Here's what M-x info should do by default: Look in all the directories containing info files. Load the dir files, if found, and make a list from their contents. Also look at the actual files in the directory. Append the dir files together, adding in entries for info files have have no dir entry like * Hell (hell). [No dir entry available] The description is not worth the overhead of opening the .gz files. People who care can either: - customize their xemacs to always get descriptions from the .info files - create their own $HOME/info directory with symlinks into some system directory, and create their own dir file, using install-info or some simple script. - annoy their sysadmin into keeping these files up to date. I don't think it's worth the effort of creating a reliable cache just to get package descriptions. You can probably figure out what * Make (make). means. As an added feature, if the info files for the same package name are found in multiple directories, allow the user to access both of them * GCC (gcc). The GNU Compiler (from /hack/gcc-2.95.1/info) * GCC (gcc). The GNU Compiler (from /hack/gcc-2.95.2/info) This just isn't a hard problem. Why does Info cause so much pain? Martin