Texinfo 4.0 - Other Info Directories

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Info Files in Other Directories

If an Info file is not in the `info' directory, there are three ways to specify its location:

Write the pathname in the `dir' file as the second part of the menu.
If you are using Emacs, list the name of the file in a second `dir' file, in its directory; and then add the name of that directory to the Info-directory-list variable in your personal or site initialization file. This variable tells Emacs where to look for `dir' files (the files must be named `dir'). Emacs merges the files named `dir' from each of the listed directories. (In Emacs version 18, you can set the Info-directory variable to the name of only one directory.)
Specify the Info directory name in the INFOPATH environment variable in your `.profile' or `.cshrc' initialization file. (Only you and others who set this environment variable will be able to find Info files whose location is specified this way.)

For example, to reach a test file in the `/home/bob/info' directory, you could add an entry like this to the menu in the standard `dir' file:

* Test: (/home/bob/info/info-test).  Bob's own test file.

In this case, the absolute file name of the `info-test' file is written as the second part of the menu entry.

Alternatively, you could write the following in your `.emacs' file:

(require 'info)
(setq Info-directory-list
      (cons (expand-file-name "/home/bob/info") Info-directory-list))

This tells Emacs to merge the `dir' file from the `/home/bob/info' directory with the system `dir' file. Info will list the `/home/bob/info/info-test' file as a menu entry in the `/home/bob/info/dir' file. Emacs does the merging only when M-x info is first run, so if you want to set Info-directory-list in an Emacs session where you've already run info, you must (setq Info-dir-contents nil) to force Emacs to recompose the `dir' file.

Finally, you can tell Info where to look by setting the INFOPATH environment variable in your shell startup file, such as `.cshrc', `.profile' or `autoexec.bat'. If you use a Bourne-compatible shell such as sh or bash for your shell command interpreter, you set the INFOPATH environment variable in the `.profile' initialization file; but if you use csh or tcsh, you set the variable in the `.cshrc' initialization file. On MS-DOS/MS-Windows systems, you must set INFOPATH in your `autoexec.bat' file or in the Registry. Each type of shell uses a different syntax.

In a `.cshrc' file, you could set the INFOPATH variable as follows:
```
setenv INFOPATH .:~/info:/usr/local/emacs/info
```
In a `.profile' file, you would achieve the same effect by writing:
```
INFOPATH=.:$HOME/info:/usr/local/emacs/info
export INFOPATH
```

In a `autoexec.bat' file, you write this command(12):

set INFOPATH=.;%HOME%/info;c:/usr/local/emacs/info

The `.' indicates the current directory as usual. Emacs uses the INFOPATH environment variable to initialize the value of Emacs's own Info-directory-list variable. The stand-alone Info reader merges any files named `dir' in any directory listed in the @env{INFOPATH} variable into a single menu presented to you in the node called `(dir)Top'.

However you set @env{INFOPATH}, if its last character is a colon(13), this is replaced by the default (compiled-in) path. This gives you a way to augment the default path with new directories without having to list all the standard places. For example (using sh syntax):

INFOPATH=/local/info:
export INFOPATH

will search `/local/info' first, then the standard directories. Leading or doubled colons are not treated specially.

When you create your own `dir' file for use with Info-directory-list or @env{INFOPATH}, it's easiest to start by copying an existing `dir' file and replace all the text after the `* Menu:' with your desired entries. That way, the punctuation and special CTRL-_ characters that Info needs will be present.

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