This NEWS file records noteworthy changes, very tersely.
See the manual for detailed information.

  Copyright 1992-2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

  Copying and distribution of this file, with or without modification,
  are permitted in any medium without royalty provided the copyright
  notice and this notice are preserved.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* Language
  . new commands for title page creation: @documentinfo, @publication,
    @maketitle
  . heading command supported after @node
  . new command @xrefname can follow @node
  . new command @namedanchor
  . deprecate @clickstyle
  . new command @thispart to print part name in headings or footings
  . do not consider en_US to be the default document language, the language
    is unspecified if there is no @documentlanguage.  Default strings are
    in english, however.

* texi2any
  . keep input file name leading directory components in messages.
    (Reverses 6.8 release change, 2021).
  . texi2any program implementation in C embedding Perl.
    Use --enable-c-texi2any to prefer the C implementation
  . texi2any uses the Perl extensions in C for converters when possible.
    Set the `TEXINFO_XS_CONVERT' environment variable to 0 for pure Perl
  . when CHECK_NORMAL_MENU_STRUCTURE is on, give the line number of the
    problem menu entry
  . remove USE_REL_REV variable; former effect is now always on
  . rename LINKS_BUTTONS customization variable to LINKS_DIRECTIONS
  . DUMP_TREE should now be a file name, or - to output to standard error
  . rename space direction ' ' to 'Space'
  . HTML output:
      . the HIGHLIGHT_SYNTAX variable can be used for syntax highlighting
        of code samples.  this feature was present in earlier releases but
        is no longer marked as experimental.
      . the default setting of WORDS_IN_PAGE has changed from 300 to 200.
        this means that a navigation panel is more likely to be output at
        the bottom of fairly short nodes.
      . do not wrap the contents of <style> elements in an HTML comment,
        as this is no longer needed for browser compatibility
      . use last @printindex for the Index direction
      . only output 'accesskey' attributes when splitting by node
      . you can set FORMAT_MENU to 'menu_no_detailmenu' to omit an
        automatically generated @detailmenu from the Top node
      . remove the buttons specifications with scalar references, direction
        text or functions references should be used instead
      . change --internal-links file item types names and output more item
        types
      . read files ending with the .cnf extension in the htmlxref.d directories
        for HTML cross-references customization
      . an empty URL in HTML cross-references customization triggers link
        to local manual
      . the --transliterate-file-names option (which sets the
        TRANSLITERATE_FILE_NAMES variable) is now off by default.
      . when creating redirection files with --node-files (the default),
        ignore the settings of TRANSLITERATE_FILE_NAMES, BASEFILENAME_LENGTH,
        and EXTENSION.
      . likewise, ignore these variables for links to external manuals (they
        are still used for the file names generated for the converted manual
        content).
      . USE_NEXT_HEADING_FOR_LONE_NODE removed.  Former effect
        is now always on.
      . info.js (with INFO_JS_DIR) fixes and improvements:
        . avoid pointless pop-up over Top node and display the correct title
  . Info output:
    . new (experimental) variable INFO_MATH_IMAGES allows outputting
      images for mathematics notation
  . Remove the Texinfo::TeX4HT customization package.
  . XML output:
      . use HTML entities names for @H and @dotaccent accents types

* texinfo.tex
  . add entries in PDF outline for index initials
  . use Unicode in PDF outline for input documents encoded in UTF-8
  . '@set xrefautomaticsectiontitle on' does not affect cross-references
     to anchors, matching the HTML output
  . separate adjacent footnote markers with commas, e.g. '1, 2' not '1 2'

* info
  . info manual not found hook
  . when run as 'info TOPIC INDEX-ENTRY', prefer index entries that
    refer to the node that would be loaded by 'info TOPIC'.  this aids
    in retrieving documentation of command-line options when multiple
    programs are documented in the same manual.  for example, 'info cp -- -s'
    goes to the documentation of the -s option for the cp program in the
    coreutils manual, rather than the -s option of any other program.
  . list all customizable variables in help buffer including how they
    got their values
  . reuse introductory text in dir file rather than supplying our own
    text, as was the case in older version of info and is the case in Emacs
  . removed fallback if a node is not found in a cross-reference to
    searching for a file of the same name.  e.g. "* Foo::" in a menu
    would go to a file called "Foo", if no node called "Foo" was found.
    now only the node is looked for.

* Distribution
  . automake 1.18.1, autoconf 2.72, gettext 0.26, libtool 2.5.4
  . support for DJGPP removed


7.2 (23 December 2024)
* Build
  . "make install" installs files for texi2any under $datadir/texi2any, not
    $datadir/texinfo.

* texinfo.tex
  . use @ as the escape character in all index files.  this requires
    new enough texi2dvi (Texinfo 6.7, 2019) for index files to be
    properly processed.
  . a bug has been fixed where a mangled PDF outline could be produced for
    a document using @unnumberedsec
  . you can call @unmacro with an undefined macro name, matching the
    behavior of texi2any

* texi2any
  . set CHECK_NORMAL_MENU_STRUCTURE by default.  this means texi2any
    again checks menu structure by default (changed in 6.8 release, 2021).
  . only allow @definfoenclose to be used to redefine highlighting commands
  . sorting of indices is now independent of the input or output encodings
  . new customization variable COLLATION_LANGUAGE to allow linguistic
    tailoring of index sorting
  . new variable DOCUMENTLANGUAGE_COLLATION to use @documentlanguage for
    linguistic tailoring of index sorting
  . new variable USE_UNICODE_COLLATION to allow turning off the slower
    use of Unicode collation when sorting indices
  . rename BODYTEXT customization variable to BODY_ELEMENT_ATTRIBUTES
  . rename COMPLEX_FORMAT_IN_TABLE customization variable to
    INDENTED_BLOCK_COMMANDS_IN_TABLE
  . remove the following variables: AVOID_MENU_REDUNDANCY, FRAMES,
    FRAMESET_DOCTYPE, NO_USE_SETFILENAME, SILENT, USE_UP_NODE_FOR_ELEMENT_UP
  . remove SIMPLE_MENU variable and tree transformation
  . the use of the directories ~/.texinfo and ~/.texi2any for configuration
    files is deprecated, and should be replaced by texinfo or texi2any
    directories under XDG_CONFIG_HOME (usually ~/.config/).  the new
    locations are compatible with the XDG Base Directory Specification.
    in future versions, the ~/.texinfo and ~/.texi2any directories will
    not be in search paths.
  . do not try the us-ascii encoding anymore as a locale for translated
    document strings.
  . some unused translation files have been removed for the
    `texinfo_document' domain
  . Info output:
      . output Info-documentlanguage in Local Variables section of output
        file if @documentlanguage is given
  . HTML, Texinfo and raw text output:
      . an implementation of the conversion in C has been included, which
        is much faster than the code in Perl. set the `TEXINFO_XS_CONVERT'
        environment variable to 1 to use.
  . HTML output:
      . CHECK_HTMLXREF set by default for warnings about links to unknown
        external manuals
      . you can use the MATHJAX_CONFIGURATION customization variable to add
        data to the MathJax configuration object
      . warn if there is a .inf or .info suffix for cross-reference manual
      . use <pre> instead of <div><em> for output of @displaymath
      . remove border, cellpadding, cellspacing and align attributes.  add
        classes and use CSS when needed.
  . EPUB output:
      . stricter conformance for conformance checkers

* info
  . check for init file under XDG_CONFIG_HOME/texinfo/infokey after
    checking ~/.infokey, in accordance with the XDG Base Directory
    Specification

* Distribution
  . automake 1.17, autoconf 2.72, gettext 0.22.5, libtool 2.5.3


7.1.1 (7 September 2024)
This is a bug-fix release with minimal changes.

* texi2any
  . fix potential crash when @include is used inside a table
  . do not complain about presence of @anchor inside @item in a table
  . C source files that are generated from *.xs files are no no longer
    distributed, so xsubpp from Perl is needed to build XS modules.
  . fix bug that led to memory alignment error on SPARC
  . performance improvement and fixes for MinGW
  . test failures due to floating point rounding error fixed (observed
    on IBM POWER9 processor)

* info
  . crash when setting style to invalid value fixed
  . potential call of memcpy with null argument fixed


7.1 (18 October 2023)
* Language
 . new generic definition commands, @defblock, @defline and @deftypeline,
   for definitions without automatic index entries
 . new @linemacro facility eases use of generic definition commands
 . new command @link creates plain links (supported output formats only)
 . @cartouche takes an argument to specify the cartouche title
 . you can use the new commands @nodedescription and @nodedescriptionblock
   to give text to be used in menu descriptions in Info and HTML output

