36 -0500 Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::e]:41911) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1ktKV4-00045H-NV; Sat, 26 Dec 2020 20:05:34 -0500 Received: from ams by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.82) (envelope-from ) id 1ktKV4-0005M9-7s; Sat, 26 Dec 2020 20:05:34 -0500 From: "Alfred M. Szmidt" To: Paul Eggert In-Reply-To: (message from Paul Eggert on Sat, 26 Dec 2020 16:23:56 -0800) Subject: Re: cmp/diff References: <878s9k8rhw.fsf@latte.josefsson.org> <2437960.L2bZbQ6S5l@omega> <87ft3spgax.fsf@latte.josefsson.org> <4087542.9Ba499KVGE@omega> <7b8233d6-76d1-487e-d724-421780fafc88@cs.ucla.edu> <3d0a0d5f680e0e60a849d018ac02a08914ff0260.camel@josefsson.org> Message-Id: Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2020 20:05:34 -0500 X-BeenThere: bug-gnulib@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: Gnulib discussion list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: simon@josefsson.org, bug-gnulib@gnu.org, bug-standards@gnu.org Errors-To: bug-gnulib-bounces+normalperson=yhbt.net@gnu.org Sender: "bug-gnulib" On 12/26/20 4:07 PM, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote: > install-info does not have an replacement, like say egrep/fgrep -- > this is how we install a dir entry for a info manual. Removing > install-info would be a regression. In practice, GNU installation procedures use install-info in the way that's described in the proposed patch: they test whether install-info is available, and if so they use it. The make-stds.texi file already recomments this practice in its "Standard Targets" section. The proposed patch is doing merely making make-stds coherent; it's not advocating any change to existing best practice for install-info. The example entry in '(standards) Standard Targets' is I think orthogonal, it is for the benefit of the user where installing the node entry is not considered an error but only a "warning" (and then some extra checks because we want to treat real errors as such). Which is quite different from the behaviour we have for other programs -- if you are missing md5sum (or even fgrep) you'd get a hard error. So I really don't see how it makes it coherent, having install-info as a "safe" requirement makes logical sense since our prefered documentation format is info (the original rationale for removing install-info was "its GNU specific"), and why we do some extra sanity checks is to be nice to the user. The change also removes install-info the only rule where it makes sense to use install-info -- post-installation.