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There are three major shell commands for making a printed manual from a Texinfo file: one for converting the Texinfo file into a file that will be printed, a second for sorting indices, and a third for printing the formatted document. When you use the shell commands, you can either work directly in the operating system shell or work within a shell inside GNU Emacs.
If you are using GNU Emacs, you can use commands provided by Texinfo mode instead of shell commands. In addition to the three commands to format a file, sort the indices, and print the result, Texinfo mode offers key bindings for commands to recenter the output buffer, show the print queue, and delete a job from the print queue.
The typesetting program called TeX is used for formatting a Texinfo file. TeX is a very powerful typesetting program and, if used correctly, does an exceptionally good job. (See section How to Obtain TeX, for information on how to obtain TeX.)
The makeinfo, texinfo-format-region, and
texinfo-format-buffer commands read the very same @-commands
in the Texinfo file as does TeX, but process them differently to
make an Info file (see section Creating an Info File).
tex and texindex
Format the Texinfo file with the shell command tex followed by
the name of the Texinfo file. For example:
tex foo.texi
TeX will produce a DVI file as well as several auxiliary files containing information for indices, cross references, etc. The DVI file (for DeVice Independent file) can be printed on virtually any device (see the following sections).
The tex formatting command itself does not sort the indices; it
writes an output file of unsorted index data. (The texi2dvi
command automatically generates indices; see section Format with texi2dvi.) To generate a printed index after
running the tex command, you first need a sorted index to work
from. The texindex command sorts indices. (The source file
`texindex.c' comes as part of the standard Texinfo distribution,
among other places.)
The tex formatting command outputs unsorted index files under
names that obey a standard convention: the name of your main input file
with any `.tex' (or similar, see section `tex invocation' in Web2c) extension removed, followed by the two letter names of indices.
For example, the raw index output files for the input file
`foo.texinfo' would be `foo.cp', `foo.vr', `foo.fn',
`foo.tp', `foo.pg' and `foo.ky'. Those are exactly the
arguments to give to texindex.
Instead of specifying all the unsorted index file names explicitly, you can use `??' as shell wildcards and give the command in this form:
texindex foo.??
This command will run texindex on all the unsorted index files,
including any that you have defined yourself using @defindex
or @defcodeindex. (You may execute `texindex foo.??'
even if there are similarly named files with two letter extensions
that are not index files, such as `foo.el'. The texindex
command reports but otherwise ignores such files.)
For each file specified, texindex generates a sorted index file
whose name is made by appending `s' to the input file name. The
@printindex command looks for a file with that name
(see section Index Menus and Printing an Index). texindex does not alter the
raw index output file.
After you have sorted the indices, you need to rerun the tex
formatting command on the Texinfo file. This regenerates the DVI file,
this time with up-to-date index entries.
Finally, you may need to run tex one more time, to get the page
numbers in the cross-references correct.
To summarize, this is a five step process:
tex on your Texinfo file. This generates a DVI file (with
undefined cross-references and no indices), and the raw index files
(with two letter extensions).
texindex on the raw index files. This creates the
corresponding sorted index files (with three letter extensions).
tex again on your Texinfo file. This regenerates the DVI
file, this time with indices and defined cross-references, but with page
numbers for the cross-references from last time, generally incorrect.
texindex.
tex one last time. This time the correct page numbers are
written for the cross-references.
Alternatively, it's a one-step process: run texi2dvi
(see section Format with texi2dvi).
You need not run texindex each time after you run tex. If
you do not, on the next run, the tex formatting command will use
whatever sorted index files happen to exist from the previous use of
texindex. This is usually ok while you are debugging.
Sometimes you may wish to print a document while you know it is
incomplete, or to print just one chapter of a document. In that case,
the usual auxiliary files that TeX creates and warnings TeX gives
when cross-references are not satisfied are just nuisances. You can
avoid them with the @novalidate command, which you must give
before the @setfilename command
(see section @setfilename). Thus, the beginning of
your file would look approximately like this:
\input texinfo @novalidate @setfilename myfile.info ...
