[tex-live] texdoc perl

Zdenek Wagner zdenek.wagner at gmail.com
Wed Dec 11 00:33:43 CET 2013


2013/12/10 Reinhard Kotucha <reinhard.kotucha at web.de>:
> On 2013-12-10 at 08:53:30 -0500, bnb at ams.org wrote:
>
>  > as much as i hate to do it, i need to bring
>  > this up again.
>  >
>  >     [...]
>  >
>  >     You might say, if there is no simple match, just say "not found", but
>  >     that would make texdoc *much* *much* less useful, because now you
>  >     can search with very unspecified terms and texdoc tries to find something
>  >     matching.
>  >
>  > i must first mention that this is with tex
>  > live 2012 (we haven't yet installed the 2013
>  > distribution in an easily accessible place).
>  >
>  > i just tried that with a really tex-related
>  > name that i knew did not exist, and got this:
>  >
>  >   bnb at tdev:~> texdoc amstheorem
>  >   Sorry, no documentation found for amstheorem.
>  >   If you are unsure about the name, try searching CTAN's TeX catalogue at
>  >   http://ctan.org/search.html#byDescription.
>  >   bnb at tdev:~>
>  >
>  > that's nice and helpful.
>
> Yes, this happens because there is no match for "amstheorem", neither
> in a file- nor in a directory name.  texdoc can't proceed and points
> you to CTAN.
>
> But assume that the documentation of package "foo" is called
> "manual.pdf".  In this case people expect that texdoc finds the PDF
> file.  texdoc's approach is based on heuristics, aliases, and to some
> extent on the TeX Catalogue.
>
> If there is no direct match, the directory name is taken into account.
> It's obvious that this can lead to unexpected results.
>
> Names like "manual.pdf" are quite common.  The reason is that files
> called <package>.pdf are usually created from .dtx files.  If a
> package author decides to provide separate files for the commented
> source code as well as the user manual, it's clear that the latter
> can't be called <package>.pdf.
>
There is another reason, some packages are older than TeX Live and
MiKTeX. Many years ago their original authors did not know that one
day a TeX distribution will appear. At that old time manual was the
right name.

> A perfect solution can only be based on aliases and/or the TeX
> Catalogue.  I have no idea how much effort is needed in order to
> avoid the heuristics but I fear that without a few additional
> volunteers it's unfeasible.
>
> For the time being we have to live with the shortcomings.  The problem
> is not that the concept is wrong but the lack of volunteers.
>
> Regards,
>   Reinhard
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
> Marschnerstr. 25
> D-30167 Hannover                              mailto:reinhard.kotucha at web.de
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------



-- 
Zdeněk Wagner
http://hroch486.icpf.cas.cz/wagner/
http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz



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