freebsd-nq/gnu/usr.bin/texinfo/info-files/info.info

This is Info file info.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the input
file info.texi.

   This file describes how to use Info, the on-line, menu-driven GNU
documentation system.

   Copyright (C) 1989, 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

   Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
preserved on all copies.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a
permission notice identical to this one.

   Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified
versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a
translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.


File: info.info,  Node: Top,  Next: Getting Started,  Prev: (dir),  Up: (dir)

Info: An Introduction
*********************

   Info is a program for reading documentation, which you are using now.

   To learn how to use Info, type the command `h'.  It brings you to a
programmed instruction sequence.

   To learn advanced Info commands, type `n' twice.  This brings you to
`Info for Experts', skipping over the .  `Getting Started' chapter.

* Menu:

* Getting Started::
* Advanced Info::
* Create an Info File::


File: info.info,  Node: Getting Started,  Next: Advanced Info,  Prev: Top,  Up: Top

Getting Started
***************

   This first part of the Info manual describes how to get around inside
of Info.  The second part of the manual describes various advanced Info
commands, and how to write an Info as distinct from a Texinfo file.
The third part is about how to generate Info files from Texinfo files.

* Menu:

* Help-Small-Screen::   Starting Info on a Small Screen
* Help::                How to use Info
* Help-P::              Returning to the Previous node
* Help-^L::             The Space, Rubout, B and ^L commands.
* Help-M::              Menus
* Help-Adv::            Some advanced Info commands
* Help-Q::              Quitting Info


File: info.info,  Node: Help-Small-Screen,  Next: Help,  Up: Getting Started

Starting Info on a Small Screen
===============================

   Since your terminal has an unusually small number of lines on its
screen, it is necessary to give you special advice at the beginning.

   If you see the text `--All----' at near the bottom right corner of
the screen, it means the entire text you are looking at fits on the
screen.  If you see `--Top----' instead, it means that there is more
text below that does not fit.  To move forward through the text and see
another screen full, press the Space bar, SPC.  To move back up, press
the key labeled `Rubout' or `Delete' or DEL.

   Here are 40 lines of junk, so you can try SPC and DEL and see what
they do.  At the end are instructions of what you should do next.

   This is line 17
This is line 18
This is line 19
This is line 20
This is line 21
This is line 22
This is line 23
This is line 24
This is line 25
This is line 26
This is line 27
This is line 28
This is line 29
This is line 30
This is line 31
This is line 32
This is line 33
This is line 34
This is line 35
This is line 36
This is line 37
This is line 38
This is line 39
This is line 40
This is line 41
This is line 42
This is line 43
This is line 44
This is line 45
This is line 46
This is line 47
This is line 48
This is line 49
This is line 50
This is line 51
This is line 52
This is line 53
This is line 54
This is line 55
This is line 56
If you have managed to get here, go back to the beginning with DEL, and
come back here again, then you understand SPC and DEL.  So now type an
`n'--just one character; do not type the quotes and do not type the
Return key, RET, afterward--to get to the normal start of the course.


File: info.info,  Node: Help,  Next: Help-P,  Prev: Help-Small-Screen,  Up: Getting Started

How to use Info
===============

   You are talking to the program Info, for reading documentation.

   Right now you are looking at one "Node" of Information.  A node
contains text describing a specific topic at a specific level of
detail.  This node's topic is "how to use Info".

   The top line of a node is its "header".  This node's header (look at
it now) says that it is the node named `Help' in the file `info'.  It
says that the `Next' node after this one is the node called `Help-P'.
An advanced Info command lets you go to any node whose name you know.

   Besides a `Next', a node can have a `Previous' or an `Up'.  This
node has a `Previous' but no `Up', as you can see.

   Now it is time to move on to the `Next' node, named `Help-P'.

   >> Type `n' to move there.  Type just one character;    do not type
the quotes and do not type a RET afterward.

   `>>' in the margin means it is really time to try a command.


File: info.info,  Node: Help-P,  Next: Help-^L,  Prev: Help,  Up: Getting Started

Returning to the Previous node
==============================

   This node is called `Help-P'.  The `Previous' node, as you see, is
`Help', which is the one you just came from using the `n' command.
Another `n' command now would take you to the next node, `Help-^L'.

   >> But do not do that yet.  First, try the `p' command, which takes
 you to the `Previous' node.  When you get there, you can do an    `n'
again to return here.