@novalidate also turns off validation in
makeinfo, just like its --no-validate option
(see section Pointer Validation).
texi2dvi
The texi2dvi command automatically runs both tex and
texindex as many times as necessary to produce a DVI file with
sorted indices and all cross-references resolved. It simplifies the
tex---texindex---tex---tex sequence
described in the previous section.
To run texi2dvi on an input file `foo.texi', do this (where
`prompt$ ' is your shell prompt):
prompt$ texi2dvi foo.texi
As shown in this example, the input filenames to texi2dvi must
include any extension (`.texi', `.texinfo', etc.). Under
MS-DOS and perhaps in other circumstances, you may need to run `sh
texi2dvi foo.texi' instead of relying on the operating system to invoke
the shell on the `texi2dvi' script.
Perhaps the most useful option to texi2dvi is
`--texinfo=cmd'. This inserts cmd on a line by itself
after the @setfilename in a temporary copy of the input file
before running TeX. With this, you can specify different printing
formats, such as @smallbook (see section Printing "Small" Books),
@afourpaper (see section Printing on A4 Paper), or @pageparams
(see section @pagesizes [width][, height]: Custom page sizes), without actually changing the document source.
(You can also do this on a site-wide basis with `texinfo.cnf';
see section Preparing for TeX).
For a list of other options, run `texi2dvi --help'.
lpr -dThe precise command to print a DVI file depends on your system installation, but `lpr -d' is common. The command may require the DVI file name without any extension or with a `.dvi' extension. (If it is `lpr', you must include the `.dvi'.)
For example, the following commands, will (perhaps) suffice to sort the indices, format, and print the Bison Manual:
tex bison.texinfo texindex bison.?? tex bison.texinfo lpr -d bison.dvi
(Remember that the shell commands may be different at your site; but these are commonly used versions.)
Using the texi2dvi shell script, you simply need type:
texi2dvi bison.texinfo lpr -d bison.dvi
lpr is a standard program on Unix systems, but it is usually
absent on MS-DOS/MS-Windows. Some network packages come with a
program named lpr, but these are usually limited to sending files
to a print server over the network, and generally don't support the
`-d' option. If you are unfortunate enough to work on one of these
systems, you have several alternative ways of printing DVI files:
lpr program, or its clone.
If you can do that, you will be able to print DVI files just like
described above.
lpr which comes with your
network software will have a special option to send a file to specific
queues, like this:
lpr -Qdvi -hprint.server.domain bison.dvi
dvilj, for detailed description of these tools. Once
the DVI file is converted to the format your local printer understands
directly, just send it to the appropriate port, usually `PRN'.
You can give formatting and printing commands from a shell within GNU Emacs. To create a shell within Emacs, type M-x shell. In this shell, you can format and print the document. See section Formatting and Printing Hardcopy, for details.
You can switch to and from the shell buffer while tex is
running and do other editing. If you are formatting a long document
on a slow machine, this can be very convenient.
You can also use texi2dvi from an Emacs shell. For example,
here is how to use texi2dvi to format and print Using and
Porting GNU CC from a shell within Emacs:
texi2dvi gcc.texinfo lpr -d gcc.dvi
Texinfo mode provides several predefined key commands for TeX formatting and printing. These include commands for sorting indices, looking at the printer queue, killing the formatting job, and recentering the display of the buffer in which the operations occur.
texi2dvi on the current buffer.
texinfo-tex-region.
texinfo-tex-region or
texinfo-tex-buffer.
texinfo-show-tex-print-queue).
texinfo-tex-region or texinfo-tex-buffer, or any other
process running in the Texinfo shell buffer.
Thus, the usual sequence of commands for formatting a buffer is as follows (with comments to the right):
C-c C-t C-b Run texi2dvi on the buffer.
C-c C-t C-p Print the DVI file.
C-c C-t C-q Display the printer queue.
The Texinfo mode TeX formatting commands start a subshell in Emacs
called the `*tex-shell*'. The texinfo-tex-command,
texinfo-texindex-command, and tex-dvi-print-command
commands are all run in this shell.
