path: root/contrib/texinfo/NEWS

Copyright (C) 1992, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000, 01, 02
Free Software Foundation.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.  

This file records noteworthy changes.

4.1 (4 March 2002)
* Language:
  . new commands @verbatim and @verb for printing verbatim inserts.
  . new command @verbatiminclude for verbatim include of files.
  . new environment @documentdescription for defining the HTML description.
  . new command @afivepaper for the A5 paper size.
* makeinfo:
  . supports xml and docbook output.
  . supports HTML splitting by node, which is now the default.
  . new option --split-size to control maximum size of split info files.
* info:
  . user-specified key bindings supported.
  . ANSI escape sequences (as produced by groff) removed from man output
    by default; use --raw-escapes to let them through if your terminal
    supports them.
* texinfo.tex:
  . @math implies @tex, so all the usual plain TeX math is supported.
  . smaller fonts for @smallexample, in all page sizes.
  . improvements in the PDF support.
* texi2dvi:
  . new option -o to explicitly specify output filename.
* Distribution:
  . switch to GNU Free Documentation License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/).
  . update to GNU gettext 0.11, autoconf 2.52, and automake 1.5.
  . Danish, Swedish, and Hebrew message translations.

4.0 (28 September 1999)
* Language:
  . New command @anchor for cross references to arbitrary points.
  . New commands @documentlanguage sets the main document language,
    and @documentencoding sets the document input encoding (although not
    much is done yet with either).
  . New command @pagesizes allows limited control of text area for typesetting.
  . New command @acronym for abbreviations in all caps, such as `NASA'.
  . New command @alias for simple command aliases.
  . New command @definfoenclose for better control of info output.
  . New commands @deftypeivar for typed instance variables of a class
    and @deftypeop for typed operations of a class.
  . New command @novalidate suppresses cross-reference checking and (in
    TeX) auxiliary file creation.
  . New commands @setcontentsaftertitlepage and
    @setshortcontentsaftertitlepage to force printing the table of
    contents after @end titlepage.  Also, @contents and @shortcontents
    themselves can now appear at the beginning of the document as
    well as the end.
  . New markup commands: @env (for environment variables), @command (for
    command names), @option (for command-line options).
  . New commands @smallformat and @smalldisplay, a la @smallexample.
  . New command @exampleindent to set indentation of example-like
    environments a la @paragraphindent.
  . @uref takes an optional third argument of text to show instead of
    (rather than in addition to) the url for info and dvi output.
  . @footnote works in an @item for a @table.
* texinfo.tex:
  . latest version always at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo.tex (and mirrors).
  . implements @macro.
  . implements @paragraphindent (except asis).
  . @emph and @i use true italic type (cmti) instead of slanted (cmsl).
  . implements pdf output when run with pdftex.
  . better support for internationalization via txi-??.tex files.
  . footnotes now set in a smaller point size.
* makeinfo:
  . supports HTML output with the --html option.
  . implication of --html: @top nodes should be wrapped in @ifnottex
    rather than @ifinfo.  @ifinfo conditionals are not expanded with --html.
  . new option --number-sections to output chapter/section numbers.
  . dashes and quotes are not treated specially in node names.
  . new option --commands-in-node-names to allow @-commands in node names.
    (Not implemented in TeX, and most likely never will be.)
  . @emph output uses _underscores_.
  . @image looks for .png files before .jpg.
  . only output `Making ... file' line when verbose.
  . allow -v as synonym for --verbose.
  . new command line options to specify which conditionals to process
    (but --iftex is not fully implemented).
  . warns if @var contains any of ,[]().
  . @quote-arg implicitly done for all one-argument macros, so commas in
    the argument text are allowed.
  . \\ required in macro body to get single \, no other `escapes' defined.
* info:
  . ISO Latin 1 characters are displayed and input as-is by default.
  . new option --vi-keys to enable vi-like and less-like key bindings.
  . new command S does case-sensitive searching.
  . new commands C-x n and C-x N repeat last search, respectively, in the
    same and in reverse direction, without prompting for the string.  These
    commands are bound to n and N under --vi-keys, like in Less.
  . new command G menu1 menu2 ... searches for menu items from (dir),
    as allowed on the command line.
  . new command O (capital o, not zero) goes directly to the node that
    describes command-line options.
  . new command-line option --show-options causes the node which
    describes command-line options to be the first node displayed.
  . M-prior and M-DEL do new command info-scroll-other-window-backward.
  . / searches like s does.
  . If the search string includes upper-case letters, in both incremental
    and non-incremental search, the search is case-sensitive.
  . S searches case-sensitively even if the search string is all
    lower-case.
  . - makes the argument negative (so e.g. `- /' searches backward).
  . l restores point in the window returned to.
  . SPC/DEL do not move outside the current document.
  . foo.info is found before foo.
  . `info foo --index-search=bar' now searches for bar in foo's index.
  . support for files compressed with bzip2.
* install-info:
  . handles gzipped dir files.
  . sort entries into alphabetical order.
  . install direntries only in preceding dircategory, not in all.
  . --delete does not require the info file to exist.
  . --delete can handle XEmacs-style dir entries.
* texi2dvi:
  . bug fixed: now uses only the @iftex and @tex parts of the source.
  . process LaTeX source as well as Texinfo source.
  . output PDF (using pdftex) with new option --pdf.
  . handles --OPTION=ARG style of command line arguments.
  . new option --batch for progress reports but no interaction.
  . new option --clean to remove all auxiliary files.
  . new option --quiet for silence (unless there are errors).
  . new option -I for specifying directories for @include to search.
  . handles LaTeX files (running BibTeX etc.).
* Fixes to util/gen-dir-node and util/fix-info-dir (formerly util/update-info).
* Distribution:
  . Man pages included.
  . Czech and Norwegian message translations.
  . Various translations for texinfo.tex fixed words included.
  . DJGPP support.