   This all probably seems insultingly simple so far, but *do not* be
led into skimming.  Things will get more complicated soon.  Also, do
not try a new command until you are told it is time to.  Otherwise, you
may make Info skip past an important warning that was coming up.

   >> Now do an `n' to get to the node `Help-^L' and learn more.


File: info.info,  Node: Help-^L,  Next: Help-M,  Prev: Help-P,  Up: Getting Started

The Space, Rubout, B and ^L commands.
=====================================

   This node's header tells you that you are now at node `Help-^L', and
that `p' would get you back to `Help-P'.  The node's title is
underlined; it says what the node is about (most nodes have titles).

   This is a big node and it does not all fit on your display screen.
You can tell that there is more that is not visible because you can see
the string `--Top-----' rather than `--All----' near the bottom right
corner of the screen.

   The SPC, DEL and `b' commands exist to allow you to "move around" in
a node that does not all fit on the screen at once.  SPC moves forward,
to show what was below the bottom of the screen.  DEL moves backward,
to show what was above the top of the screen (there is not anything
above the top until you have typed some spaces).

   >> Now try typing a SPC (afterward, type a DEL to return here).

   When you type the SPC, the two lines that were at the bottom of the
screen appear at the top, followed by more lines.  DEL takes the two
lines from the top and moves them to the bottom, *usually*, but if
there are not a full screen's worth of lines above them they may not
make it all the way to the bottom.

   If you type a SPC when there is no more to see, it rings the bell
and otherwise does nothing.  The same goes for a DEL when the header of
the node is visible.

   If your screen is ever garbaged, you can tell Info to print it out
again by typing `C-l' (`Control-L', that is--hold down "Control" and
type an L or `l').

   >> Type `C-l' now.

   To move back to the beginning of the node you are on, you can type a
lot of DELs.  You can also type simply `b' for beginning.

   >> Try that now.  (I have put in enough verbiage to make sure you are
  not on the first screenful now).  Then come back, typing SPC
several times.

   You have just learned a considerable number of commands.  If you
want to use one but have trouble remembering which, you should type a ?
which prints out a brief list of commands.  When you are finished
looking at the list, make it go away by typing a SPC.

   >> Type a ? now.  After it finishes, type a SPC.

   (If you are using the standalone Info reader, type `l' to return
here.)

   From now on, you will encounter large nodes without warning, and
will be expected to know how to use SPC and DEL to move around in them
without being told.  Since not all terminals have the same size screen,
it would be impossible to warn you anyway.

   >> Now type `n' to see the description of the `m' command.


File: info.info,  Node: Help-M,  Next: Help-Adv,  Prev: Help-^L,  Up: Getting Started

Menus
=====

   Menus and the `m' command

   With only the `n' and `p' commands for moving between nodes, nodes
are restricted to a linear sequence.  Menus allow a branching
structure.  A menu is a list of other nodes you can move to.  It is
actually just part of the text of the node formatted specially so that
Info can interpret it.  The beginning of a menu is always identified by
a line which starts with `* Menu:'.  A node contains a menu if and only
if it has a line in it which starts that way.  The only menu you can
use at any moment is the one in the node you are in.  To use a menu in
any other node, you must move to that node first.

   After the start of the menu, each line that starts with a `*'
identifies one subtopic.  The line usually contains a brief name for
the subtopic (followed by a `:'), the name of the node that talks about
that subtopic, and optionally some further description of the subtopic.
Lines in the menu that do not start with a `*' have no special
meaning--they are only for the human reader's benefit and do not define
additional subtopics.  Here is an example:

     * Foo:  FOO's Node      This tells about FOO

   The subtopic name is Foo, and the node describing it is `FOO's Node'.
The rest of the line is just for the reader's Information.  [[ But this
line is not a real menu item, simply because there is no line above it
which starts with `* Menu:'.]]

   When you use a menu to go to another node (in a way that will be
described soon), what you specify is the subtopic name, the first thing
in the menu line.  Info uses it to find the menu line, extracts the
node name from it, and goes to that node.  The reason that there is
both a subtopic name and a node name is that the node name must be
meaningful to the computer and may therefore have to be ugly looking.
The subtopic name can be chosen just to be convenient for the user to
specify.  Often the node name is convenient for the user to specify and
so both it and the subtopic name are the same.  There is an
abbreviation for this:

     * Foo::   This tells about FOO

This means that the subtopic name and node name are the same; they are
both `Foo'.

   >> Now use SPCs to find the menu in this node, then come back to
the front with a `b'.  As you see, a menu is actually visible in    its
node.  If you cannot find a menu in a node by looking at it,    then
the node does not have a menu and the `m' command is not    available.