You can watch the commands operate in the `*tex-shell*' buffer, and you can switch to and from and use the `*tex-shell*' buffer as you would any other shell buffer.
The formatting and print commands depend on the values of several variables. The default values are:
Variable Default value
texinfo-texi2dvi-command "texi2dvi"
texinfo-tex-command "tex"
texinfo-texindex-command "texindex"
texinfo-delete-from-print-queue-command "lprm"
texinfo-tex-trailer "@bye"
tex-start-of-header "%**start"
tex-end-of-header "%**end"
tex-dvi-print-command "lpr -d"
tex-show-queue-command "lpq"
You can change the values of these variables with the M-x edit-options command (see section `Editing Variable Values' in The GNU Emacs Manual), with the M-x set-variable command (see section `Examining and Setting Variables' in The GNU Emacs Manual), or with your `.emacs' initialization file (see section `Init File' in The GNU Emacs Manual).
Beginning with version 20, GNU Emacs offers a user-friendly interface, called Customize, for changing values of user-definable variables. See section `Easy Customization Interface' in The GNU Emacs Manual, for more details about this. The Texinfo variables can be found in the `Development/Docs/Texinfo' group, once you invoke the M-x customize command.
Yet another way to apply the TeX formatting command to a Texinfo file
is to put that command in a local variables list at the end of the
Texinfo file. You can then specify the tex or texi2dvi
commands as a compile-command and have Emacs run it by typing
M-x compile. This creates a special shell called the
`*compilation*' buffer in which Emacs runs the compile command.
For example, at the end of the `gdb.texinfo' file, after the
@bye, you could put the following:
Local Variables: compile-command: "texi2dvi gdb.texinfo" End:
This technique is most often used by programmers who also compile programs this way; see section `Compilation' in The GNU Emacs Manual.
Every Texinfo file that is to be input to TeX must begin with a
\input command and must contain an @setfilename command:
\input texinfo @setfilename arg-not-used-by-TeX
The first command instructs TeX to load the macros it needs to process a Texinfo file and the second command opens auxiliary files.
Every Texinfo file must end with a line that terminates TeX's processing and forces out unfinished pages:
@bye
Strictly speaking, these lines are all a Texinfo file needs to be processed successfully by TeX.
Usually, however, the beginning includes an @settitle command to
define the title of the printed manual, an @setchapternewpage
command, a title page, a copyright page, and permissions. Besides an
@bye, the end of a file usually includes indices and a table of
contents. (And of course most manuals contain a body of text as well.)
For more information, see:
@settitle
@setchapternewpage
TeX needs to know where to find the `texinfo.tex' file that you have told it to input with the `\input texinfo' command at the beginning of the first line. The `texinfo.tex' file tells TeX how to handle @-commands; it is included in all standard GNU distributions.
Usually, the `texinfo.tex' file is put under the default directory that contains TeX macros (`/usr/local/share/texmf/tex/texinfo/texinfo.tex' by default) when GNU Emacs or other GNU software is installed. In this case, TeX will find the file and you do not need to do anything special. Alternatively, you can put `texinfo.tex' in the current directory when you run TeX, and TeX will find it there.
Also, you should install `epsf.tex' in the same place as
`texinfo.tex', if it is not already installed from another
distribution. This file is needed to support the @image command
(see section Inserting Images).
Optionally, you may create an additional `texinfo.cnf', and install
it as well. This file is read by TeX when the @setfilename
command is executed (see section @setfilename). You can put any
commands you like there, according to local site-wide conventions. They
will be read by TeX when processing any Texinfo document. For
example, if `texinfo.cnf' contains the line `@afourpaper'
(see section Printing on A4 Paper), then all Texinfo documents will be processed with
that page size in effect. If you have nothing to put in
`texinfo.cnf', you do not need to create it.
If neither of the above locations for these system files suffice for
you, you can specify the directories explicitly. For
`texinfo.tex', you can do this by writing the complete path for the
file after the \input command. Another way, that works for both
`texinfo.tex' and `texinfo.cnf' (and any other file TeX
might read), is to set the TEXINPUTS environment variable in your
`.cshrc' or `.profile' file.
