GNU Info

(texinfo)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:

  1. Write the pathname in the `dir' file as the second part of the
     menu.

  2. 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.)

  3. 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 system `dir' file with the `dir' file
in `/home/bob/info'.  Thus, 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(1) (Note: Other
     Info Directories-Footnote-1):

          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 `INFOPATH' variable
into a single menu presented to you in the node called `(dir)Top'.

  However you set `INFOPATH', if its last character is a colon(2)
(Note: Other Info Directories-Footnote-2), 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 `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.