* texi2any
 . @itemx at the beginning of a @table is now an error, not a warning
 . better validity checking of deeply nested commands
 . check that @set and @clear only appear at the start of a line
 . warn about missing menu entries even if CHECK_NORMAL_MENU_STRUCTURE is
   not set.  you can turn this off by setting CHECK_MISSING_MENU_ENTRY to 0.
 . no longer use --enable-encoding and --disable-encoding to determine
   whether to output encoded characters (instead of entities or commands)
   for HTML, XML, DocBook and LaTeX; instead, use the value of the
   OUTPUT_CHARACTERS customization variable.
 . stricter checks on input encoding, in particular more warnings and
   errors with malformed UTF-8
 . support any input file encoding if support exists in the operating
   system, not just a selected list of encodings
 . resolve an alias referring to another alias at definition time
 . internally, use "source marks" to keep all Texinfo source information that
   is not in the final tree (location of macros, values and included files
   expansion, @if* blocks, DEL comment, and @ protecting end of line on @def*
   lines)
 . HTML output:
    . format @subentry and index entries with @seealso or @seeentry in a more
      similar way to printed output
    . output @shortcontents before @contents by default
    . omit colons after index entries by default.  this can still be
      configured with INDEX_ENTRY_COLON.
    . add @example syntax highlighting as a texi2any extension
    . no more capitalization of @sc argument in HTML Cross-references
    . change @point expansion to U+22C6 in HTML Cross-references
    . if a @node is not associated with a sectioning command but is
      followed by a heading command not usually associated to nodes
      such as @heading and this command appears before other formatted
      content, the heading command is assumed to supply the node heading.
      you can customize this with USE_NEXT_HEADING_FOR_LONE_NODE.
 . Info output:
    . new variable ASCII_DASHES_AND_QUOTES, on by default,
      outputs ASCII characters for literal quote or hyphen characters
      in source, rather than UTF-8.  this makes it easier to search
      Info files.
    . new ASCII_GLYPH variable for using ASCII renditions for glyph
      commands (like @bullet)
    . ASCII_PUNCTUATION still includes the effect of these new variables.
    . new variables AUTO_MENU_DESCRIPTION_ALIGN_COLUMN and AUTO_MENU_MAX_WIDTH
      control the format of descriptions in generated menus
 . XML output:
    . place menu leading text and menu separators in elements instead
      of attributes

* texi2dvi
 . macro expansion with texi2any requires at least version 5.0 (only
   happens with --expand option or with very old texinfo.tex)

* texinfo.tex
 . in @code, ` and ' output by default with backtick and undirected
   single quote glyphs in the typewriter font.  you can still configure
   this using the @codequoteundirected/@codequotebacktick commands.
 . do not insert a space for @ def line continuation, matching the behavior
   of texi2any
 . align section titles in table of contents when more than 10 sections
 . microtype is off by default, for speed
 . page headings generation is no longer linked to the @titlepage command

* info
 . when going Up, position cursor on menu entry for current node
 . allow mouse scrolling support regardless of termcap entries.  this
   supports some more xterm configurations.
 . do not use "/index" as a possible file extension for Info files

* Distribution
  . autoconf 2.71, automake 1.16.5, gettext 0.21



7.0.3 (26 March 2023)
This is a bug-fix release with minimal changes.

* texi2any
  . fix performance regression when Perl binary extension (XS) modules
    are not being used (e.g. with TEXINFO_XS=omit)

* info
  . further fix of recoding of UTF-8 files to ASCII to avoid text
    disappearing from nodes
  . avoid possible freeze at start of a file with `-v nodeline=pointers'


7.0.2 (22 January 2023)
This is a bug-fix release with minimal changes.

* texi2any
  . do not distribute architecture-dependent files
  . build fixed on OpenIndiana 11

* info
  . further fix of recoding of UTF-8 files to ASCII
  . fix check for presence of man pages on Solaris

* install-info
  . fix build by avoiding function name clash on some platforms
  . compiler warning re strncat silenced



7.0.1 (30 November 2022)
This is a bug-fix release with minimal changes.

* texi2any
  . avoid crashes on empty @image argument and other potential crashes
    (with "Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference" message)
  . avoid hang on @ref command inside section command

* info
  . fix recoding of UTF-8 files to ASCII when run in C locale

* js
  . index search fixed for new HTML output
  . some obsolete files removed from distribution


7.0 (7 November 2022)
* texi2any
 . LaTeX added as an output format, selected with --latex
 . EPUB 3 added as an output format, selected with --epub3
 . reform throughout the code in general
 . thorough review of character encoding issues
 . new customization variables involved with character encoding:
     INPUT_FILE_NAME_ENCODING, OUTPUT_FILE_NAME_ENCODING,
     DOC_ENCODING_FOR_INPUT_FILE_NAME, DOC_ENCODING_FOR_OUTPUT_FILE_NAME,
     MESSAGE_ENCODING and COMMAND_LINE_ENCODING
 . warn if full-text commands (@ref, @footnote, @anchor) appear in @w
 . new variable NO_TOP_NODE_OUTPUT
 . IGNORE_BEFORE_SETFILENAME variable removed.  former effect
   is now always on.
 . HTML output:
     . use manual_name_html as output directory for split HTML instead of
       manual_name or manual_name.html
     . default DOCTYPE declaration changed to plain HTML5 style rather than
       HTML4 DTD reference
     . output only the CSS rules that are needed in an output file
     . remove CSS_LINES variable and add SHOW_BUILTIN_CSS_RULES
       (custom CSS can still be output using EXTRA_HEAD)
     . use <code> tag for the output of @t and @verb instead of <tt>
     . use <abbr> for @acronym instead of <acronym>
     . link to table of contents from short table of contents only if a
       table of contents is actually output
     . prefix classes from @example arguments with `user-'
     . percent encode URL in @url/@uref, @email, @image and external
       manual file
     . new USE_XML_SYNTAX, HTML_ROOT_ELEMENT_ATTRIBUTES and
       NO_CUSTOM_HTML_ATTRIBUTE variables can be used to output
       valid XHTML
     . systematic addition of classes attribute in HTML elements based on the
       Texinfo @-command names.  renaming of class attributes to avoid
       confusion with @-commands formatting and describe the role in the
       document rather than the formatting style.
     . COPIABLE_ANCHORS renamed to COPIABLE_LINKS
     . do not add a title by default; SHOW_TITLE or NO_TOP_NODE_OUTPUT has
       to be set
     . USE_TITLEPAGE_FOR_TITLE is now true by default
     . L2H variable removed, replaced by HTML_MATH set to `l2h'
     . rename OVERVIEW_LINK_TO_TOC to SHORT_TOC_LINK_TO_TOC
     . rename BEFORE_OVERVIEW to BEFORE_SHORT_TOC_LINE
     . rename AFTER_OVERVIEW to AFTER_SHORT_TOC_LINES
     . remove PRE_ABOUT, AFTER_ABOUT, and add PROGRAM_NAME_IN_ABOUT
     . remove KEEP_TOP_EXTERNAL_REF
     . new variables IGNORE_REF_TO_TOP_NODE_UP, CONVERT_TO_LATEX_IN_MATH,
       HTMLXREF_MODE and HTMLXREF_FILE
 . DocBook output:
     . do not output Top node or text before the first @node or sectioning
       @-command.  NO_TOP_NODE_OUTPUT can be set to false to output Top node
       for now.
     . replace @definfoenclose defined @-commands by the argument as-is
       to be more consistent with printed output
 . HTML/DocBook output:
     . USE_NUMERIC_ENTITY changed to mean to use numeric entities instead
       of named entities.  former effect is now always on.
     . ENABLE_ENCODING_USE_ENTITY variable removed.  former effect is now
       always off.
 . Info output
     . quote problematic node names (with :, comma...) by default
     . new customization variable ASCII_PUNCTUATION to use plain ASCII
       characters for quotation marks and a few other symbols

* texinfo.tex
  . `@microtype on' uses microtypography in formatting for pdfTeX and LuaTeX
  . do not ignore @part page immediately following Top node
  . do `@set txicodevaristt' to get slanted typewriter for @var in code,
    `@clear txicodevaristt' to use slanted, variable-width roman font for
    @var everywhere.  flag is @set by default, but we may turn this off
    in the future.
  . new file doc/texinfo-zh.tex for Texinfo documents in Chinese.
    new support file doc/txi-zh.tex for Chinese.  doc/short-sample-zh.texi is
    a sample document.

* info
  . better support for index entries containing parentheses
  . better support for getting bold text etc. when displaying manpages
  . bug fixed where the first index entry in a file could be ignored
  . M-C-f closes as well as opens footnotes window
  . do not crash if run in Brazilian Portuguese locale

* Language
  . @deftype* commands use typewriter font in argument list
  . new commands @latex, @iflatex, @ifnotlatex for new LaTeX output format
  . do `@set txidefnamenospace' to omit space after a definition name

* Other
  . build fixed for glibc 2.34


6.8 (3 July 2021)
* Language
  . new command @displaymath for formatting of mathematical notation
  . @example takes an argument to specify the language
  . mark these commands as deprecated, not to be used:
    @centerchap, @definfoenclose, @refill, @inforef.
  . new paper size @bsixpaper

* texi2any
  . should be faster as Perl XS parser is enabled by default
  . SHOW_MENU customization variable replaced by FORMAT_MENU.
    FORMAT_MENU set to 'menu' is the same as SHOW_MENU set to 1, and
    FORMAT_MENU set to 'nomenu' is the same as SHOW_MENU set to 0.
  . only check menu structure if CHECK_NORMAL_MENU_STRUCTURE variable is set
  . changes to HTML output:
      . MathJax support for display of math.  new variables HTML_MATH,
        MATHJAX_SCRIPT and MATHJAX_SOURCE.
      . new variables JS_WEBLABELS and JS_WEBLABELS_FILE to support
        JavaScript License Web Labels
      . by default, use sectional tables of contents instead of menus
      . use section names in links by default (configure with
        xrefautomaticsectiontitle customization variable)
      . CONTENTS_OUTPUT_LOCATION sets location of table of contents
      . document sections wrapped in <div> elements
      . new variable USE_NODE_DIRECTIONS to use node or section structure
        for node directions
      . copiable anchor links for definitions with COPIABLE_ANCHORS variable
      . experimental JavaScript browsing interface enabled with INFO_JS_DIR
      . don't add an extra period before file extension given as an argument
        to @image if image file is not found