3.12 (3 March 1998)
* Elisp files removed, since they are only usefully distributed with Emacs.
* Restore inclusion of compile-time $(infodir) to INFOPATH.
* install-info creates a proper dir file.
* Various portability fixes.


3.11 (31 July 1997)
* New commands:
  - @uref to make a reference to a url; @url now only indicates such.
  - @image to include graphics (epsf for TeX).
  - @deftypemethod and @deftypemethodx to document methods in strongly
    typed object-oriented languages, such as C++.
  - @html for raw HTML.
  - @ifnothtml @ifnotinfo @ifnottex for more precise conditionals.
  - @kbdinputstyle to control when @kbd uses the slanted typewriter font.
  - @email takes second optional argument.
* texinfo.tex reads texinfo.cnf (if present) for site-wide TeX
  configuration; for example, A4 paper sizes.
* info:
  - arrow keys supported.
  - trailing : in INFOPATH appends default path.
  - new option --index-search for online help support.
* makeinfo:
  - output files removed if errors unless (new option) --force.
  - new option -P to prepend to search path.
  - macro expansion file can be standard output.
* install-info creates a new dir file if necessary.
* update-info script to create a dir file from all info files.
* Elisp: texnfo-tex.el and detexinfo.el removed from the distribution;
  - texnfo-tex features are now part of standard TeX & Texinfo packages;
  - makeinfo --no-headers does a better job than detexinfo.el.
* Documentation:
  - Updates, revisions, corrections in the manual.
  - makeinfo.texi removed, as it was a copy of what was in texinfo.texi.
* gettext support in sources, French and German translations included.
* info man page removed; use the Texinfo manual.
* Automake used, other portability fixes.

3.10 (nonexistent)


3.9 (4 October 1996)
* makeinfo:
  - Give a suppressible (with --no-validate) error for references
    outside of any node.
  - Keep track of multitable output correctly for split files; this
    caused nodes after the first multitable to be ``undefined''.
* install-info:
  - Rename --infodir option to --info-dir.
  - More robust error checking to avoid various crashes.
* configure: Include replacements for memcpy and memmove functions in
  the distribution, in case they are missing.


3.8 (30 September 1996)
* Define and/or document new and/or previously existing commands:
  Accents: @" @' @, @" @= @^ @` @~ @H @d @dotaccent @dotless @ringaccent
    @tieaccent @u @ubaraccent @v
  Special characters: @AA @AE @L @O @OE @aa @ae @exclamdown @l @o @oe
    @pounds @questiondown @ss
  Special punctuation: @! @? @enddots
  dir file maintenance: @dircategory @direntry; also new program, install-info
  HTML support: @email @url @ifhtml...@end ifhtml
  Macros: @macro @unmacro
  Tables: @multitable @tab
  Hyphenation: @- @hyphenation
  Spacing: @  @<TAB> @<NEWLINE>
  Sectioning:
    @headings singleafter/doubleafter (change heading style after current page)
    @centerchap
    @setchapterstyle
  Other:
    @shorttitlepage (simple title pages)
    @detailmenu...@end detailmenu (help makeinfo parse master menus)
* Makeinfo prefers an input file named `foo.texinfo' or `foo.texi' or
  `foo.txinfo' to just `foo' (the latter most likely being an executable).
* Makeinfo implements @. @! @? correctly, as end-of-sentence punctuation.
* @key marks its argument with a lozenge in TeX and <...> in Info.
* TeX output has substantially decreased interline spacing and other
  formatting changes.
* Remove these obsolete and never-documented commands:
    @infotop
    @infoappendix @infoappendixsec @infoappendixsubsec @infoappendixsubsubsec
    @infochapter @infosection @infosubsection @infosubsubsection
    @infounnumbered @infounnumberedsec @infounnumberedsubsec
      @infounnumberedsubsubsec
    @input
    @smallbreak @medbreak
    @overfullrule
    @br
* Deprecate these obsolete commands, to be removed in the next release:
    @ctrl
    @infoinclude
    @iappendix @iappendixsection @iappendixsec @iappendixsubsec
      @iappendixsubsubsec
    @ichapter @isection @isubsection @isubsubsection
    @iunnumbered @iunnumberedsec @iunnumberedsubsec @iunnumberedsubsubsec
    @setchapterstyle
    @titlespec


