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Re: Intention to re-write /usr/sbin/install-info



Ben Gertzfield <che@imsa.edu> writes:
> I just took a look at the code for install-info, and a peek at all the
> bugs that have been reported on it, and have decided to re-write the
> code entirely.
> 
> The old code is Perl4-based (not a good thing) and has lots of nasty
> hacks and yucky bugs in it.
> 
> So, I figure it won't be too much trouble to just re-write the whole
> thing from scratch. There are only a few problems:
> 
> install-info is a very basic program, and as such probably shouldn't
> require the full perl package. But I need to figure out exactly how
> much Perl is included on the base floppies set -- which modules come
> along for the ride, and all that.

GNU texinfo comes also comes with a program called `install-info'.
This appears to have a different interface from Debian `install-info',
since some Cygnus configure scripts explicitly check for the Debian
`install-info' and _not_ use it.

Since you plan to rewrite `install-info', you may want to see if you can
advertise the other interface too.  Or, maybe rename Debian's version to
`dinstall-info'.

This may not make much sense for pre-packaged installations into `/usr',
but if I want to have a local installation of a GNU util in
$HOME/{bin,man,info,lib}, I want to make sure that Debian's install-info
won't screw up the install.

Thanks,
- Hari
-- 
Raja R Harinath ------------------------------ harinath@cs.umn.edu
"When all else fails, read the instructions."      -- Cahn's Axiom
"Our policy is, when in doubt, do the right thing."   -- Roy L Ash


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