Re: @exampleindent macro does not seem to have effect

On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 08:55:22PM +0000, Gavin Smith wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 09:06:13PM +0100, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> > Does anyone know what is supposed to be the difference between
> > @exampleindent asis and 0?  The manual says:
> > 
> > ‘asis’
> >      Do not change the existing indentation (not implemented in printed
> >      output).
> > 
> > 0
> >      Omit all indentation.
> > 
> > Since in all the @example and similar environments spaces are kept as
> > is, I don't understand what could be the difference.
> 
> I don't know.  There appears to have been uncertainty of the meaning
> of '@exampleindent asis' when the command was first introduced.
> 
> Comment in texinfo.tex:
> 
> % @exampleindent NCHARS
> % We'll use ems for NCHARS like @paragraphindent.
> % It seems @exampleindent asis isn't necessary, but
> % I preserve it to make it similar to @paragraphindent.
> 
> The @paragraphindent command is older.  (I wouldn't know what it did
> without looking into it.)  So I suppose that it should be as consistent
> with @paragraphindent as possible.

For @paragraphindent asis makes sense.

> Old email from 1999:
> 
> Reply:
> 
>   I wrote patch although I'm not sure this is what he wants.
>   I made `@exampleindent asis' to do nothing, to make it
>   similar to @exampleindent. You may remove it.
>   
> Yoshiki Hayashi sent a patch to makeinfo as well as the implementation
> in texinfo.tex in that email.

I think that we should deprecate @exampleindent asis and remove it
from the manual.  We can keep it as a synonym of @exampleindent 0
for some time, though.

-- 
Pat