   The command to go to one of the subnodes is `m'--but *do not do it
yet!*  Before you use `m', you must understand the difference between
commands and arguments.  So far, you have learned several commands that
do not need arguments.  When you type one, Info processes it and is
instantly ready for another command.  The `m' command is different: it
is incomplete without the "name of the subtopic".  Once you have typed
`m', Info tries to read the subtopic name.

   Now look for the line containing many dashes near the bottom of the
screen.  There is one more line beneath that one, but usually it is
blank If it is empty, Info is ready for a command, such as `n' or `b'
or SPC or `m'.  If that line contains text ending in a colon, it mean
Info is trying to read the "argument" to a command.  At such times,
commands do not work, because Info tries to use them as the argument.
You must either type the argument and finish the command you started,
or type `Control-g' to cancel the command.  When you have done one of
those things, the line becomes blank again.

   The command to go to a subnode via a menu is `m'.  After you type
the `m', the line at the bottom of the screen says `Menu item: '.  You
must then type the name of the subtopic you want, and end it with a RET.

   You can abbreviate the subtopic name.  If the abbreviation is not
unique, the first matching subtopic is chosen.  Some menus put the
shortest possible abbreviation for each subtopic name in capital
letters, so you can see how much you need to type.  It does not matter
whether you use upper case or lower case when you type the subtopic.
You should not put any spaces at the end, or inside of the item name,
except for one space where a space appears in the item in the menu.

   Here is a menu to give you a chance to practice.

   * Menu:	   The menu starts here.

   This menu givs you three ways of going to one place, Help-FOO.

   * Foo:  Help-FOO.       A node you can visit for fun.
* Bar:  Help-FOO.       Strange!  two ways to get to the same place.
* Help-FOO::            And yet another!
>>  Now type just an `m' and see what happens:

   Now you are "inside" an `m' command.  Commands cannot be used now;
the next thing you will type must be the name of a subtopic.

   You can change your mind about doing the `m' by typing Control-g.

   >> Try that now;  notice the bottom line clear.

   >> Then type another `m'.

   >> Now type `BAR' item name.  Do not type RET yet.

   While you are typing the item name, you can use the DEL character to
cancel one character at a time if you make a mistake.

   >> Type one to cancel the `R'.  You could type another `R' to
replace it.  You do not have to, since `BA' is a valid abbreviation.

   >> Now you are ready to go.  Type a RET.

   After visiting Help-FOO, you should return here.

   >> Type `n' to see more commands.

   Here is another way to get to  Help-FOO, a menu.  You can ignore this
if you want, or else try it (but then please come back to here).

* Menu:

* Help-FOO::


File: info.info,  Node: Help-FOO,  Up: Help-M

The `u' command
---------------

   Congratulations!  This is the node `Help-FOO'.  Unlike the other
nodes you have seen, this one has an `Up': `Help-M', the node you just
came from via the `m' command.  This is the usual convention--the nodes
you reach from a menu have `Up' nodes that lead back to the menu.
Menus move Down in the tree, and `Up' moves Up.  `Previous', on the
other hand, is usually used to "stay on the same level but go backwards"

   You can go back to the node `Help-M' by typing the command `u' for
"Up".  That puts you at the *front* of the node--to get back to where
you were reading you have to type some SPCs.

   >> Now type `u' to move back up to `Help-M'.


File: info.info,  Node: Help-Adv,  Next: Help-Q,  Prev: Help-M,  Up: Getting Started

Some advanced Info commands
===========================

   The course is almost over, so please stick with it to the end.

   If you have been moving around to different nodes and wish to
retrace your steps, the `l' command (`l' for "last") will do that, one
node at a time.  If you have been following directions, an `l' command
now will get you back to `Help-M'.  Another `l' command would undo the
`u' and get you back to `Help-FOO'.  Another `l' would undo the `m' and
get you back to `Help-M'.

   >> Try typing three `l''s, pausing in between to see what each
`l' does.

   Then follow directions again and you will end up back here.

   Note the difference between `l' and `p': `l' moves to where *you*
last were, whereas `p' always moves to the node which the header says
is the `Previous' node (from this node, to `Help-M').

   The `d' command gets you instantly to the Directory node.  This
node, which is the first one you saw when you entered Info, has a menu
which leads (directly, or indirectly through other menus), to all the
nodes that exist.

   >> Try doing a `d', then do an `l' to return here (yes,    *do*
return).

