Date: Tue, 22 Mar 94 18:40:19 JST
From: Stephen Turnbull <turnbull AT shako DOT sk DOT tsukuba DOT ac DOT jp>
To: eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il
Cc: djgpp AT sun DOT soe DOT clarkson DOT edu
Subject: Info port to DJGPP

As far as I know, fixing the Info behavior with respect to MSDOS
newline behavior shouldn't hurt anything, *except* that it will with
about 50% certainty break any multiple file info that is edited with
an MSDOS editor (unfortunately, this include DEmacs).  The reason is
that the tag-finding algorithm is very sensitive to location in the
directory file, as well as in other files.  Addition of a couple of
dozen '\r' characters in the file will definitely be enough to throw
the DEmacs reader off, and possibly other info readers as well.  So
when you contribute this to DJGPP, please make sure that you update
the tags in the directory file of every known info file ....  This can
also happen if the directory file also includes some info nodes.
    That last suggestion was of course a cruel joke, since we just
aren't going to know whether a file will be edited with an MSDOS
editor or not.  I think it's easier to add "if info is broken, first
try running unix2dos in the info directory" to the FAQ than to explain
how to update the tags.
    It may just be my own preference, but it's easy to explain why the
current info reader is broken, and the fix is just as easy.  Fixing
broken info tag files, especially if they are mixed Unix/DOS newline
conventions, is harder in my opinion.  If there are several versions
of the info reader going around, then it will be even harder to figure
out the bugs.
    --Steve