[Bug other/33549] makeinfo drops hyphens from srcdir path

["joseph at codesourcery dot com" <gcc-bugzilla at gcc dot gnu dot org>]

------- Comment #4 from joseph at codesourcery dot com  2008-02-12 22:56 -------
Subject: Re:  makeinfo drops hyphens from srcdir path

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008, skunk at iskunk dot org wrote:

> That was my first thought as well, but consider that the conversion from "--"
> to "-" (and "---" to "--") makes sense from a typographic standpoint. A "--" is
> used to indicate an en-dash, which in Info is rendered as a plain hyphen,
> whereas a "---" is an em-dash, rendered as "--". Changing the Makeinfo behavior
> would affect the appearance of the final text.

The Texinfo manual specifies that the @include path is taken literally 
apart from expanding @value references.  The typographical conversions 
need to be done at some later stage of makeinfo processing, not when the 
@set or @value or @include are processed.

> Consider other cases, too: what if the srcdir path contains a "@"?

In Texinfo language terms, the documentation implies that any "@", other 
than in @value{var} constructs, is taken literally in @include.

In GCC or Autoconf terms, I don't think srcdir containing @ is supported.  
Directory names need to consist entirely of safe characters; "--" should 
be a safe sequence, "@" probably isn't (because of Autoconf use if nothing 
else), characters such as :%$ that are significant to the shell or make 
definitely aren't safe.  (Some patches have gone into the latest git 
Autoconf to improve safety with funny characters, but even when GCC moves 
to a newer Autoconf I don't think there's much use supporting them in 
building GCC.)


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http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=33549