Documenting tools necessary for GCC [draft]

[Joseph S. Myers]

On Thu, 29 May 2003, Kaveh R. Ghazi wrote:

> Ok I'll move stuff to install.texi, though I'm far from a texi expert.
> What section should it go in?

I'd suggest a new section on Prerequisites.  But creating new sections in
install.texi is difficult because of the funny way it generates multiple
HTML files and explicitly fills in all the @node fields for info (it could
do with being overhauled to use makeinfo's built-in support for split-file
HTML output, which wasn't available when the Texinfo version was
originally done, and to eliminate most or all of the explicit HTML in
there), so I find it is a matter of trial and error until all of "make
info", "make dvi" and install.texi2html work.

>  > > makeinfo version 4.2 (or later)
>  > > 
>  > > Necessary when modifying *.texi files to test your changes.
>  > 
>  > You need both makeinfo and texi2dvi from a Texinfo installation (version
>  > 4.2 or later) - and a working TeX installation (no version number
>  > relevant; any version now in use should suffice).
> 
> Hmm, I thought the dvi files were not part of the standard "make".
> Don't you have to say "make dvi" ?  Also, I believe TeX is only
> necessary if you "make dvi".  So I'll include them in their own
> distinct section apart from making info files with makeinfo.

You said "to test your changes" - and "make dvi" is part of the required
procedure for testing changes to the manual.

>  > gettext (only for regenerating gcc.pot) (the most recent release isn't yet
>  > needed, though quite possibly it has useful features for GCC; I don't know
>  > what exactly the correct required version is; Zack can probably advise).
> 
> When does one need to regenerate gcc.pot?  I.e. when touching what
> files?

It needs to be done (a) by the RM at various points; (b) when making
changes to the translation machinery that improve the number or quality of
messages that get into gcc.pot; (c) from time to time anyway (on
mainline).  In general changes that simply incidentally change messages
don't need to regenerate gcc.pot.

-- 
Joseph S. Myers
jsm28@cam.ac.uk