On Sun, Jun 29, 2025 at 01:31:31AM +0100, Gavin Smith wrote:
> > > In the default case, when using @documentinfo, the copying text would be
> > > output
> > > on the verso of the title page in PDF output. No separate command would
> > > be
> > > necessary.
> >
> > It is necessary if the user wants a specific formatting different than
> > the default.
>
> Could we support input like the following?
>
> @documentinfo
> @title Texinfo
> @subtitle The GNU Documentation Format
> @subtitle for Texinfo version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
> @author Robert J. Chassell
> @author Richard M. Stallman
> @end documentinfo
In my view, the order in @documentinfo is relevant for some @commands,
for instance @author or @subtitle, but the order across commands is not,
so the above should be equivalent with
@documentinfo
@author Robert J. Chassell
@author Richard M. Stallman
@subtitle The GNU Documentation Format
@title Texinfo
@subtitle for Texinfo version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
@end documentinfo
> @maketitle
> @copyrightpage
> @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
> @insertcopying
>
> @sp 1
> Published by the Free Software Foundation @*
> @c ...
> @end copyrightpage
>
> The user uses @maketitle to produce the title page, and the second page
> is created by the contents of the @copyrightpage block.
>
> We could also possibly provide a @makecopyrightpage command
> for a default copyright page.
To be consistent, a @makecopyrightpage command could also be needed if
there is a @copyrightpage block, to have the @copyrightpage block
outpput, like @maketitle or @insertcopying (in some cases).
> We need some kind of explicit command to output the title page and/or the
> title verso page for TeX output (and possibly LaTeX output with texi2any).
> I don't think it's advisable to try and make it automatic. Sometimes users
> might not want a title page, or might not quite follow the strucutre of the
> document that we expect them to. @maketitle and @copyrightpage would be
> ignored in nearly all output formats with texi2any but users would have to
> give them anyway if they wanted such pages for printed output.
That is not really what I had in mind, even if it is already an
improvement over the current situation.
My idea was that the commands triggering output (@maketitle,
@makecopyrightpage...) would always be rendered unless in output
specific conditionals. The idea what that we would try to make them
unneeded, that using information provided in environments that are not
directly output (@copyrightpage, @documentinfo) would be enough and used
by the processors based on the output format to automatically do the
title page, if needed by the format.
--
Pat