   Sometimes, in Info documentation, you will see a cross reference.
Cross references look like this: *Note Cross: Help-Cross.  That is a
real, live cross reference which is named `Cross' and points at the
node named `Help-Cross'.

   If you wish to follow a cross reference, you must use the `f'
command.  The `f' must be followed by the cross reference name (in this
case, `Cross').  You can use DEL to edit the name, and if you change
your mind about following any reference you can use `Control-g' to
cancel the command.

   Completion is available in the `f' command; you can complete among
all the cross reference names in the current node.

   >> Type `f', followed by `Cross', and a RET.

   To get a list of all the cross references in the current node, you
can type `?' after an `f'.  The `f' continues to await a cross
reference name even after printing the list, so if you do not actually
want to follow a reference you should type a `Control-g' to cancel the
`f'.

   >> Type "f?" to get a list of the footnotes in this node.  Then type
a    `Control-g' and see how the `f' gives up.

   >> Now type `n' to see the last node of the course.


File: info.info,  Node: Help-Cross,  Up: Help-Adv

The node reached by the cross reference in Info
-----------------------------------------------

   This is the node reached by the cross reference named `Cross'.

   While this node is specifically intended to be reached by a cross
reference, most cross references lead to nodes that "belong" someplace
else far away in the structure of Info.  So you cannot expect the
footnote to have a `Next', `Previous' or `Up' pointing back to where
you came from.  In general, the `l' (el) command is the only way to get
back there.

   >> Type `l' to return to the node where the cross reference was.


File: info.info,  Node: Help-Q,  Prev: Help-Adv,  Up: Getting Started

Quitting Info
=============

   To get out of Info, back to what you were doing before, type `q' for
"Quit".

   This is the end of the course on using Info.  There are some other
commands that are not essential or are meant for experienced users;
they are useful, and you can find them by looking in the directory for
documentation on Info.  Finding them will be a good exercise in using
Info in the usual manner.

   >> Type `d' to go to the Info directory node; then type    `mInfo'
and RET, to get to the node about Info    and see what other help is
available.


File: info.info,  Node: Advanced Info,  Next: Create an Info File,  Prev: Getting Started,  Up: Top

Info for Experts
****************

   This chapter describes various advanced Info commands, and how to
write an Info as distinct from a Texinfo file.  (However, in most
cases, writing a Texinfo file is better, since you can use it *both* to
generate an Info file and to make a printed manual.  *Note Overview of
Texinfo: (texinfo)Top.)

* Menu:

* Expert::              Advanced Info commands: g, s, e, and 1 - 5.
* Add::                 Describes how to add new nodes to the hierarchy.
                          Also tells what nodes look like.
* Menus::               How to add to or create menus in Info nodes.
* Cross-refs::          How to add cross-references to Info nodes.
* Tags::                How to make tag tables for Info files.
* Checking::            Checking an Info File


File: info.info,  Node: Expert,  Next: Add,  Up: Advanced Info

Advanced Info Commands
======================

   `g', `s', `1', - `5', and `e'

   If you know a node's name, you can go there by typing `g', the name,
and RET.  Thus, `gTopRET' would go to the node called `Top' in this
file (its directory node).  `gExpertRET' would come back here.

   Unlike `m', `g' does not allow the use of abbreviations.

   To go to a node in another file, you can include the filename in the
node name by putting it at the front, in parentheses.  Thus,
`g(dir)TopRET' would go to the Info Directory node, which is node `Top'
in the file `dir'.

   The node name `*' specifies the whole file.  So you can look at all
of the current file by typing `g*RET' or all of any other file with
`g(FILENAME)RET'.

   The `s' command allows you to search a whole file for a string.  It
switches to the next node if and when that is necessary.  You type `s'
followed by the string to search for, terminated by RET.  To search for
the same string again, just `s' followed by RET will do.  The file's
nodes are scanned in the order they are in in the file, which has no
necessary relationship to the order that they may be in in the tree
structure of menus and `next' pointers.  But normally the two orders
are not very different.  In any case, you can always do a `b' to find
out what node you have reached, if the header is not visible (this can
happen, because `s' puts your cursor at the occurrence of the string,
not at the beginning of the node).

   If you grudge the system each character of type-in it requires, you
might like to use the commands `1', `2', `3', `4', and `5'.  They are
short for the `m' command together with an argument.  "1", "2", "3",
"4", and "5".  `1' goes through the first item in the current node's
menu; `2' goes through the second item, etc.  Note that numbers larger
than 5 are not allowed.  If the item you want is that far down, you are
better off using an abbreviation for its name than counting.

