Re: address@hidden: Bug#115503: texi2dvi: source file directory included in search path]

[Eli Zaretskii]

On Sat, 13 Oct 2001, Florian Weimer wrote:

> texi2dvi includes the source file directory in the TeX search path.
> This is quite unusual for programs processing -I options (such as C
> compilers), and even makeinfo doesn't do that.

This is done on purpose: many documents come with their own version of
texinfo.tex, and it might not be possible to TeX them with a different
version of TeX macros.  (In fact, IIRC the GNU project has in its
standards a requirement to include texinfo.tex in the source
distribution.)  From experience, lots of manuals, especially in
packages whose development rate is not too fast, cannot be built with
texinfo.tex different from what was used originally.  It seems like
the amount of incompatible changes in texinfo.tex is quite high, and
lots of different versions are floating around, so it's impossible to
predict what version will be installed on the target machine.

So I think removing the source file directory from the TeX search path
in the default mode of operation would be a grave mistake.  Perhaps an
option to override that would be a good idea.

makeinfo doesn't need to consult texinfo.tex, that's why it doesn't
add the source directory to the -I list.

Btw, can you tell why does this cause you problems?