From: brownp@cs.unc.edu (Peter Brown)
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.gnus
Subject: Re: Setting info pages (was Re: Followup: changing the string indicating included text)
Date: 21 Dec 92 16:11:30 GMT
	<AKIY.92Dec8163731@diva.cs.titech.ac.jp>
	<SSAMMY.92Dec9100351@hunter-04.cs.strath.ac.uk>
	<BCR.92Dec13171539@hfl3sn02.cern.ch>
	<SSAMMY.92Dec21113349@fleming-03.cs.strath.ac.uk>
Distribution: gnu
Organization: UNC Department of Computer Science
In-reply-to: ssammy@cs.strath.ac.uk's message of 21 Dec 92 11:33:49 GMT

In article <SSAMMY.92Dec21113349@fleming-03.cs.strath.ac.uk> ssammy@cs.strath.ac.uk (Paul Sammy 4th Year iE/CES) writes:

   >Regarding Re: Followup: changing the string indicating included text; bcr@cernapo.cern.ch (Bill Riemers) adds:

    > Great!  Much better than all those spaces. 

    > I'm sort of new to this game...  How do I actually get emacs to list the
    > supercite help file when I type "^hi" so I can figure out how to clean-up
    > the rest of the citation.

	[... details omitted ...]

    I suggest that you 

	   1)create a directory ~/lib/emacsinfo, 
	   2)set `Info-directory' to point to it, 
	   3)copy dir from the default dir into the `Info-directory'
	   4)edit dir to look at the default directory for all the info
	     pages execept for the supercite one.

	[... some more details omitted ...]

    This method is crummy because you need to keep regular checks on 
    what the sysop adds to the original dir file.

    I'd be surprised if there isn't an easier way than this: because I have 
    had to install the info pages in my system I don't know any other way.

    Paul

Paul's hunch is right on; there is an easier way.  Try using Dave
Gillespie's version of info (which I understand is the info from Emacs
19); it's available for anonymous FTP from
archive.cis.ohio-state.edu:/pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/modes/info.el.Z.
Among other useful things, it uses an Info-directory-list in place of
the Info-directory variable; this list functions a lot like a path.
So say you have an article on GNUS, and you put it in your own private
info directory (Paul called it ~/lib/emacsinfo, so let's stick with
that name).  You make sure that your info file has the same filename
as the one in the system info directory (you can figure this name out
by looking at the reference, the way Paul said), and you add your
~/lib/emacsinfo to the Info-directory-list in front of the system
directory.  (The easy way to do that is to put

(setq Info-directory-list (cons (expand-file-name "~/lib/emacsinfo")
				Info-directory-list))

in your .emacs.)  Now the reference from the system dir file will
bring up *your* article, because that's the first one info finds as it
runs down the Info-directory-list.  Note you don't care what the sysop
does to the original dir file, as long as he doesn't change the name
of his GNUS article.

Take another case: suppose you have some info articles in your
~/lib/emacsinfo directory that have no counterparts in the system info
directory - maybe on SuperCite, for example.  Now, you're still using
the system dir file, which has no reference to SuperCite.  So you make
a file ~/lib/emacsinfo/localdir, and you put a SuperCite reference in
that file, using the standard info format Paul talked about.  This
file will be appended to the system dir file when you go into info,
and you'll see your SuperCite reference sitting down at the bottom;
you use it like any other info reference.  Again, you don't care what
the sysop does to the system dir file (as long as he doesn't add a
reference to SuperCite - if he does that, you're back to the case in
the previous paragraph).

Hope this helps - mail me if any of this gives you trouble.

Peace,
--Peter
--
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"O come, O come, Emmanuel, / And ransom captive Israel
 That mourns in lonely exile here / Until the Son of God appear."
Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.gnus