Re: [bug #38997] "@itemx must follow @item" is now an error

[Stefano Lattarini]

On 05/16/2013 09:15 AM, Patrice Dumas wrote:
> On Wed, May 15, 2013 at 11:30:59PM +0000, Karl Berry wrote:
>>     http://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?38997
>>
>>     The statement is that the warning "@itemx must follow @item" has
>>     been turned into an error between makeinfo 4.13 and 5.1.
>>     ...
>>     Consider to revert that change back into a warning.
>>
>> Patrice, wasn't there a specific reason we decided to make that an
>> error?  Neither my brain nor my searching is coming up with it.
> 
> I am pretty sure we discussed it.  One possible reason is that this is
> indeed an error and manuals need to be fixed.  I don't think it has been
> turned into an error, it was unreported in makeinfo 4.13.  My feeling is
> that it should be an error, but we could leave a "grace period" for
> manuals to be fixed, during which it would be a warning.
> 
FWIW, I've stumbled upon that error many times, while building
bleeding-edge versions of several GNU packages using the new shiny
Texinfo 5.x.  However, the fix has been obvious in each case, and
basically all maintainers of the affected packages have taken my
patches to fix the issue (which patches were all trivial).

So, throwing in my 2 cents, I say to keep it a fatal error, and only
revert it to a warning if many people complains.  Reverting it to a
warning likely means people will ignore it, and only fix their
manuals (and/or complain on this list) when it's switched back to an
error.

Best regards,
  Stefano