(texinfo) Include Files Evolution

Info Catalog

(texinfo) Sample Include File

(texinfo) Include Files

 
 Evolution of Include Files
 ==========================
 
   When Info was first created, it was customary to create many small
 Info files on one subject.  Each Info file was formatted from its own
 Texinfo source file.  This custom meant that Emacs did not need to make
 a large buffer to hold the whole of a large Info file when someone
 wanted information; instead, Emacs allocated just enough memory for the
 small Info file that contained the particular information sought.  This
 way, Emacs could avoid wasting memory.
 
   References from one file to another were made by referring to the file
DONTPRINTYET  name as well as the node name. ( Referring to Other Info Files
 Other Info Files.  Also, see *Note `@xref' with Four and Five
DONTPRINTYET  name as well as the node name. ( Referring to Other Info Files
 Other Info Files.  Also, see  `@xref' with Four and Five

 Arguments Four and Five Arguments.)
 
   Include files were designed primarily as a way to create a single,
 large printed manual out of several smaller Info files.  In a printed
 manual, all the references were within the same document, so TeX could
 automatically determine the references' page numbers.  The Info
 formatting commands used include files only for creating joint indices;
 each of the individual Texinfo files had to be formatted for Info
 individually.  (Each, therefore, required its own `@setfilename' line.)
 
   However, because large Info files are now split automatically, it is
 no longer necessary to keep them small.
 
   Nowadays, multiple Texinfo files are used mostly for large documents,
 such as `The GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual', and for projects in
 which several different people write different sections of a document
 simultaneously.
 
   In addition, the Info formatting commands have been extended to work
 with the `@include' command so as to create a single large Info file
 that is split into smaller files if necessary.  This means that you can
 write menus and cross references without naming the different Texinfo
 files.
 

Info Catalog

(texinfo) Sample Include File

(texinfo) Include Files