2.12. Using info, the Documentation Tools
info provides the sources for documentation for the
GNU tools; it requires the following tools, including the TeX tools.
- Texinfo, texindex,
texi2dvi
Documentation formatting tools.
Texinfo requires TEX, the free technical documentation
formatting tool written by Donald Knuth.
Refer to Texinfo: The GNU Documentation Format
(ISBN: 1-882114 67 1).
- makeinfo, info
Online documentation tools.
- man pages
Includes documentation on all the tools and programs in this release.
- FLEX: A Fast Lexical Analyzer Generator
Generates lexical analyzers suitable for GCC and other compilers.
Refer to Flex: The Lexical Scanner Generator
(ISBN: 1-882114 21 3).
- Using and Porting GNU CC
Contains information about requirements for
putting GCC on different platforms,
or for modifying GCC; includes documentation from
Using the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC).
- BYacc
Discusses the Berkeley Yacc parser generator.
Refer to Bison Manual: Using the YACC-compatible Parser
Generator
(ISBN: 1-882114 44 2).
- Texinfo: The GNU Documentation Format
Details TEX and the printing and generating of documentation,
as well as how to write manuals in the TEX style.
- Configuration program
Describes the configuration program that Red Hat Enterprise Linux Developer Tools uses.
- GNU Coding Standards
Elaborates on the coding standards with which the
GNU projects develop.
- GNU gprof
Details the GNU performance analyzer (only for the Solaris systems).
You have the freedom to copy the documentation using the
accompanying copyright statements,
which include the necessary permissions.
To get the documentation in HTML or printable form, refer to
https://www.fsf.org/doc/doc.html
and
https://www.fsf.org/doc/other-free-books.html.
For more information on using info tools
(requiring the TEX tools), refer to
Using info.
2.12.1. Reading info Documentation
Browse through the documentation using either Emacs or the
info documentation browser program.
The information is in nodes,
which correspond to the sections of a printed book.
Follow them in sequence, as in books, or,
using the hyperlinks,
find the node that has the information you need.
info has hot references
(if one section refers to another section, info
takes you directly to that other section, but gives you the ability
to return easily.
You can also search for particular words or phrases.
Use info
by typing its name at a shell prompt; no options or arguments
are necessary.
Check that info is in your shell path.
If you have problems running info,
contact your system administrator.
To get help with using info, type h
for a programmed instruction sequence,
or
[Ctrl]-[h]
for a short summary of commands.
To stop using info,
type [q].
