Re: Texinfo to info command for cross-referencing custom manuals in docstrings

Heime <[email protected]> writes:

>> 3. Some of what you want done is performed by one of many
>> tools that create files when other files are changed.
>> Probably the oldest and most-widely available is called
>> ‘make’.  GNU make is a GNU version of this tool.  Check to
>> see whether it is already on your operating system and, if
>> not, see whether you can install it.  If you can install it,
>> then try the following expression to read the user manual
>> for GNU make: (info "(make) Top")
>> 
>> 4. Write a solution in Emacs Lisp.  See the following
>> section in the Emacs user manual
>>    (info "(emacs) Compilation")
>> 
>> and the following chapter in the Texinfo user manual:
>>    (info "(texinfo) Creating and Installing Info Files")
>
> I would like to update the documentation and have it available 
> as I code.  I currently am using bash script to produce the info 
> file.  Would you suggest using make?
>

It would not be available "as you code".  You would issue an
Emacs command to "compile" your .texinfo file and have the
"compilation" produce the new .info file.  After that, the
documentation would be available (*after* but not *as* you
code).

> Once the info is generated, how can I make an elisp command to
> update the documentation? 

I do not know the solution to the problem of updating your
functions’ docstrings.  That sounds like you would need to
write code that reads your source code (your text file) and
re-writes it.  It is possible to write such a solution
because Emacs Lisp can read and write source files, but it
would be up to you to determine how you would do that.

> Could I put the info generated code 
> in the directory tree that I am currently working on?
>  

If by "info generated code" you mean the new .info file, 
then the details of reading that file are in a sub-section of
the chapter (info "(texinfo) Creating and Installing Info Files").  

The sub-section (which has further sub-sections) is
  (info "(texinfo) Installing an Info File")

>> --
>> The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
>> - Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Birds.
>> 
>> 
>

-- 
The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne.
- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Birds.