In a Texinfo file, the first @ifinfo section usually begins with a line that says what the file documents. This is what a person reading the unprocessed Texinfo file or using the advanced Info command g * sees first. See Info file `info', node `Expert', for more information. (A reader using the regular Info commands usually starts reading at the first node and skips this first section, which is not in a node.)

In the @ifinfo section, the summary sentence is followed by a copyright notice and then by the copying permission notice. One of the copying permission paragraphs is enclosed in @ignore and @end ignore commands. This paragraph states that the Texinfo file can be processed through TeX and printed, provided the printed manual carries the proper copying permission notice. This paragraph is not made part of the Info file since it is not relevant to the Info file; but it is a mandatory part of the Texinfo file since it permits people to process the Texinfo file in TeX and print the results.

In the printed manual, the Free Software Foundation copying permission notice follows the copyright notice and publishing information and is located within the region delineated by the @titlepage and @end titlepage commands. The copying permission notice is exactly the same as the notice in the @ifinfo section except that the paragraph enclosed in @ignore and @end ignore commands is not part of the notice.

To make it simple to insert a permission notice into each section of the Texinfo file, sample permission notices for each section are reproduced in full below.

Note that you may need to specify the correct name of a section mentioned in the permission notice. For example, in The GDB Manual, the name of the section referring to the General Public License is called the "GDB General Public License", but in the sample shown below, that section is referred to generically as the "GNU General Public License". If the Texinfo file does not carry a copy of the General Public License, leave out the reference to it, but be sure to include the rest of the sentence.