3.7 (24 December 1995)
* Have --version print texinfo release number as well as the individual
  program version.
* Better man page cleaning.
* Update Elisp files from current Emacs release.


3.6 (21 June 1995)
* Unmatched brace error reporting improved.
* Missing comment terminator prevented compilation.


3.5 (20 June 1995)
* Autoconf update.
* Support for parallel makes.
* make install does not install Elisp files.


3.4 (19 June 1995)
* Handle @ifhtml in Elisp.
* Update FSF address.


3.3 (15 June 1995)
* Portability changes.
* Compile Elisp files.
* Don't distribute .info* files.


3.2 (9 June 1995)
* Standalone Info can read Unix man pages.
* New commands: @! @? @^ @" @enddots.
* makeinfo -E does macro expansion (and nothing else).


3.1 (23 May 1993)
Just bug fixes, see ChangeLog for full details.


3.0: first release of Texinfo version 2, with many new commands.



Here is the separate NEWS for old releases of Info:

Version 2.11,     Sat Apr  1 09:15:21 1995

Changes since 2.7 beta:

Although the basic code remains the same, there are numerous nits
fixed, including some display bugs, and a memory leak.  Some changes
that have taken place with larger impact include the way in which the
(dir) node is built; I have added in support for "localdir"
directories among other things.  Info files may be stored in
compressed formats, and in their own subdirectories; menu items which
do not explicitly name the node to which they are attached have the
menu item name looked up as an Info file if it is not found within the
current document.  This means that the menu item:

* Info::		The Info documentation reader.

in (dir) refers to the info node "(info)Top".

Please see the ChangeLog and documentation for details on other
changes.

Version 2.7 beta, Wed Dec 30 02:02:38 1992
Version 2.6 beta, Tue Dec 22 03:58:07 1992
Version 2.5 beta, Tue Dec  8 14:50:35 1992
Version 2.4 beta, Sat Nov 28 14:34:02 1992
Version 2.3 beta, Fri Nov 27 01:04:13 1992
Version 2.2 beta, Tue Nov 24 09:36:08 1992
Version 2.1 beta, Tue Nov 17 23:29:36 1992

Changes since 2.5 beta:

Note that versions 2.6 and 2.7 Beta were only released to a select group.

* "info-" removed from the front of M-x commands.

* Automatic footnote display.  When you enter a node which contains
  footnotes, and the variable "automatic-footnotes" is "On", Info pops
  up a window containing the footnotes.  Likewise, when you leave that
  node, the window containing the footnotes goes away.

* Cleaner built in documentation, and documentation functions.

  Use:
    o `M-x describe-variable' to read a variable's documenation
    o `M-x describe-key' to find out what a particular keystroke does.
    o `M-x describe-function' to read a function's documentation.
    o `M-x where-is' to find out what keys invoke a particular function.

* Info can "tile" the displayed windows (via "M-x tile-windows").  If
  the variable "automatic-tiling" is "On", then splitting a window or
  deleting a window causes the remaining windows to be retiled.

* You can save every keystroke you type in a "dribble file" by using the
  `--dribble FILENAME' option.  You can initially read keystrokes from an
  alternate input stream with `--restore FILENAME', or by redirecting
  input on the command line `info < old-dribble'.

* New behaviour of menu items.  If the label is the same as the
  target node name, and the node couldn't be found in the current file,
  treat the label as a file name.  For example, a menu entry in "DIR"
  might contain:

    * Emacs::		Cool text-editor.

  Info would not find the node "(dir)Emacs", so just plain "(emacs)"
  would be tried.

* New variable "ISO-Latin" allows you to use European machines with
  8-bit character sets.

* Cleanups in echo area reading, and redisplay.  Cleanups in handling the
  window which shows possible completions.

