Michael> What I did uses *existing* dir files, no matter if they're outdated or Michael> not. That's why `Info-rebuild-outdated-dir' would be a misleading Michael> variable name for the option I introduced. Yup, you're right. I misread the behaviour introduced by your patch and it appears that the separation into two different variables is good indeed. However I would not like to leave the code like this because the two options as they are defined do not fit well together, their semantics is not cleanly separated. Michael> As Hrvoje pointed out, there's not really a reliable way for Michael> figuring out if a dir file is outdated. That's true, the existence of an info file more recent than the dir is not a sufficient condition to tell that the dir file is outdated. On the other hand, if the dir file has been touched more recently than any info file in the directory it is a good indication that it is up to date. That's the way `make' works and nobody complains. That criterion should be sufficient for most users like me who want to keep using dir files as a cache and don't care if they are rebuilt more often than strictly necessary. I propose to implement the following: two different variables, `Info-auto-generate-directory' controls when the directory information should be generated on the fly. Options would be: nil or never : Use existing dir, ignore directories containing none always : Ignore existing dir files, always auto-generate if-missing (default) : Use existing dir files, auto-generate if missing if-outdated : Use up-to-date dir files, auto-generate information for others `Info-save-auto-generated-dir' controls when auto-generated directory information should be saved to the dir file. Options would be: nil or never (default): Never attempt to save always (always): Always try to save conservative: Always try to save but asking the user before overwriting an existing file I think this separates things more cleanly. Comments requested. It is quite unfortunate we're discussing these matters now, when all this should have come up when I first introduced my patches. But better now, than never. Oscar