* info
  . support compressed dir files

* texi2dvi
  . stop on first error in input file

* texinfo.tex
  . put logical page numbers into PDF's ('page labels')
  . put chapter numbers in the PDF outline
  . new Finnish translation

* Distribution
  . autoconf 2.71, automake 1.16.3, gettext 0.21


6.7 (23 September 2019)
* Language:
  . support of index subentries and sub-subentries with @subentry
  . new commands @seeentry and @seealso in index entries
  . no need to wrap Top node in @ifnottex - omitted automatically when
    processed with TeX
  . UTF-8 is the default input encoding

* texi2any
  . for HTML output, mark index nodes in menus and tables of contents
    with the 'rel' attribute of the 'a' tag.
  . TOP_NODE_UP is now only used in HTML if TOP_NODE_UP_URL is set.
    Also TOP_NODE_UP should now be formatted in the output format.
    In HTML TOP_NODE_UP should be suitable for inclusion in HTML 
    element attributes, so for instance should not contain elements.
  . support of noderename.cnf files has been removed
  . INPUT_PERL_ENCODING, INPUT_ENCODING_NAME, NODE_FILE_EXTENSION,
    NODE_FILENAMES, SHORTEXTN and TOP_NODE_FILE removed as customization
    variables.
  . TOP_NODE_FILE_TARGET now contains the extension.
  . error messages translated when the XS parser module is in use

* texi2dvi
  . unconditionally run in --batch mode, i.e. without stopping if there
    is a TeX error
  . keep on going after a TeX error if the index files changed
  . with --tidy (or --build-dir), avoid reading index files from previous
    runs where --tidy was not used

* info
  . for a tree search (with M-/), '}' and '{' work as well as 'M-}' and
    'M-{' to go through the results

* Distribution:
  . Several obsolete portability checks removed
  . gettext 0.20.1, automake 1.16.1


6.6 (16 February 2019)
* Language:
  . new commands @&, @ampchar{}
  . @cropmarks command removed
  . @ctrl is no longer recognised (it was a way to insert literal
    control characters in Info files, but deprecated since the 
    time of Texinfo version 2)
  . \usebracesinindexestrue is no longer recommended for using braces in
    index entries, and has been a no-op for some time

* texi2any
  . extension modules fixed to work with the "thread-safe locales" of
    Perl 5.28 and newer
  . some code changed to stop warnings being given by newer versions of Perl
  . for HTML output, use `id' to define link targets instead of the `name'
    attribute on <a>
  . A native-code implementation of the Texinfo parser has been included
    on an experimental basis, which makes texi2any a lot faster.  Set the
    `TEXINFO_XS_PARSER' environment variable to 1 to use.
  . changes to HTML output:
     . omit colon after node name in menus by default (use
       `MENU_ENTRY_COLON' to add it back)
     . no special CSS for commands like @smallexample
     . new customization variable `SECTION_NAME_IN_TITLE' to use the
       section name as the document <title>
     . use section names instead of node names in generated menus
  . pass on flags set with -D to TeX
  . useless static libraries are not installed
  . the newline after an @insertcopying is not output
  . warning given for @multitable prototypes not in braces
  . @indent and @noindent are not allowed inside the arguments to
    commands where they are not meaningful
  . @quote-arg and @allow-recursion are not recognised (these two used
    to be recognised by makeinfo in macro definitions but were never 
    implemented in texinfo.tex)
  . `FIX_TEXINFO' removed as a customization variable
  . do not recognise or warn about obsolete customization variables

* info
  . debugging output with -x is not diverted to a separate infodebug file

* Development:
  . switch from Subversion to git
     - https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=texinfo
  . automake 1.16


6.5 (12 September 2017)
* info:
  . some bugs fixed:
    . a bug where a segfault could happen in the regex search, for
      example when the user entered a single \ as the search string
    . another bug which could make nodes inaccessible in long "split"
      info files
    . a bug where it was not possible to follow a cross-reference
      that was split across more than one line has been fixed
  . do not fall back to a man page if following a cross-reference in an
    info file failed
  . if looking for a file failed, do not convert the name of a file to
    lower-case and look for it again

* texinfo.tex
  . some faulty definitions for Unicode characters have been changed or
    removed
  . fix indentation in table of contents for entries that are split
    across multiple lines

* texi2dvi
  . a bug that broke the processing of LaTeX files that did not
    use BibTeX has been fixed

* texi2any
  . output the encoding declaration of a HTML file earlier so it
    will always occur within first 1024 bytes of file
  . `INLINE_INSERTCOPYING' removed as a customization variable


6.4 (23 June 2017)
* texi2any:
  . for HTML output, place section names before the manual in page
    titles, instead of after them, so it is easier to distinguish pages
    if titles are truncated
  . starting points for ordered lists beginning with 0 or a letter of
    the alphabet are output as attributes on the <ol> tag, as was
    case for Texinfo 4.13 and earlier
  . a bit faster
  . some discrepancies in paragraph formatting between Perl extension
    modules and interpreted Perl modules have been fixed
  . `MACRO_BODY_IGNORES_LEADING_SPACE' customization variable removed,
    and `indent_menu_descriptions' is no longer a possible value for
    `TREE_TRANSFORMATIONS' (as these features did not work as
    documented)

* info:
  . the `up-line' and `down-line' commands now are like the other
    scrolling commands and are no longer confined to a single node
    (depending on the value of `scroll-behaviour')
  . supplying the --all option with --index-search displays a list
    of matching index entries
  . the style variables like `link-style' can now be set while info
    is running
  . display bug fixed where color could be turned off prematurely
  . several other bugs fixed
  . better portability in test suite
  . do not fall back to showing the dir node if a manual isn't found
  . Do not attempt any kind of conversion of CR LF line endings,
    except on MS-DOS/Windows, when it is done unconditionally.  (This 
    replaces a more complicated approach, where this conversion would 
    take place if there was a problem finding a node in a file.)  The 
    main effect of this change is that Info files with CR LF line 
    endings, which would have been produced on MS-DOS/Windows with old 
    versions of makeinfo, are only supported on such operating systems.
  . a few of the key bindings under --vi-keys have been changed for
    consistency or to match the documentation

* texinfo.tex
  . a DVI file with a single empty page can be output again, which
    restores the behavior from Texinfo 6.0 and earlier

* Distribution
  . autoconf 2.69, automake 1.15, gettext 0.19.8



6.3 (10 September 2016)

* Language:
  . The commands `@setcontentsaftertitlepage' and
    `@setshortcontentsaftertitlepage' have been removed.
  . @-commands are no longer supported within `@errormsg'.

* texinfo.tex:
  . For a couple of characters (opening and closing braces), use glyphs
    from the standard TeX math fonts instead of using EC fonts which are 
    less likely to be installed.
  . Use of user-defined macros in the text of an index entry is more
    reliable when the text contains Texinfo @-commands.
  . @synindex and @syncodeindex have been fixed (broken in the last
    release).
  . Support added for native UTF-8 support with XeTeX and LuaTeX.
  . Support of PDF output with XeTeX improved.
  . You can use a new file doc/texinfo-ja.tex for Texinfo documents in
    Japanese.  doc/short-sample-ja.tex is a sample document.  New 
    support file doc/txi-ja.tex for Japanese.

* texi2any:
  . Fix handling of compiler options when building Perl extension modules.

* texi2dvi:
  . Can now process files whose absolute paths contain space characters,
    as long a relative path to the file is given.  Better support of 
    files with unusual characters in their names.
  . No longer exits prematurely in some circumstances (due to the script
    running under "set -e").
  . Bug fixed which made the `--command' and `--tidy' options
    incompatible.

* info:
  . Handling of "invalid" value in infokey file fixed.

6.2 (withdrawn)



6.1 (06 February 2016)

* Language:
  . You can now omit the @menu from nodes with other nodes below them in
    the document structure.  If you use "@validatemenus off" near the 
    start of a Texinfo file, makeinfo will, where needed, create a menu 
    for nodes lacking one given explicitly.
  . An @setfilename line is no longer required at the start of a
    Texinfo file.  (Be aware, though, that some other tools may require 
    it, for example Automake.)
  . For processing with TeX, a comma is automatically provided following
    a cross-reference command (such as @xref) when needed to separate
    the page number from following text, so you don't need to add one
    yourself.  See the `Parts of a Cross Reference' node in the manual
    for details.  Behavior when followed by punctuation, as always
    recommended previously, is unchanged.

* texi2any:
  . Some Perl modules have been rewritten in C to increase speed.
    If Perl extensions can be created, they are used by default; 
    otherwise the pure Perl implementations are still used.
    Disable at build time with "configure --disable-perl-xs".  The 
    environment variable TEXINFO_XS controls how they are used by 
    texi2any.
  . Quotation marks are left out for node names and index entries in
    Info output where they would have been produced by commands such
    as @file or @option.
  . New customization variable INFO_SPECIAL_CHARS_QUOTE to allow use of
    a quoting mechanism for problematic constructs in Info output, for
    example node names containing colons or commas.
  . Commands like @heading are affected by @lowersections and @raisesections
    again, as was the case before Texinfo 5.0.

