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20.2.4 Installing Info Directory Files

When you install an Info file onto your system, you can use the program install-info to update the Info directory file ‘dir’. Normally the makefile for the package runs install-info, just after copying the Info file into its proper installed location.

In order for the Info file to work with install-info, you include the commands @dircategory and @direntry@end direntry in the Texinfo source file. Use @direntry to specify the menu entries to add to the Info directory file, and use @dircategory to specify which part of the Info directory to put it in. Here is how these commands are used in this manual:

@dircategory Texinfo documentation system
@direntry
* Texinfo: (texinfo).           The GNU documentation format.
* install-info: (texinfo)Invoking install-info. …
…
@end direntry

Here’s what this produces in the Info file:

INFO-DIR-SECTION Texinfo documentation system
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Texinfo: (texinfo).           The GNU documentation format.
* install-info: (texinfo)Invoking install-info. …
…
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY

The install-info program sees these lines in the Info file, and that is how it knows what to do.

Always use the @direntry and @dircategory commands near the beginning of the Texinfo input, before the first @node command. If you use them later on in the input, install-info will not notice them.

If you use @dircategory more than once in the Texinfo source, each usage specifies the ‘current’ category; any subsequent @direntry commands will add to that category.

Here are some recommended @dircategory categories:

GNU packages
GNU programming tools
GNU programming documentation
GNU Emacs Lisp
GNU libraries
TeX
Individual utilities

The idea is to include the ‘Invoking’ node for every program installed by a package under ‘Individual utilities’, and an entry for the manual as a whole in the appropriate other category.


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