Re: Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable
On Mon, 22 Jan 2018, Nishan Singh Mann wrote:
Hello, on Ubuntu 17.10 which to my knowledge is based on Debian
unstable, installing Emacs via $sudo apt install emacs and then
trying to view the Emacs manual using C-h r fails with error "Info
file emacs does not exist" The same set of instructions on Ubuntu
16.04 works and one ends up with a local copy of the GNU emacs
manual. Did the documentation get delegated to another package or am
I missing something? Thanks, Nishan
A little web-searching shows that someone with usernames not
dissimilar to yours has recently asked this question in other fora,
and received terse answers similar to the ones posted here thus
far.[1]
Below is an attempted ELI5 (explain-like-I'm-5-years-old answer).
Caveat 1: This is the debian-user list. You say you are using Ubuntu,
not debian, so you really would have done better to pursue this
question on an Ubuntu forum/list. It has been many years since I ran
Ubuntu, and make no claims to know best ubuntu-practice.
Caveat 2: You don't mention what emacs version you are using. I will
assume you are using emacs24.
First I will describe what I do, as a debian user, to install emacs
documentation. This will answer the question implicit in your subject
line, which is not identical to the question you pose in your message
body.
Then I will discuss what little I know (or believe I know) about
translating that workflow to ubuntu.
IN DEBIAN
In /etc/apt/sources.list, I have an entry that normally looks like
this,
deb http://debian.univ-lorraine.fr/debian/ stretch main
with
* a TYPE (deb)
* a URI (http://...)
* a SUITE (stretch)
* and one or more COMPONENTS (main)
When I want to install the emacs documentation, I just append
"non-free" to the components on that line, changing the line above to…
deb http://debian.univ-lorraine.fr/debian/ stretch main non-free
…and then I run
# apt-get update
so that my local package lists are updated to include the non-free
packages on offer from the repository referenced by that line in
sources.list.
Then I install the emacs documentation with
# apt-get install emacs24-common-non-dfsg
(or whatever package contains the docs for my emacs version).
After installing the full emacs documentation, I usually edit my
sources.list once again, to remove the "non-free" component, since
installing emacs documentation is the only time I require non-free
packages.
FOR UBUNTU
As I recall, Ubuntu names its components somewhat differently; I don't
believe it has a component named "non-free". So some translation is
required to apply the workflow above to an Ubuntu system. It is my
understanding that the Ubuntu's emacs24-common-non-dfsg package is in
the "universe" component.
So I expect that substituting "universe" for "non-free" in the
workflow above, would do what you want.
I hope this helps. Good luck.
NOTES
1. For example: https://askubuntu.com/questions/998527/emacs-info-manual-missing-in-ubuntu-17-10
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