* texinfo.tex:
  . You may explicitly specify a sort key for an index entry by preceding
    the text of the entry with the @sortas commmand with the sort key 
    desired as a braced argument.   Additionally, you may choose to
    ignore all occurences of the characters \, @, <, and - using new 
    flags you can specify with @set: `txiindexbackslashignore',
    `txiindexatsignignore', `txiindexlessthanignore', and
    `txiindexhyphenignore' respectively.
  . Changes to macro handling to more closely match makeinfo.  Ends of
    lines are preserved in an argument to a macro taking a single 
    argument.
  . By default, suppress heading line on a page with a chapter on it, to
    avoid having the chapter title repeated.
  . Use a larger font for arguments in a @deffn line and similar.
  . The default indices (cp, ky and so on) now don't get a file opened
    for them unless they are actually used.  This reduces the number of
    files that a run of TeX produces, and also allows for a greater
    number of user-defined indices, because you will not bump into TeX's
    limit of 16 open files at once so soon.
  . For initials in indices that are non-alphanumeric characters (for
    example, backslash, or braces), avoid use of a typewriter font.  
    This gives a more consistent appearance.
  . Have a stronger preference for breaking a column in an index before
    a letter heading.
  . Formatting improvements in tables of contents and indices.  Entries
    can extend slightly into the margin instead of being broken across 
    two lines, and text is split more evenly across lines.  Reduce 
    chance of an orphaned index entry appearing at the top of a column.
  . Support character encodings beyond ASCII for XeTeX and LuaTeX by
    reading file input byte-by-byte.

* texi2dvi:
  . Support for determining the output files using the `-recorder'
    option to TeX, to help to support more TeX engines.

* info:
  . New user variables `link-style', `active-link-style', and
    `match-style' enable customization of how cross-references and search 
    matches are highlighted.
  . By default only the node pointers are displayed at the top of a node.
    Customize this with the `nodeline' variable.
  . New command M-x tree-search to search all subnodes of a node.
  . Now tries to find referenced manuals in the same directory as the
    current file first, before looking in search path.  Customize this
    with new variable `follow-strategy'.
  . The `mouse' variable is now off by default, in order not to
    interfere with the selection of text in a terminal emulator window.
  . `q' closes a window instead of quitting altogether if there's more
    than one, for example if a help window is open.
  . Several bug fixes, including:
      . one causing the wrong position in a node to be shown when
        following an "anchor" cross-reference
      . one causing a test failure in the t/c-u-m-x-scroll-forward.sh
        test on some platforms
  . Internal changes to reduce memory use and increase speed of
    searches, relative to last release
  . The meaning of the `key-time' variable has changed when its value
    is 0.  This value meant to wait forever in the last release, but now
    it means that the next byte must be available immediately.

* Documentation:
  . The `info.info' file (and `info.texi' source) is no longer
    distributed with Texinfo.  Now this manual is only in Emacs.

* Distribution:
  . automake-1.15, gettext-0.19.6.


6.0 (26 June 2015)
* Language:
  . new commands @sub and @sup, for textual subscripts and superscripts.
  . new command @U to insert a Unicode character by code point.

* texinfo.tex:
  . @url/@uref output in PDF now the same as in DVI, showing the url
    even if the second argument is given, not just as a link target.
    TeX option \urefurlonlylinktrue gives previous behavior, of invisible urls.
    PDF-only \linkcolor and \urlcolor specify colors (default black).

* texi2any:
  . customization variable TOP_NODE_UP_URL now replaces all (dir) references;
    recommended setting for GNU packages is /manual/.
  . new customization variable INDEX_SPECIAL_CHARS_WARNING to complain
    when index entries contain a colon.
  . Docbook output no longer uses <lineannotation> for @r.
  . -D'var val' on the command line works as intended again.
  . --plaintext output can be split.
  . a bit faster.

* info:
  . invoking as `info foo bar' looks for bar as an index entry in manual
    foo, if not found as a top-level menu item.
  . invoking info with an absolute or explicitly relative file name
    (./foo.info, /tmp/foo.info, etc.) just visits that file.
  . separate `infokey' program has been removed - the .infokey file is
    now read directly by Info.
  . new option --init-file allows overriding ~/.infokey.
  . new variable `highlight-searches' allows highlighting results from a
    search
  . support for mouse scrollwheel, controlled by `mouse' variable.
  . new variable `key_time' to control how long to wait for byte
    sequences sent by special keys.
  . new variable `hide-note-references' alters appearance of displayed nodes
  . new variable `infopath-no-defaults' allows omitting the compile-time
    Info directory from the Info search path.
  . support input of multibyte characters for searches in a UTF-8 locale.
  . if reading an Info file that is known to be in a different character
    encoding to that of the user's environment, convert its contents 
    when displayed and substitute missing characters
  . new command M-x info-version.
  . the M-x kill-node command has been removed.
  . test suite at build time.

* texindex:
  . completely new implementation as a literate program using Texinfo
    and (portable) awk (called TexiWeb Jr.), thanks to Arnold Robbins.
    (Requires gawk 4.0+ if .twjr source is modified.)
  . the -o (--output) is not supported, unless we hear of someone using it.
  . duplicated sort keys with different display texts result in one
    merged index entry, using the first display text.
  . better sorting and parsing in unusual cases; most notably, { and }
    characters can appear as initials.

* install-info:
  . handle compressed input file names containing spaces.
  . exit successfully if --remove is given and the dir file does not exist.
  . new option --defsection, to be used instead of "Miscellaneous" when
    a section is not present in the Info file.

* texi2dvi:
  . look for the environment variable THUMBPDF_CMD instead of THUMBPDF,
    since thumbpdf itself has used THUMBPDF for options since 2000.
  . remove --recode and --recode-from options, since they haven't
    worked as intended for years, so evidently no one needs them.

* Distribution:
  . new translation ca (catalan).
  . automake-1.15, gettext-0.19.4.


5.2 (26 September 2013)
* Language:
  . new commands @inlinefmtifelse, @inlineifset, @inlineifclear, for
    more brace-delimited alternatives to the conditional environments.

* texi2any:
  . warns about node names, menu items, and cross-references (but not
    index entries) containing problematic characters; can be disabled
    with -c INFO_SPECIAL_CHARS_WARNING=0.

* info:
  . new option -x (--debug) for debugging output; -x -1 to get everything.
  . new option -v (--variable) assigns a value to an Info variable,
    with the usual syntax, -v VARIABLE=VALUE.
  . new option -a (--all) instructs Info to display all documents
    matching the command line arguments, not just the first.  In
    conjunction with the -w option, it shows full names of all Info
    files matching the command line arguments; with -o, it outputs all
    matching files.
  . new variable search-skip-screen controls the starting position for
    repeated search commands ({ and }).  When set to On, repeated
    searches skip the lines displayed on the screen, i.e.,
    forward searches (}) start at the beginning of the next page, and
    backward searches ({) start at the end of the previous page.
  . new command display-file-info (bound to = by default, C-g in vi mode)
    shows full file name of the node being displayed and position in it.

* texi2dvi:
  . support for biblatex+biber.

* Distribution: automake-1.14, gettext-0.18.3.1.


5.1 (12 March 2013)
* texi2any:
  . irregular sectioning trees (see 5.0 news item) produce a warning
    rather than an error.
  . @set in the middle of the line no longer produces a warning.
  
* info:
  . lzip (.lz) compression supported.
  
* install-info:
  . lzip (.lz) compression supported.

* Development: switch from CVS to Subversion.
  https://savannah.gnu.org/svn/?group=texinfo


5.0 (16 February 2013)
* Language:
  . Texinfo commands are supported in node names.
  . #line directives are recognized.
  . @-commands are now recognized in raw format blocks.  Therefore, for
    example, lone @, { and } characters in @tex, @html and similar
    environments must be converted to the normal @@, @{, and @} commands.
  . new commands @inlinefmt and @inlineraw for brace-delimited conditionals.
  . new conditionals @ifcommanddefined and @ifcommandnotdefined to test
    if a Texinfo command is available.
  . new command @part for a group of chapters.
  . new environments @raggedright, @smallquotation,
      @indentedblock, and @smallindentedblock.
  . new commands @codequoteundirected and @codequotebacktick,
      for a better interface than "@set txicodequoteundirected" and
      "@set txicodequotebacktick"; now respected by @kbd.
  . new command @xrefautomaticsectiontitle to allow using section titles
      in cross references by default, instead of node names.
  . new commands for Texinfo special characters:
    @atchar{} @lbracechar{} @rbracechar{} @backslashchar{} @hashchar{}.
  . new commands @deftypefnnewline to print return types on their own lines.
  . new command @headitemfont for the sake of template rows.
  . new command @urefbreakstyle to control breaking of @url/@uref in TeX.
  . new diacritic command @ogonek.
  . new commands for Icelandic letters eth and thorn: @DH{} @dh{} @TH{} @th{}.
  . new command @errormsg to report an error.
  . five-argument xrefs can refer to a whole manual, by omitting the
      section name and either omitting the node name or using "Top".
  . DEL (0x7f = 0177 = 127) is a true comment character (catcode 14 in TeX).

* texi2any is the new generic converter for Texinfo that can produce all
  supported output formats, both those from texi2dvi (PDF/DVI) and from
  makeinfo (Info/HTML/etc.).  texi2any and makeinfo are now different
  names for the same program; there are no differences in behavior based
  on the program name.

  The new implementation is in Perl, requiring Perl 5.7.3 (released in
  March 2002) and its standard Encode module.
  