Which you use of `.cshrc' or `.profile' depends on
whether you use a Bourne shell-compatible (sh, bash,
ksh, ...) or C shell-compatible (csh, tcsh)
command interpreter. The latter read the `.cshrc' file for
initialization information, and the former read `.profile'.
In a `.cshrc' file, you could use the following csh command
sequence:
setenv TEXINPUTS .:/home/me/mylib:/usr/lib/tex/macros
In a `.profile' file, you could use the following sh command
sequence:
TEXINPUTS=.:/home/me/mylib:/usr/lib/tex/macros export TEXINPUTS
On MS-DOS/MS-Windows, you would say it like this(10):
set TEXINPUTS=.;d:/home/me/mylib;c:/usr/lib/tex/macros
It is customary for DOS/Windows users to put such commands in the `autoexec.bat' file, or in the Windows Registry.
These settings would cause TeX to look for `\input' file first in the current directory, indicated by the `.', then in a hypothetical user's `me/mylib' directory, and finally in a system directory `/usr/lib/tex/macros'.
Finally, you may wish to dump a `.fmt' file (see section `Memory dumps' in Web2c) so that TeX can load Texinfo faster. (The disadvantage is that then updating `texinfo.tex' requires redumping.) You can do this by running this command, assuming `epsf.tex' is findable by TeX:
initex texinfo @dump
(@dump is a TeX primitive.) You'll then need to move
`texinfo.fmt' to wherever your .fmt files are found;
typically this will be in the subdirectory `web2c' of your TeX
installation, for example, `/usr/local/share/tex/web2c'.
TeX is sometimes unable to typeset a line without extending it into the right margin. This can occur when TeX comes upon what it interprets as a long word that it cannot hyphenate, such as an electronic mail network address or a very long title. When this happens, TeX prints an error message like this:
Overfull @hbox (20.76302pt too wide)
(In TeX, lines are in "horizontal boxes", hence the term, "hbox". `@hbox' is a TeX primitive not needed in the Texinfo language.)
TeX also provides the line number in the Texinfo source file and the text of the offending line, which is marked at all the places that TeX considered hyphenation. See section Catching Errors with TeX Formatting, for more information about typesetting errors.
If the Texinfo file has an overfull hbox, you can rewrite the sentence so the overfull hbox does not occur, or you can decide to leave it. A small excursion into the right margin often does not matter and may not even be noticeable.
If you have many overfull boxes and/or an antipathy to rewriting, you can coerce TeX into greatly increasing the allowable interword spacing, thus (if you're lucky) avoiding many of the bad line breaks, like this:
@tex \global\emergencystretch = .9\hsize @end tex
(You can adjust the fraction as needed.) This huge value for
\emergencystretch cannot be the default, since then the typeset
output would generally be of noticeably lower quality. The default
value is `.15\hsize'. \hsize is the TeX dimension
containing the current line width.
For what overfull boxes you have, however, TeX will print a large, ugly, black rectangle beside the line that contains the overfull hbox unless told otherwise. This is so you will notice the location of the problem if you are correcting a draft.
To prevent such a monstrosity from marring your final printout, write
the following in the beginning of the Texinfo file on a line of its own,
before the @titlepage command:
@finalout
By default, TeX typesets pages for printing in an 8.5 by 11 inch format. However, you can direct TeX to typeset a document in a 7 by 9.25 inch format that is suitable for bound books by inserting the following command on a line by itself at the beginning of the Texinfo file, before the title page:
@smallbook
(Since many books are about 7 by 9.25 inches, this command might better
have been called the @regularbooksize command, but it came to be
called the @smallbook command by comparison to the 8.5 by 11 inch format.)
If you write the @smallbook command between the
start-of-header and end-of-header lines, the Texinfo mode TeX
region formatting command, texinfo-tex-region, will format the
region in "small" book size (see section Start of Header).
See section @small... Block Commands, for information about
commands that make it easier to produce examples for a smaller manual.
