Options for makeinfo

The makeinfo command takes a number of options. Most often, options are used to set the value of the fill column and specify the footnote style. Each command line option is a word preceded by `--'(12) or a letter preceded by `-'. You can use abbreviations for the option names as long as they are unique.

For example, you could use the following command to create an Info file for `bison.texinfo' in which each line is filled to only 68 columns (where `%' is the prompt):

% makeinfo --fill-column=68 bison.texinfo

You can write two or more options in sequence, like this:

% makeinfo --no-split --fill-column=70 ...

This would keep the Info file together as one possibly very long file and would also set the fill column to 70.

If you wish to discover which version of makeinfo you are using, type:

% makeinfo --version

The options are:

-D var

Cause var to be defined. This is equivalent to @set var in the Texinfo file.

--error-limit limit

Set the maximum number of errors that makeinfo will report before exiting (on the assumption that continuing would be useless). The default number of errors that can be reported before makeinfo gives up is 100.

--fill-column width

Specify the maximum number of columns in a line; this is the right-hand edge of a line. Paragraphs that are filled will be filled to this width. (Filling is the process of breaking up and connecting lines so that lines are the same length as or shorter than the number specified as the fill column. Lines are broken between words.) The default value for fill-column is 72.

--footnote-style style

Set the footnote style to style, either `end' for the end node style or `separate' for the separate node style. The value set by this option overrides the value set in a Texinfo file by an @footnotestyle command. When the footnote style is `separate', makeinfo makes a new node containing the footnotes found in the current node. When the footnote style is `end', makeinfo places the footnote references at the end of the current node.

-I dir

Add dir to the directory search list for finding files that are included using the @include command. By default, makeinfo searches only the current directory.

--no-headers

Do not include menus or node lines in the output. This results in an ASCII file that you cannot read in Info since it does not contain the requisite nodes or menus; but you can print such a file in a single, typewriter-like font and produce acceptable output.

--no-split

Suppress the splitting stage of makeinfo. Normally, large output files (where the size is greater than 70k bytes) are split into smaller subfiles, each one approximately 50k bytes. If you specify `--no-split', makeinfo will not split up the output file.

--no-pointer-validate

--no-validate

Suppress the pointer-validation phase of makeinfo. Normally, after a Texinfo file is processed, some consistency checks are made to ensure that cross references can be resolved, etc. See section Pointer Validation.

--no-warn

Suppress the output of warning messages. This does not suppress the output of error messages, only warnings. You might want this if the file you are creating has examples of Texinfo cross references within it, and the nodes that are referenced do not actually exist.

--no-number-footnotes

Suppress automatic footnote numbering. By default, makeinfo numbers each footnote sequentially in a single node, resetting the current footnote number to 1 at the start of each node.

--output file

-o file

Specify that the output should be directed to file and not to the file name specified in the @setfilename command found in the Texinfo source. file can be the special token `-', which specifies standard output.

--paragraph-indent indent

Set the paragraph indentation style to indent. The value set by this option overrides the value set in a Texinfo file by an @paragraphindent command. The value of indent is interpreted as follows:

• If the value of indent is `asis', do not change the existing indentation at the starts of paragraphs.
• If the value of indent is zero, delete any existing indentation.
• If the value of indent is greater than zero, indent each paragraph by that number of spaces.

--reference-limit limit

Set the value of the number of references to a node that makeinfo will make without reporting a warning. If a node has more than this number of references in it, makeinfo will make the references but also report a warning.

-U var

Cause var to be undefined. This is equivalent to @clear var in the Texinfo file.

--verbose

Cause makeinfo to display messages saying what it is doing. Normally, makeinfo only outputs messages if there are errors or warnings.

--version

Report the version number of this copy of makeinfo.