  The Perl texi2any/makeinfo both replaces and is intended to be (for
  all practical purposes) upward-compatible with the C makeinfo.  It has
  many new features not in the C makeinfo.  For example, cross-manual
  references are now fully supported, and allows for extensive
  customization of the HTML output.  See the `Generic Translator
  texi2any' chapter in the manual (among other places) for more about
  this reimplementation.
  
  The new program is, unfortunately, noticeably slower at present than
  the C program was.  We hope all the many improvements make the new
  version worthwhile for users nevertheless.

* Intentional incompatibilities with the previous implementation of
  makeinfo, through version 4.13:
  
  . The old implementation accepted a lone block of text inside @itemize,
    @enumerate, etc., without any @item.  This is semantically
    inconsistent, leading to problems with some backends, and thus now
    produces a warning.
    
  . The old implementation accepted ``irregular'' sectioning trees.  Now,
    when @node pointers are implicitly determined, the consistency of
    @menu and the sectioning tree is checked.  (If node pointers are
    explicitly specified in the document, the tree can still be irregular.)
  
  . The old implementation always added blank lines between function
    definitions if they weren't already there.  Now blank lines are not
    added.  (Both old and new implementations preserve blank lines that
    are present.)
    
  . The old implementation processed macros in place, formatting the
    replacement text with the output.  Now the replacement text is
    textually substituted as Texinfo source.  A consequence of the old
    behavior is that ends of lines from expansion of an @macro
    definition did not end an @-command line-delimited argument
    (@chapter, @center, etc.).  Now they do.  (A detailed example is in
    the manual, node Macro Details.)

* pod2texi is a new (Perl) program that uses the capabilities of
  texi2any to translate Perl pod documentation to Texinfo.
  
* texinfo.tex:
  . urls (given to @uref and @url) are broken by default at special
    characters; behavior controllable with @urefbreakstyle.
  . support some per-language hyphenation, when the underlying TeX
    engine does (for instance, etex/pdfetex from TeX Live 2008 or
    later).  Words with accented letters are still not handled properly.
  . @title, text will be broken if needed, and @* can be used to override.
  . new Icelandic translation: txi-is.tex.
  . new Hungarian translation: txi-hu.tex.
  . official updates between full package releases available at
    http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/texinfo/texinfo.tex.

* texi2dvi:
  . new option --max-iterations.
  . official updates between full package releases available at
    http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/texinfo/texi2dvi.
  
* info:
  . INFOPATH is determined from PATH by default, or if an element "PATH"
    is specified.
  . New command Info-virtual-index, bound to I by default, following Emacs.
  . Info keywords not found by searches.
  . A lower limit on the length of search patterns, default 1,
    specified by the variable min-search-length.
  . Use ASCII versions of images, if supplied by the document.
  . xz compression supported.

* install-info:
  . xz compression supported.

* Documentation:
  . new appendix with a technical description of the Info file format.
  . information on the customizations of the HTML output now possible.

* Distribution:
  . new file htmlxref.cnf is installed to support cross-manual
    references; official updates between full package releases available
    at http://ftpmirror.gnu.org/texinfo/htmlxref.cnf.
  . language support for no removed/renamed to nb, per Norwegian translators.
  . new translations: id it,
    and document translations: eo pl.
  . texinfo.cat file removed since it is (to our knowledge) unused.
  . documentation license now GFDLv1.3 or later.
  . autoconf 2.69, automake 1.13.1, gettext 0.18.2.


4.13 (18 September 2008)

* A reference card for Texinfo is now available, in doc/refcard.  For
  convenience, preformatted PDF's for letter-size and A4 paper are included.

* makeinfo:
  . new option --internal-links for HTML output, to write a tsv file
    mapping indexed/toc terms to links, for easy reference from external
    documents.
  . - as an input file name reads standard input. 

* info:
  . support for multibyte encodings such as UTF-8.
  . new option --show-malformed-multibytes, to display malformed multibyte
    sequences.
  . new environment variable INFO_MAN_COMMAND sets the name of man executable
    (use it if you a need to override PATH settings).
  
* install-info:
  . bug fix: support names with embedded periods (e.g., config.status) again.

* Distribution:
  . autoconf 2.63.


4.12 (20 April 2008)

* Language:
  . new commands @clicksequence, @click, and @clickstyle for documenting
    GUI sequences, and @arrow for the default glyph used.
  . new commands @geq{} and @leq{} for the normal >= and <= relations.

* install-info:
  . lzma compression supported.
  . Much work towards compatibility with Debian's independent
    implementation.  Changes in behavior:
    - new entries are formatted to start at column 34 by default.
    - existing entries are replaced by default.
    - new sections are alphabetized among existing sections.
    - if an entry being removed is the last one in a section, the
      section is also removed.
  . Also many new options:
    --section REGEX TITLE.
    --no-indent: disable formatting of new entries.
    --menuentry, --name: specify left-hand side of an entry.
    --dry-run: alias for --test.
    --regex REGEX: renamed from --section regex, adds to all sections
      matching REGEX by default.
    --add-once: add only to first specified or matching section.
    --align COL: start description at column COL.
    --calign COL: start continuation lines in description at COL.
    --max-width COL: wrap the description at COL.
  . New section in the Texinfo manual describing all this.

* info:
  Our goal with these changes to the default interface is to make Info
  documents more easily and quickly readable, especially by non-experts.
  . the PageUp and PageDown keys move through the whole document by
    default, instead of just the current node.
  . the h command shows the basic help, and H starts the Info tutorial.
  . the newly-bound x command deletes the current window, e.g., within help.
  . the scroll-step variable is set to 1 by default, for smooth scrolling.
  . the cursor-movement-scrolls-p variable is set to 1 by default, so
    link searches look through the whole document.
  . regular expression searches are supported, and are the default for
    both regular and incremental searches.
  . the new R command toggles between regexp and literal-string searches.
  . the new variable scroll-last-node controls scrolling at the end of
    the last node; by default, it now simply reports there are no more
    nodes.  To restore the old behavior, set scroll-last-node=Scroll.
  . the precise line number specified in index entries is used if available.
  . --usage=info shows usage for standalone Info.
  . lzma compression supported.

* Distribution:
  . language support for no removed/renamed to nb, per Norwegian translators.
  . new translation: es.
  . bug fixes in make check (and elsewhere).
  . gettext 0.17, automake 1.10.1, autoconf 2.62.


4.11 (9 September 2007)

* Language:
  . @documentlanguage now supports an optional country code
    specification after the language code, a la gettext.
  . new command @allowcodebreaks controls breaks at _ and - within @code.
  . new command @frenchspacing controls spacing after sentences.
  . new command @fonttextsize allows changing body text font size to 10pt.
  . new command @textdegree{} produces the normal degrees symbol.
  . new command @thischapternum can be used in TeX headers/footers.
  . new commands for quotes: @quotedblleft @quotedblright
     @quoteleft @quoteright  @quotedblbase @quotesinglbase
     @guillemetleft @guillemetright @guilsinglleft @guilsinglright.
  . new option @set txicodequoteundirected produces an undirected quote
    in code and example output, instead of the regular right quote.
  . new option @set txicodequotebacktick produces a grave accent in
    code and example output, instead of the regular left quote.
* makeinfo:
  . The @documentlanguage locale is used to translate various document strings.
  . --enable-encoding is now the default, meaning Info and plain text
    output use 8-bit characters given a supported @documentencoding.
  . new option --css-ref=URL for creating a stylesheet <link> in HTML output.
  . new option --transliterate-file-names to use a reduction-to-ASCII
    algorithm for split HTML file names, useful for non-Latin-based languages.
  . @enddots{} outputs three dots instead of four, for consistency with
    texinfo.tex.
  . the Local Variables coding: setting written by --enable-encoding now
    comes at the very end, after the tags table, so that Emacs can find
    it in more cases.
  . @allow-recursion (never documented) is deprecated and produces a warning.
  . @quote-args (never documented) is now the default behavior.
  . centering and such take account of character widths.
  . the --reference-limit option is now a no-op.
  . improvements to XML and Docbook output and the DTD.
* texinfo.tex:
  . @thissection can now be used in custom headings, and @thischapter
    works reliably even without @set chapternewpage.  Custom headings
    have additional flexibility as well.
* texi2dvi:
  . pdftexi2dvi is a new wrapper to `texi2dvi --pdf', equal to texi2pdf,
    for the sake of AUC-TeX which prepends `pdf' to the compilation
    command when requested to produce PDF.
* info:
  . look for info files in the current directory first, by default.
  . when calling man, use -a if no explicit section is found.
  . avoid showing the top(1) man page for nonexistent info files.
* install-info:
  . new options --section-regex, --remove-exactly, --debug, --test.
* Distribution:
  . autoconf 2.60, automake 1.10, gettext 0.16.1.
  . gettext support now [external].
  . new translations: hu (Hungarian), rw (Kinyarwandan), vi (Vietnamese).
  . most common sources imported from gnulib.

4.10 (omitted)


4.9 (29 June 2007)
* GPLv3.
* texi2dvi:
  . new mode --build=tidy which supports compilation in a separate
    directory, where intermediate files are preserved.
  . new option --build-dir, to specify where the tidy build will take
    place, either locally or globally.  This allows avoiding the clutter
    while preserving auxiliary files.
  . new support for AUC-TeX: texi2dvi (weakly) supports arguments a la
    TeX such as `\nonstopmode\input{file.tex}'.
  . new options --ps and --dvipdf, useful especially for pstricks documents.
  . new option --src-specials, passed to TeX.
* texinfo.tex:
  . Latin1, Latin2, Latin9, and UTF-8 are supported -- only as well as
    the Computer Modern fonts can manage, which means primarily English
    and western European languages, to a limited extent.
  . png and jpg images supported in pdf output.
  . new Russian, Serbian, and Ukrainian translations for texinfo.tex:
    txi-ru.tex, txi-sr.tex, txi-uk.tex.
  . section names with \ characters work properly in pdf outlines.
  . have .toc files use @ as the escape character, instead of \.


