GNU Texinfo 4.2: C.2 GNU Sample Texts

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## C.2 GNU Sample Texts

Here is a sample Texinfo document with the full texts that should be used in GNU manuals.

As well as the legal texts, it also serves as a practical example of how many elements in a GNU system can affect the manual. If you’re not familiar with all these different elements, don’t worry. They’re not required and a perfectly good manual can be written without them. They’re included here nonetheless because many manuals do (or could) benefit from them.

See section A Short Sample Texinfo File, for a minimal example of a Texinfo file. See section Beginning a Texinfo File, for a full explanation of that minimal example.

Here are some notes on the example:

- The ‘`Id: texinfo.txi,v 1.2 2003/02/24 18:17:06 pertusus Exp $`’ comment is for CVS (see (cvs)Top section ‘Overview’ in Concurrent Versions System) or RCS (see rcsintro(1)) version control systems, which expand it into a string such as:

      Id: texinfo.txi,v 1.2 2003/02/24 18:17:06 pertusus Exp $

  (This is useful in all sources that use version control, not just manuals.)

- The ‘`version.texi`’ in the `@include` command is maintained automatically by Automake (see (automake)Top section ‘Introduction’ in GNU Automake). It sets the ‘`VERSION`’ and ‘`UPDATED`’ values used elsewhere. If your distribution doesn’t use Automake, you can mimic these or equivalent settings.
- The `@syncodeindex` command reflects the recommendation to use only one index if at all possible, to make it easier for readers.
- The `@dircategory` is for constructing the Info directory. See section Installing Info Directory Files, which includes a variety of recommended category names.
- The ‘Invoking’ node is a GNU standard to help users find the basic information about command-line usage of a given program. See (standards)Manual Structure Details section ‘Manual Structure Details’ in GNU Coding Standards.
- It is best to include the entire GNU Free Documentation License in a GNU manual, unless the manual is only a few pages long. Of course this sample is even shorter than that, but it includes the FDL anyway in order to show one conventional way of doing so. The ‘`fdl.texi`’ file is available on the GNU machines (and in the Texinfo and other GNU distributions).

  The FDL provides for omitting itself under certain conditions, but in that case the sample texts given here have to be modified. See section GNU Free Documentation License.

- If your manual has invariant sections (again, see the license itself for details), then don’t forget to include them.

Here is the sample document:

    \input texinfo    @c -*-texinfo-*-
    @comment Id: texinfo.txi,v 1.2 2003/02/24 18:17:06 pertusus Exp $
    @comment %**start of header
    @setfilename sample.info
    @include version.texi
    @settitle GNU Sample @value{VERSION}
    @syncodeindex pg cp
    @comment %**end of header
    @copying
    This manual is for GNU Sample
    (version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}),
    which is an example in the Texinfo documentation.

    Copyright @copyright{} 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

    @quotation
    Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
    under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or
    any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
    Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover texts being ``A GNU Manual,''
    and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below.  A copy of the
    license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
    License.''

    (a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have freedom to copy and modify
    this GNU Manual, like GNU software.  Copies published by the Free
    Software Foundation raise funds for GNU development.''
    @end quotation
    @end copying

    @dircategory Texinfo documentation system
    @direntry
    * sample: (sample)Invoking sample.
    @end direntry

    @titlepage
    @title GNU Sample
    @subtitle for version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
    @author A.U. Thor (@email{bug-texinfo@@gnu.org})
    @page
    @vskip 0pt plus 1filll
    @insertcopying
    @end titlepage

    @contents

    @ifnottex
    @node Top
    @top GNU Sample

    @insertcopying
    @end ifnottex

    @menu
    * Invoking sample::
    * Copying This Manual::
    * Index::
    @end menu

    @node Invoking sample
    @chapter Invoking sample

    @pindex sample
    @cindex invoking @command{sample}

    This is a sample manual.  There is no sample program to
    invoke, but if there was, you could see its basic usage
    and command line options here.

    @node Copying This Manual
    @appendix Copying This Manual

    @menu
    * GNU Free Documentation License::  License for copying this manual.
    @end menu

    @include fdl.texi

    @node Index
    @unnumbered Index

    @printindex cp

    @bye

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