See section Format with texi2dvi, and section Preparing for TeX, for other ways to format with @smallbook that do not
require changing the source file.
You can tell TeX to format a document for printing on European size
A4 paper with the @afourpaper command. Write the command on a
line by itself near the beginning of the Texinfo file, before the title
page. For example, this is how you would write the header for this
manual:
\input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- @c %**start of header @setfilename texinfo @settitle Texinfo @afourpaper @c %**end of header
See section Format with texi2dvi, and section Preparing for TeX, for other ways to format with @afourpaper that do not
require changing the source file.
You may or may not prefer the formatting that results from the command
@afourlatex. There's also @afourwide for A4 paper in
wide format.
@pagesizes [width][, height]: Custom page sizes
You can explicitly specify the height and (optionally) width of the main
text area on the page with the @pagesizes command. Write this
on a line by itself near the beginning of the Texinfo file, before the
title page. The height comes first, then the width if desired,
separated by a comma. Examples:
@pagesizes 200mm,150mm
and
@pagesizes 11.5in
This would be reasonable for printing on B5-size paper. To emphasize, this command specifies the size of the text area, not the size of the paper (which is 250mm by 177mm for B5, 14in by 8.5in for legal).
To make more elaborate changes, such as changing any of the page margins, you must define a new command in `texinfo.tex' (or `texinfo.cnf', see section Preparing for TeX).
See section Format with texi2dvi, and section Preparing for TeX, for other ways to specify @pagesizes that do not
require changing the source file.
@pagesizes is ignored by makeinfo.
You can (attempt to) direct TeX to print cropmarks at the corners of
pages with the @cropmarks command. Write the @cropmarks
command on a line by itself between @iftex and @end
iftex lines near the beginning of the Texinfo file, before the title
page, like this:
@iftex @cropmarks @end iftex
This command is mainly for printers that typeset several pages on one
sheet of film; but you can attempt to use it to mark the corners of a
book set to 7 by 9.25 inches with the @smallbook command.
(Printers will not produce cropmarks for regular sized output that is
printed on regular sized paper.) Since different printing machines work
in different ways, you should explore the use of this command with a
spirit of adventure. You may have to redefine the command in
`texinfo.tex'.
You can attempt to direct TeX to typeset pages larger or smaller than
usual with the \mag TeX command. Everything that is typeset
is scaled proportionally larger or smaller. (\mag stands for
"magnification".) This is not a Texinfo @-command, but is a
plain TeX command that is prefixed with a backslash. You have to
write this command between @tex and @end tex
(see section Raw Formatter Commands).
Follow the \mag command with an `=' and then a number that
is 1000 times the magnification you desire. For example, to print pages
at 1.2 normal size, write the following near the beginning of the
Texinfo file, before the title page:
@tex \mag=1200 @end tex
With some printing technologies, you can print normal-sized copies that look better than usual by giving a larger-than-normal master to your print shop. They do the reduction, thus effectively increasing the resolution.
Depending on your system, DVI files prepared with a
nonstandard-\mag may not print or may print only with certain
magnifications. Be prepared to experiment.
You can generate a PDF output file from Texinfo source by using the @command{pdftex} program to process your file instead of plain @command{tex}. Just run `pdftex foo.texi' instead of @samp{tex foo.texi}, or give the `--pdf' option to @command{texi2dvi}.
PDF stands for Portable Document Format, and was invented by Adobe Systems. The file format definition is freely available, as is a free viewer for the X window system. Since PDF is a binary format, there is no `@ifpdf' or `@pdf' command by analogy with the other output formats.
Despite the `portable' in the name, PDF files are nowhere near as portable in practice as the plain ASCII formats (Info, HTML) Texinfo also supports (portability relative to DVI is arguable). They also tend to be much larger and do not support the bitmap fonts used by TeX (by default) very well. Nevertheless, a PDF file does preserve an actual printed document on a screen as faithfully as possible, unlike HTML, say, so have their place.
PDF support in Texinfo is fairly rudimentary.
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