4.8 (31 December 2004)
* Language:
  . new command @euro for the Euro currency symbol, and
    @documentencoding has some support for ISO-8859-15.
  . new command @abbr for general abbreviations.
  . new command @slanted to typeset text in a slanted font,
    and @sansserif to typeset in a sans serif font.
* makeinfo:
  . An empty first argument to cross-reference commands, such as @xref,
    causes an error.  This change was made in 4.1, but not mentioned in NEWS.
  . HTML output:
    - <a name="..."> constructs are added for the old-style
      conversion of node names to HTML names, so that external references
      to them can continue to work.
    - "g_t" prefixed to targets for node names beginning with a
      nonletter, for XHTML compatibility.
  . Docbook output: recognize more image formats.
* texi2dvi:
  . new option --recode, to call recode for input character translation.
* Distribution:
  . new convenience script texi2pdf, equivalent to texi2dvi --pdf (from tetex).
  . some cross-compiling support in configure && make.
  . new configure option --disable-install-warnings, for TeX.
    distributions which do have the files installed.
  . automake 1.9.4.


4.7 (9 April 2004)
* Language:
  . new commands @float, @caption, @shortcaption, @listoffloats for
    initial implementation of floating material (figures, tables, etc).
    Ironically, they do not yet actually float anywhere.
  . new commands @docbook, @ifdocbook, @ifnotdocbook for conditional Docbook.
  . new commands @ordf{} and @ordm{} for Spanish feminine/masculine ordinals.
  . new commands @deftypecv[x] for class variables in typed OO languages.
  . new command @registeredsymbol for the r-in-a-circle symbol.
  . new command @headitem to make a heading row in @multitable.
  . new command @LaTeX{} for the LaTeX logo.
  . new command @comma{} to avoid comma-parsing problems.
  . @url is now a synonym for @uref; new command @indicateurl has the
    old meaning of just displaying a url as text.
  . @quotation now accepts an optional argument for labelling the text
      as a `Note', `Tip', etc.
  . @defun (et al.) heading lines can now be continued with a lone @.
  . @acronym accepts an optional argument for the meaning of the acronym.
* makeinfo:
  . New environment variable TEXINFO_OUTPUT_FORMAT determines the output
    format at runtime, if no options are specified.
  . New option --plaintext, equivalent to --no-headers with Info output.
  . All outputs:
    - sections are numbered by default.
  . Info output:
    - punctuation is inserted after @pxref and @ref, if needed to make
      cross-references valid.
    - line numbers included in index menus, so Info readers can go to
      the exact line of an entry, not just a node.  Also in plaintext output.
    - ^@^H[index^@^H] cookie included in index menus, so Info readers
      can handle the ] etc. commands better.
  . HTML output:
    - new algorithm for cross-references to other manuals, for maximum
      portability and stability.
    - include node name in <title> with split output.
    - @multicolumn fractions become percentages.
    - entities used for bullets, quotes, dashes, and others.
    - index entries are links to the exact locations.
    - <h4> and <h5> used for @sub and @subsubsections again.
    - accented dotless i supported.
  . XML output: many new tags and structure to preserve more source features.
  . Docbook output:
    - upgraded DTD to Docbook XML 4.2, no longer using Docbook SGML.
    - improved translation in general, for instance:
    - line annotations and marked quotations.
* texi2dvi:
  . if available, use etex (pdfetex if --pdf) by default.
  . if the input file includes thumbpdf.sty (for LaTeX), then run thumbpdf.
  . more output if --debug.
* texinfo.tex:
  . @defun names are now printed in typewriter (instead of bold), and
    within the arguments, @var text is printed in slanted typewriter.
  . @tex code is executed inside a TeX group, so that any changes must
    be prefixed with \global (or the equivalent) to be effective.  (This
    change was actually made years ago, but never made it into the NEWS.)
* info:
  . new option --where (aka --location, -w) to report where an Info file
    would be found, instead of reading it.
  . by default, output ANSI terminal escape sequences as-is; new option
    --no-raw-escapes overrides this.
  . use the newly-generated index line numbers.
* Distribution:
  . new script gendocs.sh (not installed), for use by GNU maintainers in
    getting their manuals on the GNU web site.  Documented in
    maintain.texi (http://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/).
  . Most code uses ANSI C prototypes, to some extent.
  . New translation: nb.
  . automake 1.8.3, autoconf 2.59, gettext 0.14.1.


4.6 (10 June 2003)
* Language:
  . new command @/ specifies an allowable breakpoint within a line.
  . new command @dofirstparagraphindent to control whether the first
    paragraph following a section heading is indented.  Default is to
    omit this indentation, unlike the output up to now.
  . new command @indent for explicitly indenting a paragraph.
  . makeinfo writes a new construct for @image in Info output, so that
    graphical Info browsers (such as Emacs Info under X) can display an
    actual image.  (Standalone Info ignores this, since it runs in a tty.)
* makeinfo:
  . Common:
    - search for image files in the include file search path.
    - warns if @value is used on an undefined variable.
  . Info output:
    - default --split-size now 300,000 bytes, up from 50,000.
    - with --enable-encoding and a given @documentencoding,
      output a Local Variables section specifying that encoding, for use
      with Emacs.
  . HTML output:
    - uses <h3> at the smallest.
    - a few css <style> definitions are included to better
      implement @format, @display, @small..., etc.
    - new option --css-include=FILE includes FILE in the <style>.
    - @cartouche now outputs a <table> with a border.
* texinfo.tex:
  . new Polish translation txi-pl.tex.
* texi2dvi:
  . --command=CMD replaces --texinfo=CMD; it inserts CMD at the first
    line of LaTeX files now, or after the @setfilename for Texinfo files.
* info:
  . RET now goes to the nearest xref (rather like Emacs Info),
    instead of the next xref starting on the current line.
* Distribution:
  . new Romanian (ro) translation.
  . variables now declared const where appropriate.
  . gettext 0.12.1, automake 1.7.5.


4.5 (4 February 2003)
* info:
  . a bug in 4.4 prevented compressed info files from being found.
* Distribution:
  . detect sys/ptem.h on Solaris.


4.4 (31 January 2003)
* Language:
  . The ' (ASCII apostrophe/right quote) character is finally allowed in
    node and anchor names.  Thus, after installing this texinfo.tex,
    existing .aux files will cause errors!  Remove them and rerun TeX to
    generate good ones.
  . @value constructs are now expanded in the filename arguments to
    @include and @verbatiminclude.
* makeinfo:
  . @macro names may no longer include ^ or _, for the sake of math mode.
  . bug fix: @copying text is now reflected in tag table positions;
    before, nodes may not have been found with a long-enough @copying.
  . bug fix: html @verb arg is quoted properly, and does not imply
    a paragraph break.
* texinfo.tex:
  . @smallexample and the like now output in a smaller font (9pt) in all
    paper formats, not just @smallbook and @afourpaper.
  . new translation txi-tr.tex.
  . bug fix: <>| and other characters do not disappear when they are
    first on a line in @verbatim.
* install-info:
  . bug fix: don't translate the `* Menu' info keyword.
* info:
  . CTRL-H is treated like DEL in incremental search.
  . arrow keys once again work in isearch contexts under Solaris.
* infokey:
  . use .info key bindings before defaults.
  . allow prefix keys to be disabled.
* Distribution:
  . update to GNU FDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html).
  . getopt and other common library files updated from gnulib
    (http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/gnulib/).
  . autoconf 2.57, automake 1.7.2.


4.3 (14 November 2002)
* Language:
  . new command @tie{} to do a real tie (unbreakable interword space).
* makeinfo:
  . html output for @defun and friends now has font changes.
  . html output has some class attributes.
  . xml and docbook output improved in many details.
* texinfo.tex:
  . new Italian translations, txi-it.tex.
  . pdf bookmarks for unnumbered sections work.
  . type name for @defun and friends no longer extends into margin.
* info:
  . automatic-footnotes now off by default, for emacs compatibility.
  . crash when MALLOC_CHECK_=2 fixed.
* install-info:
  . new option --infodir synonym for --info-dir, for compatibility with
    the Debian install-info.
  . support for bzip2-compressed files.
* texindex:
  . omit initial if the entire index is under one character.
* Distribution:
 . development sources now available under CVS, see
   http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/texinfo/
 . Turkish message translation.
 . gettext 0.11.5, autoconf 2.54, automake 1.7.1.


*** NEWS FOR ALL AUTHORS OF TEXINFO MANUALS ***

As of version 4.2, Texinfo has a command @copying to define the
copyright and copying permissions for a manual.  If you haven't already,
please switch to using it in your next release, because the historical
method of doing copyright permissions using @ifinfo failed to output
copyright information in the HTML (or XML) formats.  The manual has
detailed explanations and examples.  For convenience, here's a url to
one of the relevant sections:
  http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/Document-Permissions.html

4.2 (1 April 2002)
* Language:
  . new command @copying to define copying permissions.  See above.
  . new conditionals @ifplaintext, @ifnotplaintext for the plain text
    (--no-headers) output format.
  . new command @\ to produce literal \ inside @math, since \ by itself
    no longer works.
* makeinfo:
  . emit accesskey attributes for keyboard shortcuts to menu items.
  . @{even,every,odd}{footing,header} are ignored by makeinfo now, so
    they no longer need to be enclosed in @iftex.
* texinfo.tex:
  . bug fix for pdf-format table of contents.
* info:
  . bug fixes for -R (--raw-escapes).
  . --help shows short option names.
* Distribution:
  . the doc.c, funs.h, and key.c files in info/ are no longer generated
    at make time, to appease Automake's make distcheck.
  . gettext 0.11.1, autoconf 2.53, automake 1.6 (with install-info kludge).