   The Info command `e' changes from Info mode to an ordinary Emacs
editing mode, so that you can edit the text of the current node.  Type
`C-c C-c' to switch back to Info.  The `e' command is allowed only if
the variable `Info-enable-edit' is non-`nil'.


File: info.info,  Node: Add,  Next: Menus,  Prev: Expert,  Up: Advanced Info

Adding a new node to Info
=========================

   To add a new topic to the list in the directory, you must:

  1. Create a node, in some file, to document that topic.

  2. Put that topic in the menu in the directory.  *Note Menu: Menus.

   The new node can live in an existing documentation file, or in a new
one.  It must have a ^_ character before it (invisible to the user;
this node has one but you cannot see it), and it ends with either a ^_,
a ^L, or the end of file.  Note: If you put in a ^L to end a new node,
be sure that there is a ^_ after it to start the next one, since ^L
cannot *start* a node.  Also, a nicer way to make a node boundary be a
page boundary as well is to put a ^L *right after* the ^_.

   The ^_ starting a node must be followed by a newline or a ^L
newline, after which comes the node's header line.  The header line
must give the node's name (by which Info finds it), and state the names
of the `Next', `Previous', and `Up' nodes (if there are any).  As you
can see, this node's `Up' node is the node `Top', which points at all
the documentation for Info.  The `Next' node is `Menus'.

   The keywords "Node", "Previous", "Up" and "Next", may appear in any
order, anywhere in the header line, but the recommended order is the
one in this sentence.  Each keyword must be followed by a colon, spaces
and tabs, and then the appropriate name.  The name may be terminated
with a tab, a comma, or a newline.  A space does not end it; node names
may contain spaces.  The case of letters in the names is insignificant.

   A node name has two forms.  A node in the current file is named by
what appears after the `Node: ' in that node's first line.  For
example, this node's name is `Add'.  A node in another file is named by
`(FILENAME)NODE-WITHIN-FILE', as in `(info)Add' for this node.  If the
file name is relative, it is taken starting from the standard Info file
directory of your site.  The name `(FILENAME)Top' can be abbreviated to
just `(FILENAME)'.  By convention, the name `Top' is used for the
"highest" node in any single file--the node whose `Up' points out of
the file.  The Directory node is `(dir)'.  The `Top' node of a document
file listed in the Directory should have an `Up: (dir)' in it.

   The node name `*' is special: it refers to the entire file.  Thus,
`g*' shows you the whole current file.  The use of the node `*' is to
make it possible to make old-fashioned, unstructured files into nodes
of the tree.

   The `Node:' name, in which a node states its own name, must not
contain a filename, since Info when searching for a node does not
expect one to be there.  The `Next', `Previous' and `Up' names may
contain them.  In this node, since the `Up' node is in the same file,
it was not necessary to use one.

   Note that the nodes in this file have a file name in the header
line.  The file names are ignored by Info, but they serve as comments
to help identify the node for the user.


File: info.info,  Node: Menus,  Next: Cross-refs,  Prev: Add,  Up: Advanced Info

How to Create Menus
===================

   Any node in the Info hierarchy may have a "menu"--a list of subnodes.
The `m' command searches the current node's menu for the topic which it
reads from the terminal.

   A menu begins with a line starting with `* Menu:'.  The rest of the
line is a comment.  After the starting line, every line that begins
with a `* ' lists a single topic.  The name of the topic-the argument
that the user must give to the `m' command to select this topic--comes
right after the star and space, and is followed by a colon, spaces and
tabs, and the name of the node which discusses that topic.  The node
name, like node names following `Next', `Previous' and `Up', may be
terminated with a tab, comma, or newline; it may also be terminated
with a period.

   If the node name and topic name are the same, than rather than
giving the name twice, the abbreviation `* NAME::' may be used (and
should be used, whenever possible, as it reduces the visual clutter in
the menu).

   It is considerate to choose the topic names so that they differ from
each other very near the beginning--this allows the user to type short
abbreviations.  In a long menu, it is a good idea to capitalize the
beginning of each item name which is the minimum acceptable
abbreviation for it (a long menu is more than 5 or so entries).

   The nodes listed in a node's menu are called its "subnodes", and it
is their "superior".  They should each have an `Up:' pointing at the
superior.  It is often useful to arrange all or most of the subnodes in
a sequence of `Next' and `Previous' pointers so that someone who wants
to see them all need not keep revisiting the Menu.