* Info can now read files that have been compressed.  An array in filesys.c
  maps extensions to programs that can decompress stdin, and write the results
  to stdout.  Currently, ".Z"/uncompress, ".z"/gunzip, and ".Y"/unyabba are
  supported.  The modeline for a compressed file shows "zz" in it.

* There is a new variable "gc-compressed-files" which, if non-zero, says
  it is okay to reclaim the file buffer space allocated to a file which
  was compressed, if, and only if, that file's contents do not appear in
  any history node.

* New file `nodemenu.c' implements a few functions for manipulating
  previously visited nodes.  `C-x C-b' (list-visited-nodes) produces a
  menu of the nodes that could be reached by info-history-node in some
  window.  `C-x b' (select-visited-node) is similar, but reads one of
  the node names with completion.

* Keystroke `M-r' (move_to_screen_line) allows the user to place the cursor at
  the start of a specific screen line.  Without a numeric argument, place the
  cursor on the center line; with an arg, place the cursor on that line.

* Interruptible display implemented.  Basic display speedups and hacks.
* The message "*** Tags Out of Date ***" now means what it says.
* Index searching with `,' (info-index-next) has been improved.
* When scrolling with C-v, C-M-v, or M-v, only "Page Only" scrolling
  will happen.

* Continous scrolling (along with `]' (info-global-next) and `['
  (info-global-prev) works better.  `]' and `[' accept numeric
  arguments, moving that many nodes in that case.

* `C-x w' (info-toggle-wrap) controls how lines wider than the width
  of the screen are displayed.  If a line is too long, a `$' is
  displayed in the rightmost column of the window.

* There are some new variables for controlling the behaviour of Info
  interactively.  The current list of variables is as follows:

  Variable Name      Default Value  Description
  -------------      -------------  -----------
  `automatic-footnotes' On	    When "On", footnotes appear and
				    disappear automatically.

  `automatic-tiling'    Off	    When "On", creating of deleting a
				    window resizes other windows.

  `visible-bell'        Off	    If non-zero, try to use a visible bell.

  `errors-ring-bell'    On	    If non-zero, errors cause a ring.

  `show-index-match'    On	    If non-zero, the portion of the string
				    matched is highlighted by changing its
				    case.

  `scroll-behaviour'    Continuous  One of "Continuous", "Next Only", or
				    "Page Only".  "Page Only" prevents you from
				    scrolling past the bottom or top of a node.
				    "Next Only" causes the Next or Prev node to
				    be selected when you scroll past the bottom
				    or top of a node.  "Continous" moves
				    linearly through the files hierchichal
				    structure.

  `scroll-step'	        0	    Controls how scrolling is done for you when
				    the cursor moves out of the current window.
				    Non-zero means it is the number of lines
				    you would like the screen to shift.  A
				    value of 0 means to center the line
				    containing the cursor in the window.

  `gc-compressed-files' Off	    If non-zero means it is okay to reclaim the
				    file buffer space allocated to a file which
				    was compressed, if, and only if, that
				    file's contents do not appear in the node
				    list of any window.

  `ISO-Latin'	        Off	    Non-zero means that you are using an ISO
				    Latin character set.  By default, standard
				    ASCII characters are assumed.
________________________________________
This release of Info is version 2.5 beta.

Changes since 2.4 beta:

* Index (i) and (,) commands fully implemented.
* "configure" script now shipped with Info.
* New function "set-variable" allows users to set various variables.
* User-settable behaviour on end or beginning of node scrolling.  This
  supercedes the SPC and DEL changes in 2.3 beta.

________________________________________
This release of Info is version 2.4 beta.

Changes since 2.3 beta:

* info-last-node now means move to the last node of this info file.
* info-history-node means move backwards through this window's node history.
* info-first-node moves to the first node in the Info file.  This node is
  not necessarily "Top"!
* SPC and DEL can select the Next or Prev node after printing an informative
  message when pressed at the end/beg of a node.

----------------------------------------
This release of Info is version 2.3 beta.

Changes since 2.2 beta:

* M-x command lines if NAMED_COMMANDS is #defined.  Variable in Makefile.
* Screen height changes made quite robust.
* Interactive function "set-screen-height" implements user height changes.
* Scrolling on some terminals is faster now.
* C-l with numeric arguement is fixed.

----------------------------------------
This release of Info is version 2.2 beta.

Changes since 2.0:

* C-g can now interrupt multi-file searches.
* Incremental search is fully implemented.
* Loading large tag tables is much faster now.
* makedoc.c replaces shell script, speeding incremental builds.
* Scrolling in redisplay is implemented.
* Recursive uses of the echo area made more robust.
* Garbage collection of unreferenced nodes.