4.1 (4 March 2002)
* Language:
  . new commands @verbatim and @verb for printing verbatim inserts.
  . new command @verbatiminclude for verbatim include of files.
  . new environment @documentdescription for defining the HTML description.
  . new command @afivepaper for the A5 paper size.
* makeinfo:
  . supports xml and docbook output.
  . supports HTML splitting by node, which is now the default.
  . new option --split-size to control maximum size of split info files.
  . new option --enable-encoding to enable
* info:
  . user-specified key bindings supported.
  . ANSI escape sequences (as produced by groff) removed from man output
    by default; use --raw-escapes to let them through if your terminal
    supports them.
  . RET terminates incremental search normally.
* texinfo.tex:
  . @math implies @tex, so all the usual plain TeX math is supported.
  . smaller fonts for @smallexample, in all page sizes.
  . improvements in the PDF support.
* texi2dvi:
  . new option -o to explicitly specify output filename.
* Distribution:
  . switch to GNU Free Documentation License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/).
  . update to GNU gettext 0.11, autoconf 2.52, and automake 1.5.
  . Danish, Swedish, and Hebrew message translations.


4.0 (28 September 1999)
* Language:
  . New command @anchor for cross references to arbitrary points.
  . New commands @documentlanguage sets the main document language,
    and @documentencoding sets the document input encoding (although not
    much is done yet with either).
  . New command @pagesizes allows limited control of text area for typesetting.
  . New command @acronym for abbreviations in all caps, such as `NASA'.
  . New command @alias for simple command aliases.
  . New command @definfoenclose for better control of info output.
  . New commands @deftypeivar for typed instance variables of a class
    and @deftypeop for typed operations of a class.
  . New command @novalidate suppresses cross-reference checking and (in
    TeX) auxiliary file creation.
  . New commands @setcontentsaftertitlepage and
    @setshortcontentsaftertitlepage to force printing the table of
    contents after @end titlepage.  Also, @contents and @shortcontents
    themselves can now appear at the beginning of the document as
    well as the end.
  . New markup commands: @env (for environment variables), @command (for
    command names), @option (for command-line options).
  . New commands @smallformat and @smalldisplay, a la @smallexample.
  . New command @exampleindent to set indentation of example-like
    environments a la @paragraphindent.
  . @uref takes an optional third argument of text to show instead of
    (rather than in addition to) the url for info and dvi output.
  . @footnote works in an @item for a @table.
* texinfo.tex:
  . latest version always at ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/texinfo/texinfo.tex
    (and mirrors).
  . implements @macro.
  . implements @paragraphindent (except asis).
  . @emph and @i use true italic type (cmti) instead of slanted (cmsl).
  . implements pdf output when run with pdftex.
  . better support for internationalization via txi-??.tex files.
  . footnotes now set in a smaller point size.
* makeinfo:
  . supports HTML output with the --html option.
  . implication of --html: @top nodes should be wrapped in @ifnottex
    rather than @ifinfo.  @ifinfo conditionals are not expanded with --html.
  . new option --number-sections to output chapter/section numbers.
  . dashes and quotes are not treated specially in node names.
  . new option --commands-in-node-names to allow @-commands in node names.
    (Not implemented in TeX, and most likely never will be.)
  . @emph output uses _underscores_.
  . @image looks for .png files before .jpg.
  . only output `Making ... file' line when verbose.
  . allow -v as synonym for --verbose.
  . new command line options to specify which conditionals to process
    (but --iftex is not fully implemented).
  . warns if @var contains any of ,[]().
  . @quote-arg implicitly done for all one-argument macros, so commas in
    the argument text are allowed.
  . \\ required in macro body to get single \, no other `escapes' defined.
* info:
  . ISO Latin 1 characters are displayed and input as-is by default.
  . new option --vi-keys to enable vi-like and less-like key bindings.
  . new command S does case-sensitive searching.
  . new commands C-x n and C-x N repeat last search, respectively, in the
    same and in reverse direction, without prompting for the string.  These
    commands are bound to n and N under --vi-keys, like in Less.
  . new command G menu1 menu2 ... searches for menu items from (dir),
    as allowed on the command line.
  . new command O (capital o, not zero) goes directly to the node that
    describes command-line options.
  . new command-line option --show-options causes the node which
    describes command-line options to be the first node displayed.
  . M-prior and M-DEL do new command info-scroll-other-window-backward.
  . / searches like s does.
  . If the search string includes upper-case letters, in both incremental
    and non-incremental search, the search is case-sensitive.
  . S searches case-sensitively even if the search string is all
    lower-case.
  . - makes the argument negative (so e.g. `- /' searches backward).
  . l restores point in the window returned to.
  . SPC/DEL do not move outside the current document.
  . foo.info is found before foo.
  . `info foo --index-search=bar' now searches for bar in foo's index.
  . support for files compressed with bzip2.
* install-info:
  . handles gzipped dir files.
  . sort entries into alphabetical order.
  . install direntries only in preceding dircategory, not in all.
  . --delete does not require the info file to exist.
  . --delete can handle XEmacs-style dir entries.
* texi2dvi:
  . bug fixed: now uses only the @iftex and @tex parts of the source.
  . process LaTeX source as well as Texinfo source.
  . output PDF (using pdftex) with new option --pdf.
  . handles --OPTION=ARG style of command line arguments.
  . new option --batch for progress reports but no interaction.
  . new option --clean to remove all auxiliary files.
  . new option --quiet for silence (unless there are errors).
  . new option -I for specifying directories for @include to search.
  . handles LaTeX files (running BibTeX etc.).
* Fixes to util/gen-dir-node and util/fix-info-dir (formerly util/update-info).
* Distribution:
  . Man pages included.
  . Czech and Norwegian message translations.
  . Various translations for texinfo.tex fixed words included.
  . DJGPP support.


3.12 (3 March 1998)
* Elisp files removed, since they are only usefully distributed with Emacs.
* Restore inclusion of compile-time $(infodir) to INFOPATH.
* install-info creates a proper dir file.
* Various portability fixes.


3.11 (31 July 1997)
* New commands:
  - @uref to make a reference to a url; @url now only indicates such.
  - @image to include graphics (epsf for TeX).
  - @deftypemethod and @deftypemethodx to document methods in strongly
    typed object-oriented languages, such as C++.
  - @html for raw HTML.
  - @ifnothtml @ifnotinfo @ifnottex for more precise conditionals.
  - @kbdinputstyle to control when @kbd uses the slanted typewriter font.
  - @email takes second optional argument.
* texinfo.tex reads texinfo.cnf (if present) for site-wide TeX
  configuration; for example, A4 paper sizes.
* info:
  - arrow keys supported.
  - trailing : in INFOPATH appends default path.
  - new option --index-search for online help support.
* makeinfo:
  - output files removed if errors unless (new option) --force.
  - new option -P to prepend to search path.
  - macro expansion file can be standard output.
* install-info creates a new dir file if necessary.
* update-info script to create a dir file from all info files.
* Elisp: texnfo-tex.el and detexinfo.el removed from the distribution;
  - texnfo-tex features are now part of standard TeX & Texinfo packages;
  - makeinfo --no-headers does a better job than detexinfo.el.
* Documentation:
  - Updates, revisions, corrections in the manual.
  - makeinfo.texi removed, as it was a copy of what was in texinfo.texi.
* gettext support in sources, French and German translations included.
* info man page removed; use the Texinfo manual.
* Automake used, other portability fixes.

3.10 (omitted)


3.9 (4 October 1996)
* makeinfo:
  - Give a suppressible (with --no-validate) error for references
    outside of any node.
  - Keep track of multitable output correctly for split files; this
    caused nodes after the first multitable to be ``undefined''.
* install-info:
  - Rename --infodir option to --info-dir.
  - More robust error checking to avoid various crashes.
* configure: Include replacements for memcpy and memmove functions in
  the distribution, in case they are missing.


