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