On Mon, Jun 30, 2025 at 11:30:30PM +0100, Gavin Smith wrote:
> So just using @maketitle to produce the copyright page too is
> a real possibility.
So I've been seeing what I can implement in texinfo.tex as a prototype
for this feature area.
The idea is that the user specifies information in their document in
@documentinfo (or possibly elsewhere like @insertcopying). These
are components for the title page, and the copyright page, which are
output as a single unit based on what information is available.
I've implemented this for @title, @subtitle (the output of which component
is dependent on the presence of @title), any number of @author lines,
and @copying.
Here's a demonstration of how it can be used, with info-stnd.texi:
diff --git a/doc/info-stnd.texi b/doc/info-stnd.texi
index ef1525b975..278e6c7927 100644
--- a/doc/info-stnd.texi
+++ b/doc/info-stnd.texi
@@ -39,15 +39,14 @@
* info stand-alone: (info-stnd). Read Info documents without Emacs.
@end direntry
-@titlepage
+@documentinfo
@title Stand-alone GNU Info
@subtitle for version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
@author Brian J. Fox
@author and Texinfo maintainers
-@page
-@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
-@insertcopying
-@end titlepage
+@end documentinfo
+
+@maketitle
@contents
It would be good in my opinion to get rid of the @vskip line as it
looks ugly and confusing and probably turns people off.
If this basic design looks good we can try to add other components, such
as:
* Publisher address (related to the concept of an "imprint" or "impressum").
* Acknowledgements and credits (in texinfo.texi, "Cover art by Etienne
Suvasa.").
* If we wanted to support the bastard title page, we could easily add a new
command @shorttitle that doesn't produce any output (unlike the existing
command @shorttitlepage).
* Dedication pages
* Anything else we find is frequent on title pages or copyright pages in the
wild.
We would only add something if it was used in a lot of manuals and would
help a lot with reducing explicit use of @titlepage.
If a user wants an output that differs from the default, then they would
use @titlepage as before, perhaps with format-specific conditionals:
@ifnottex
@maketitle
@end ifnottex
@iftex
@titlepage
@dots{}
@page
@dots{}
@end titlepage
@end iftex
Here's my work so far on texinfo.tex:
diff --git a/doc/texinfo.tex b/doc/texinfo.tex
index ea64476d77..7055dd33f6 100644
--- a/doc/texinfo.tex
+++ b/doc/texinfo.tex
@@ -483,8 +483,8 @@
% \envdef\foo{...}
% \def\Efoo{...}
%
-% It's the responsibility of \envdef to insert \begingroup before the
-% actual body; @end closes the group after calling \Efoo. \envdef also
+% \envdef inserts \begingroup before the actual body; @end calls
+% \Efoo then closes the group with \endgroup. \envdef also
% defines \thisenv, so the current environment is known; @end checks
% whether the environment name matches. The \checkenv macro can also be
% used to check whether the current environment is the one expected.
@@ -3911,33 +3911,92 @@ $$%
\let\subtitlerm=\rmfont
\def\subtitlefont{\subtitlerm \normalbaselineskip = 13pt \normalbaselines}
+\let\savedtitle\empty
+\let\savedsubtitle\empty
+\let\savedauthorgroup\empty
+
\parseargdef\title{%
- \checkenv\titlepage
- \vbox{\titlefonts \raggedtitlesettings #1\par}%
- % print a rule at the page bottom also.
- \finishedtitlepagefalse
- \vskip4pt \hrule height 4pt width \hsize \vskip4pt
+ \expandafter\ifx\thisenv\documentinfo
+ \gdef\savedtitle{#1}%
+ \else
+ \checkenv\titlepage
+ \vbox{\titlefonts \raggedtitlesettings #1\par}%
+ % print a rule at the page bottom also.
+ \finishedtitlepagefalse
+ \vskip4pt \hrule height 4pt width \hsize \vskip4pt
+ \fi
}
\parseargdef\subtitle{%
- \checkenv\titlepage
- {\subtitlefont \rightline{#1}}%
+ \expandafter\ifx\thisenv\documentinfo
+ \gdef\savedsubtitle{#1}%
+ \else
+ \checkenv\titlepage
+ {\subtitlefont \rightline{#1}}%
+ \fi
}
+\tracingmacros=1
+
% @author should come last, but may come many times.
% It can also be used inside @quotation.
%
\parseargdef\author{%
- \def\temp{\quotation}%
- \ifx\thisenv\temp
- \def\quotationauthor{#1}% printed in \Equotation.
+ \expandafter\ifx\thisenv\documentinfo
+ \ifx\savedauthorgroup\empty
+ \gdef\savedauthorgroup{\savedauthor{#1}}%
+ \else
+ \expandafter\gdef\expandafter\savedauthorgroup\expandafter{%
+ \savedauthorgroup\savedauthor{#1}}%
+ \fi
\else
- \checkenv\titlepage
- \ifseenauthor\else \vskip 0pt plus 1filll \seenauthortrue \fi
- {\secfonts\rm \leftline{#1}}%
+ \def\temp{\quotation}%
+ \ifx\thisenv\temp
+ \def\quotationauthor{#1}% printed in \Equotation.
+ \else
+ \checkenv\titlepage
+ \ifseenauthor\else \vskip 0pt plus 1filll \seenauthortrue \fi
+ {\secfonts\rm \leftline{#1}}%
+ \fi
\fi
}
+% @maketitle
+{\obeylines
+\gdef\maketitle{%
+\titlepage
+
+\ifx\savedtitle\empty\else
+ \title \savedtitle
+ \ifx\savedsubtitle\empty\else
+ \subtitle \savedsubtitle
+\fi\fi
+
+
+\ifx\savedauthorgroup\empty\else
+ \savedauthorgroup
+\fi
+\ifx\copyingtext\relax\else
+ \page
+ \vskip 0pt plus 1filll
+ \insertcopying
+\fi
+\end titlepage
+}
+
+% \savedauthor{#1}, called with braces. output an @author line.
+\gdef\savedauthor#1{%
+\author#1
+}
+}
+
+
+\envdef\documentinfo{%
+}
+
+\def\Edocumentinfo{}%
+
+
% Set up page headings and footings.
@@ -7809,6 +7868,7 @@ might help (with 'rm \jobname.?? \jobname.??s')%
{\catcode`\ =\other
\gdef\docopying#1@end copying{\endgroup\def\copyingtext{#1}}
}
+\let\copyingtext\relax
\def\insertcopying{%
\begingroup
