5

When I type C-h r I get error:

Debugger entered--Lisp error: (error "Info file emacs does not exist") signal(error ("Info file emacs does not exist")) error("Info file %s does not exist" "emacs") Info-find-file("emacs")
Info-find-node("emacs" "Top") Info-goto-node("(emacs)")
info-setup("emacs" #) info("emacs")
info-emacs-manual() call-interactively(info-emacs-manual nil nil)

I am using Emacs 24.3 on Ubuntu 14.04. (I have installed package emacs24-common-non-dfsg.. )

Håkon Hægland
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4 Answers4

13

That error is because the full documentation is not installed by default.

Solve it by installing emacs25-common-non-dfsg

# aptitude install emacs25-common-non-dfsg

Test it by trying,

C-h i h

It should now work.

Stefan
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music
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  • It is interesting to know that GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) is [at odds](https://www.debian.org/vote/2006/vote_001) with Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG). This is the reason why it is not included in the first place. – Lei Zhao Jul 26 '20 at 23:30
2

You have to set the correct path to the Emacs info files in the INFOPATH environment variable:

export INFOPATH=$INFOPATH:/usr/share/info/emacs-24
Håkon Hægland
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1

I found it easier to build Emacs from source: you get not only full Emacs documentation but also a more recent version, presently 27.1 instead of 26.3 (in Ubuntu 20.10).

Configure is straightforward because all the dependencies can be obtianed with: sudo apt-get build-dep emacs.

Add to $INFOPATH: /usr/local/share/info /usr/share/info/emacs /usr/share/info.

Pierre ALBARÈDE
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0

Just setting INFOPATH didn't solve it for me.

I'm running Debian 9.4 derived Bunsen Helium. Somehow, I didn't get info, or the Emacs info files installed. So:
Set INFOPATH in .bashrc:

export INFOPATH=/usr/share/info
export INFOPATH=$INFOPATH:/usr/share/info/emacs

Then installed info: 

$ sudo apt-get install info

Then downloaded these gnu info files and installed them in directory /usr/share/info/emacs
(did it as root)
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/info/emacs.info.gz
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/info/elisp.info.gz

Finally, upgraded my emacs version (got me up to Emacs 25.2.2): 

$ sudo apt-get install emacs

Not sure if all this was the 'right' way to do it, but I'm tired of fooling with it...

AAAfarmclub
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    Did you install the `emacs25-common-non-dfsg` package? – phils Sep 24 '18 at 10:37
  • Just tried it. Way easier than what I was doing. Seems to put the info files in: /usr/share/info/emacs-25. Still need – AAAfarmclub Sep 25 '18 at 00:36
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    It's really unfortunate, but Debian sees certain usage of the GNU Free Documentation License as non-free by their own definitions, and consequently installs Emacs (and doubtless other packages) without the documentation (which of course is really a crucial component of the application). Which explains why it's in a separate package (and the `non-dfsg` suffix). Refer to https://www.linux.com/news/debian-decides-gnu-free-documentation-license – phils Sep 25 '18 at 00:47
  • Tried to edit my comment, but some stupid 5 minute limit just tossed it... – AAAfarmclub Sep 25 '18 at 00:56