bug#81105: 32.0.50; installed ELPA package info missing on some distros after commit 7c22a7d

Philip Kaludercic <[email protected]> Fri, 07 Aug 2026 20:31:10 +0000
Newsgroups gmane.emacs.bugs
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Philip Kaludercic <[email protected]> writes:

> Eli Zaretskii <[email protected]> writes:
>
>>> From: Philip Kaludercic <[email protected]>
>>> Cc: [email protected],  [email protected],  [email protected]
>>> Date: Sat, 01 Aug 2026 16:22:27 +0000
>>> 
>>> > Yes, documenting this is a good idea.
>>> 
>>> We don't really talk much about Info manuals for packages in the Emacs
>>> manual, so I suggest just adding a footnote to (emacs) Packages:
>>
>> Something like that, yes.
>>
>>> +Emacs Lisp program, sometimes including other components such as an Info
>>> +manual@footnote{Note that if your system sets the @env{INFOPATH}
>>> +environmental variable, without a trailing path separator, then this
>>> +shadow the manuals that Emacs registers during startup, @xref{Other Info
>>    ^^^^^^
>> "shadows".  Also, @xref should be @pxref
>
> Fixed.
>
>> And I wonder whether we should explicitly say that "path separator"
>> means colon or semi-colon, not the slash.
>
> I thought about this as well, an decided not to go into those details
> and explaining when to use colon or a semi-colon, since we reference the
> relevant node in the texinfo manual that goes into that.

Ping?  I still think that the patch below should provide sufficient
context for users to understand the situation:
0001-Warn-about-INFOPATH-shadowing-package-manuals.patch (text/x-diff, 1.6 KB)
From b132cb4bf9e281086c0598534dca9166075c5a84 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Philip Kaludercic <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2026 22:29:38 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Warn about INFOPATH shadowing package manuals

* doc/emacs/package.texi (Packages): Add footnote.  (Bug#81105)
---
 doc/emacs/package.texi | 11 +++++++----
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/emacs/package.texi b/doc/emacs/package.texi
index 871c5214e04..b09fd7c2559 100644
--- a/doc/emacs/package.texi
+++ b/doc/emacs/package.texi
@@ -21,10 +21,13 @@ Packages
 @cindex Emacs Lisp package archive
   Packages can also be provided by @dfn{package archives}, which are
 large collections of Emacs Lisp packages.  Each package is a separate
-Emacs Lisp program, sometimes including other components such as an
-Info manual.  Emacs includes a facility that lets you easily download
-and install packages from such archives.  The rest of this chapter
-describes this facility.
+Emacs Lisp program, sometimes including other components such as an Info
+manual@footnote{Note that if your system sets the @env{INFOPATH}
+environmental variable, without a trailing path separator, then this
+shadows the manuals that Emacs registers during startup, @xref{Other Info
+Directories,,,texinfo, Texinfo}.}.  Emacs includes a facility that lets
+you easily download and install packages from such archives.  The rest
+of this chapter describes this facility.
 
   To list the packages available for installation from package
 archives, type @w{@kbd{M-x list-packages @key{RET}}}.  It brings up a
-- 
2.47.3