3.8 (30 September 1996)
* Define and/or document new and/or previously existing commands:
  Accents: @" @' @, @" @= @^ @` @~ @H @d @dotaccent @dotless @ringaccent
    @tieaccent @u @ubaraccent @v
  Special characters: @AA @AE @L @O @OE @aa @ae @exclamdown @l @o @oe
    @pounds @questiondown @ss
  Special punctuation: @! @? @enddots
  dir file maintenance: @dircategory @direntry; also new program, install-info
  HTML support: @email @url @ifhtml...@end ifhtml
  Macros: @macro @unmacro
  Tables: @multitable @tab
  Hyphenation: @- @hyphenation
  Spacing: @  @<TAB> @<NEWLINE>
  Sectioning:
    @headings singleafter/doubleafter (change heading style after current page)
    @centerchap
    @setchapterstyle
  Other:
    @shorttitlepage (simple title pages)
    @detailmenu...@end detailmenu (help makeinfo parse master menus)
* Makeinfo prefers an input file named `foo.texinfo' or `foo.texi' or
  `foo.txinfo' to just `foo' (the latter most likely being an executable).
* Makeinfo implements @. @! @? correctly, as end-of-sentence punctuation.
* @key marks its argument with a lozenge in TeX and <...> in Info.
* TeX output has substantially decreased interline spacing and other
  formatting changes.
* Remove these obsolete and never-documented commands:
    @infotop
    @infoappendix @infoappendixsec @infoappendixsubsec @infoappendixsubsubsec
    @infochapter @infosection @infosubsection @infosubsubsection
    @infounnumbered @infounnumberedsec @infounnumberedsubsec
      @infounnumberedsubsubsec
    @input
    @smallbreak @medbreak
    @overfullrule
    @br
* Deprecate these obsolete commands, to be removed in the next release:
    @ctrl
    @infoinclude
    @iappendix @iappendixsection @iappendixsec @iappendixsubsec
      @iappendixsubsubsec
    @ichapter @isection @isubsection @isubsubsection
    @iunnumbered @iunnumberedsec @iunnumberedsubsec @iunnumberedsubsubsec
    @setchapterstyle
    @titlespec


3.7 (24 December 1995)
* Have --version print texinfo release number as well as the individual
  program version.
* Better man page cleaning.
* Update Elisp files from current Emacs release.


3.6 (21 June 1995)
* Unmatched brace error reporting improved.
* Missing comment terminator prevented compilation.


3.5 (20 June 1995)
* Autoconf update.
* Support for parallel makes.
* make install does not install Elisp files.


3.4 (19 June 1995)
* Handle @ifhtml in Elisp.
* Update FSF address.


3.3 (15 June 1995)
* Portability changes.
* Compile Elisp files.
* Don't distribute .info* files.


3.2 (9 June 1995)
* Standalone Info can read Unix man pages.
* New commands: @! @? @^ @" @enddots.
* makeinfo -E does macro expansion (and nothing else).


3.1 (23 May 1993)
Just bug fixes, see ChangeLog for full details.


3.0: first release of Texinfo version 2, with many new commands.



Here is the separate NEWS for old releases of Info:

Version 2.11,     Sat Apr  1 09:15:21 1995

Changes since 2.7 beta:

Although the basic code remains the same, there are numerous nits
fixed, including some display bugs, and a memory leak.  Some changes
that have taken place with larger impact include the way in which the
(dir) node is built; I have added in support for "localdir"
directories among other things.  Info files may be stored in
compressed formats, and in their own subdirectories; menu items which
do not explicitly name the node to which they are attached have the
menu item name looked up as an Info file if it is not found within the
current document.  This means that the menu item:

* Info::		The Info documentation reader.

in (dir) refers to the info node "(info)Top".

Please see the ChangeLog and documentation for details on other
changes.

Version 2.7 beta, Wed Dec 30 02:02:38 1992
Version 2.6 beta, Tue Dec 22 03:58:07 1992
Version 2.5 beta, Tue Dec  8 14:50:35 1992
Version 2.4 beta, Sat Nov 28 14:34:02 1992
Version 2.3 beta, Fri Nov 27 01:04:13 1992
Version 2.2 beta, Tue Nov 24 09:36:08 1992
Version 2.1 beta, Tue Nov 17 23:29:36 1992

Changes since 2.5 beta:

Note that versions 2.6 and 2.7 Beta were only released to a select group.

* "info-" removed from the front of M-x commands.

* Automatic footnote display.  When you enter a node which contains
  footnotes, and the variable "automatic-footnotes" is "On", Info pops
  up a window containing the footnotes.  Likewise, when you leave that
  node, the window containing the footnotes goes away.

* Cleaner built in documentation, and documentation functions.

  Use:
    o `M-x describe-variable' to read a variable's documentation
    o `M-x describe-key' to find out what a particular keystroke does.
    o `M-x describe-function' to read a function's documentation.
    o `M-x where-is' to find out what keys invoke a particular function.

* Info can "tile" the displayed windows (via "M-x tile-windows").  If
  the variable "automatic-tiling" is "On", then splitting a window or
  deleting a window causes the remaining windows to be retiled.

* You can save every keystroke you type in a "dribble file" by using the
  `--dribble FILENAME' option.  You can initially read keystrokes from an
  alternate input stream with `--restore FILENAME', or by redirecting
  input on the command line `info < old-dribble'.

* New behaviour of menu items.  If the label is the same as the
  target node name, and the node couldn't be found in the current file,
  treat the label as a file name.  For example, a menu entry in "DIR"
  might contain:

    * Emacs::		Cool text-editor.

  Info would not find the node "(dir)Emacs", so just plain "(emacs)"
  would be tried.

* New variable "ISO-Latin" allows you to use European machines with
  8-bit character sets.

* Cleanups in echo area reading, and redisplay.  Cleanups in handling the
  window which shows possible completions.

* Info can now read files that have been compressed.  An array in filesys.c
  maps extensions to programs that can decompress stdin, and write the results
  to stdout.  Currently, ".Z"/uncompress, ".z"/gunzip, and ".Y"/unyabba are
  supported.  The modeline for a compressed file shows "zz" in it.

* There is a new variable "gc-compressed-files" which, if non-zero, says
  it is okay to reclaim the file buffer space allocated to a file which
  was compressed, if, and only if, that file's contents do not appear in
  any history node.

* New file `nodemenu.c' implements a few functions for manipulating
  previously visited nodes.  `C-x C-b' (list-visited-nodes) produces a
  menu of the nodes that could be reached by info-history-node in some
  window.  `C-x b' (select-visited-node) is similar, but reads one of
  the node names with completion.

* Keystroke `M-r' (move_to_screen_line) allows the user to place the cursor at
  the start of a specific screen line.  Without a numeric argument, place the
  cursor on the center line; with an arg, place the cursor on that line.

* Interruptible display implemented.  Basic display speedups and hacks.
* The message "*** Tags Out of Date ***" now means what it says.
* Index searching with `,' (info-index-next) has been improved.
* When scrolling with C-v, C-M-v, or M-v, only "Page Only" scrolling
  will happen.

* Continuous scrolling (along with `]' (info-global-next) and `['
  (info-global-prev) works better.  `]' and `[' accept numeric
  arguments, moving that many nodes in that case.

* `C-x w' (info-toggle-wrap) controls how lines wider than the width
  of the screen are displayed.  If a line is too long, a `$' is
  displayed in the rightmost column of the window.

* There are some new variables for controlling the behaviour of Info
  interactively.  The current list of variables is as follows:

  Variable Name      Default Value  Description
  -------------      -------------  -----------
  `automatic-footnotes' On	    When "On", footnotes appear and
				    disappear automatically.

  `automatic-tiling'    Off	    When "On", creating of deleting a
				    window resizes other windows.

  `visible-bell'        Off	    If non-zero, try to use a visible bell.

  `errors-ring-bell'    On	    If non-zero, errors cause a ring.

  `show-index-match'    On	    If non-zero, the portion of the string
				    matched is highlighted by changing its
				    case.

  `scroll-behaviour'    Continuous  One of "Continuous", "Next Only", or
				    "Page Only".  "Page Only" prevents you from
				    scrolling past the bottom or top of a node.
				    "Next Only" causes the Next or Prev node to
				    be selected when you scroll past the bottom
				    or top of a node.  "Continous" moves
				    linearly through the files hierarchical
				    structure.

  `scroll-step'	        0	    Controls how scrolling is done for you when
				    the cursor moves out of the current window.
				    Non-zero means it is the number of lines
				    you would like the screen to shift.  A
				    value of 0 means to center the line
				    containing the cursor in the window.

  `gc-compressed-files' Off	    If non-zero means it is okay to reclaim the
				    file buffer space allocated to a file which
				    was compressed, if, and only if, that
				    file's contents do not appear in the node
				    list of any window.

  `ISO-Latin'	        Off	    Non-zero means that you are using an ISO
				    Latin character set.  By default, standard
				    ASCII characters are assumed.
________________________________________
This release of Info is version 2.5 beta.

Changes since 2.4 beta:

* Index (i) and (,) commands fully implemented.
* "configure" script now shipped with Info.
* New function "set-variable" allows users to set various variables.
* User-settable behaviour on end or beginning of node scrolling.  This
  supersedes the SPC and DEL changes in 2.3 beta.

________________________________________
This release of Info is version 2.4 beta.

Changes since 2.3 beta:

* info-last-node now means move to the last node of this info file.
* info-history-node means move backwards through this window's node history.
* info-first-node moves to the first node in the Info file.  This node is
  not necessarily "Top"!
* SPC and DEL can select the Next or Prev node after printing an informative
  message when pressed at the end/beg of a node.

----------------------------------------
This release of Info is version 2.3 beta.

Changes since 2.2 beta:

* M-x command lines if NAMED_COMMANDS is #defined.  Variable in Makefile.
* Screen height changes made quite robust.
* Interactive function "set-screen-height" implements user height changes.
* Scrolling on some terminals is faster now.
* C-l with numeric argument is fixed.

----------------------------------------
This release of Info is version 2.2 beta.

Changes since 2.0:

* C-g can now interrupt multi-file searches.
* Incremental search is fully implemented.
* Loading large tag tables is much faster now.
* makedoc.c replaces shell script, speeding incremental builds.
* Scrolling in redisplay is implemented.
* Recursive uses of the echo area made more robust.
* Garbage collection of unreferenced nodes.