Re: makeinfo 4.0: does not expand macros in @item?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Akim Demaille <address@hidden>
> Date: 11 Nov 2001 13:41:29 +0100
> 
> /tmp % cat sample.texi
> @macro ovar{varname}
> @address@hidden@r{]}
> @end macro
> 
> @table @asis
> @item @ovar{toto}
> Description of @ovar{toto}.
> @end table

Is this a real-life example?  Because if it is, you will be much
better of with this:

  @table @asis
  @item address@hidden

or with this:

  @macro vitem{line}
  @item @address@hidden@r{]}
  @end macro

  @table @asis
  @vitem toto

> /tmp % makeinfo -E - --commands sample.texi
> 
> @table @asis
> @item @ovar{toto}
> Description of @address@hidden@r{]}.
> @end table
> 
> @bye
> 
> 
> (I tried with --commands to see if it had an influence, but it does
> not).

The --commands-in-node-names switch only makes a difference if @
commands are used in node names (like the full name of the switch
suggests ;-).

> I suspect this is not meant :(

Actually, I'm afraid it is :-(  Macros in @item cannot be easily
supported because of the complications of @ftable and @vtable (it's a
long story).  Since the work-arounds are usually easy (see above),
I'm not sure it's worth the hassle to support macros in @item.

We probably should document this, though...