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I’m trying to learn Texinfo to write a book.

I started from the sample file here.

As far as I understand from this page Contents is created automatically. And it works for the PDF output.

But I don’t see the Contents or Index on the HTML output.

By "Contents" I mean a page like this.

Also, I’m using makeinfo —html file-name.texi but on this page they recommend texi2any. When I try texi2any —html file-name.texi I get "no such command error".

(I'm using emacs Texinfo Minor Mode.)

I copy my Texfinfo file below:

@title Sample Title
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@insertcopying
@end titlepage
     
@c Output the table of the contents at the beginning.
@contents
     
@ifnottex
@node Top
@top GNU Sample
     
@insertcopying
@end ifnottex
     
@menu
* First Chapter::    The first chapter is the
                           only chapter in this sample.
* Second Chapter::
* Third Chapter::
* Index::            Complete index.
@end menu
     
     
@node First Chapter
@chapter First Chapter
     
@cindex chapter, first
     
This is the first chapter.
@cindex index entry, another
     
Here is a numbered list.
     
@enumerate
@item
This is the first item.
     
@item
This is the second item.
@end enumerate

@node Second Chapter
@chapter Second Chapter
     This is the second chapter

@node Third Chapter
@chapter Third Chapter
     This is the third chapter

@node Index
@unnumbered Index
     
@printindex cp
     
@bye
zeynel
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  • 8

2 Answers2

1

Don't waste your time learning TexInfo ... instead rely on org-mode to create texi and info files.

FWIW, The Org manual itself is written in org and gets exported via ox-texinfo to texi and other formats like info, html and pdf files.

Do

(require 'ox-texinfo)

and while visiting a org file, do C-c C-e i o.

If you take a look Org mode's Makefile, you will get recipes for converting texi files to html and pdf.

  1. https://github.com/bzg/org-mode/blob/4d8d7d6cb42e388572b4f5d227e9b3c9da6ca4a7/mk/default.mk#L173

ox-texinfo

  • That's great, thanks! Do you know if I can add to the org file Texinfo commands like `@smallbook`? And there were some errors added during conversion like it added `@documentencoding UTF-8` which gives an error. – zeynel Sep 21 '22 at 13:29
  • Also menu items did not work well, I don't know how to handle that. Otherwise it looks great. So, I compose the whole book as one org file with Chapters as first headings, and subsections as secondary headings and then convert the file to `.texi`, right? – zeynel Sep 21 '22 at 13:32
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    Why don't you update the question with a small `org` snippet that you want to convert in to a book. It is better if you share it as a `gist` on `github` or as `pastebin` text. It is easier to understand your problems, if you give me examples. Post the `org` file, post the `errors` etc. and let me see if I can help you in anyway. –  Sep 21 '22 at 13:36
  • Ok. I added a test org file and resulting `.texi` file to github https://github.com/azeynel/texinfo It looks good but, one major issue is that it did not recognize the Latex equations. I think Texinfo only uses plain text `Tex`. Is there a way to make Texinfo recognize the Latex code? – zeynel Sep 21 '22 at 15:07
  • I put the html here http://cavendish-deneyi.com/test/Introduction.html#Introduction – zeynel Sep 21 '22 at 15:08
  • It would be nice to have the Contents on a separate page like this https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/index.html#SEC_Contents but I don't know how this is done. – zeynel Sep 21 '22 at 15:11
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    Support for math equations in `texinfo` is only couple of days old [PATCH Re: No mathematics in Texinfo exports](https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2022-09/msg00382.html). If you want the nodes to be NOT split then do, `makeinfo --html --number-sections --number-sections --no-split --css-ref "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual.css"`. I don't know how you setup file is ` ~/.emacs.d/org-templates/level-0.org`. Anyways, looks like you have figured out most of the things. –  Sep 22 '22 at 02:12
  • I have Texinfo 6.8 installed, I exported again but still does not recognize the equations. Do I need to make any changes? – zeynel Sep 22 '22 at 07:27
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    Are you running `org-mode` from git? If `C-h v org-texinfo-with-latex` doesn't report anything, you aren't running the very very latest org version. If you know how to patch locally, apply this patch https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git/commit/?id=c940b460c7bb31e98089286a5a45306cc27034cc. –  Sep 22 '22 at 07:39
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    If you are in a hurry, download https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs/org-mode.git/plain/lisp/ox-texinfo.el?id=c940b460c7bb31e98089286a5a45306cc27034cc. Do `M-x load-file ` and try exporting it again. MAY BE MAY BE it works, if luck is on your side. –  Sep 22 '22 at 07:45
  • You referenced this: `makeinfo --html --number-sections --number-sections --no-split --css-ref "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual.css"` but it gave an error for `—css-ref`. Instead I used `--css-include="file-path-to-css"` I didn't get an error with the command but it could not open the GNU css file. I tried my own css file, `--css-include="http://cavendish-deneyi.com/css/worg-classic-new.css"` it could not open that either. Any suggestions? – zeynel Sep 22 '22 at 09:45
  • I don't know how to patch locally. I thought of writing equations as text. http://cavendish-deneyi.com/test/Introduction.html#Introduction – zeynel Sep 22 '22 at 09:50
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If you are interested in creating Table of Contents ...

When in an org buffer do

C-c C-e d #

and make sure that the option toc has value t.

If you are interested in creating index-es look for #+cindex, #+vindex etc in the org-manual.org.

See also Org Manual: Texinfo Export: Indices

or

Copy the following snippet to your *scratch* buffer, go to the end of line and do C-x C-e.

(info "(org) Indices")

Support for math equations in texinfo is only couple of days old PATCH Re: No mathematics in Texinfo exports.

If you want the nodes to be NOT split then do,

makeinfo --html --number-sections --number-sections --no-split --css-ref "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual.css"`