   The Info Directory is simply the menu of the node `(dir)Top'--that
is, node `Top' in file `.../info/dir'.  You can put new entries in that
menu just like any other menu.  The Info Directory is *not* the same as
the file directory called `info'.  It happens that many of Info's files
live on that file directory, but they do not have to; and files on that
directory are not automatically listed in the Info Directory node.

   Also, although the Info node graph is claimed to be a "hierarchy",
in fact it can be *any* directed graph.  Shared structures and pointer
cycles are perfectly possible, and can be used if they are appropriate
to the meaning to be expressed.  There is no need for all the nodes in
a file to form a connected structure.  In fact, this file has two
connected components.  You are in one of them, which is under the node
`Top'; the other contains the node `Help' which the `h' command goes
to.  In fact, since there is no garbage collector, nothing terrible
happens if a substructure is not pointed to, but such a substructure is
rather useless since nobody can ever find out that it exists.


File: info.info,  Node: Cross-refs,  Next: Tags,  Prev: Menus,  Up: Advanced Info

Creating Cross References
=========================

   A cross reference can be placed anywhere in the text, unlike a menu
item which must go at the front of a line.  A cross reference looks
like a menu item except that it has `*note' instead of `*'.  It
*cannot* be terminated by a `)', because `)''s are so often part of
node names.  If you wish to enclose a cross reference in parentheses,
terminate it with a period first.  Here are two examples of cross
references pointers:

     *Note details: commands.  (See *note 3: Full Proof.)

   They are just examples.  The places they "lead to" do not really
exist!


File: info.info,  Node: Tags,  Next: Checking,  Prev: Cross-refs,  Up: Advanced Info

Tag Tables for Info Files
=========================

   You can speed up the access to nodes of a large Info file by giving
it a tag table.  Unlike the tag table for a program, the tag table for
an Info file lives inside the file itself and is used automatically
whenever Info reads in the file.

   To make a tag table, go to a node in the file using Emacs Info mode
and type `M-x Info-tagify'.  Then you must use `C-x C-s' to save the
file.

   Once the Info file has a tag table, you must make certain it is up
to date.  If, as a result of deletion of text, any node moves back more
than a thousand characters in the file from the position recorded in
the tag table, Info will no longer be able to find that node.  To
update the tag table, use the `Info-tagify' command again.

   An Info file tag table appears at the end of the file and looks like
this:

     ^_
     Tag Table:
     File: info, Node: Cross-refs^?21419
     File: info,  Node: Tags^?22145
     ^_
     End Tag Table

Note that it contains one line per node, and this line contains the
beginning of the node's header (ending just after the node name), a DEL
character, and the character position in the file of the beginning of
the node.


File: info.info,  Node: Checking,  Prev: Tags,  Up: Advanced Info

Checking an Info File
=====================

   When creating an Info file, it is easy to forget the name of a node
when you are making a pointer to it from another node.  If you put in
the wrong name for a node, this is not detected until someone tries to
go through the pointer using Info.  Verification of the Info file is an
automatic process which checks all pointers to nodes and reports any
pointers which are invalid.  Every `Next', `Previous', and `Up' is
checked, as is every menu item and every cross reference.  In addition,
any `Next' which does not have a `Previous' pointing back is reported.
Only pointers within the file are checked, because checking pointers to
other files would be terribly slow.  But those are usually few.

   To check an Info file, do `M-x Info-validate' while looking at any
node of the file with Emacs Info mode.


File: info.info,  Node: Create an Info File,  Prev: Advanced Info,  Up: Top

Creating an Info File from a Makeinfo file
******************************************

   `makeinfo' is a utility that converts a Texinfo file into an Info
file; `texinfo-format-region' and `texinfo-format-buffer' are GNU Emacs
functions that do the same.

   *Note Creating an Info File: (texinfo)Create an Info File, to learn
how to create an Info file from a Texinfo file.

   *Note Overview of Texinfo: (texinfo)Top, to learn how to write a
Texinfo file.



Tag Table:
Node: Top913
Node: Getting Started1431
Node: Help-Small-Screen2179
Node: Help3921
Node: Help-P4949
Node: Help-^L5811
Node: Help-M8462
Node: Help-FOO14030
Node: Help-Adv14766
Node: Help-Cross17148
Node: Help-Q17794
Node: Advanced Info18434
Node: Expert19330
Node: Add21601
Node: Menus24635
Node: Cross-refs27509
Node: Tags28211
Node: Checking29510
Node: Create an Info File30434

End Tag Table