C.2 GNU Sample Texts

Following is a sample Texinfo document with the full texts that should be used in GNU manuals.

As well as the legal texts, it also serves as a practical example of how many elements in a GNU system can affect the manual. If you're not familiar with all these different elements, don't worry. They're not required and a perfectly good manual can be written without them. They're included here nonetheless because many manuals do (or could) benefit from them.

See section A Short Sample Texinfo File, for a minimal example of a Texinfo file. See section Beginning a Texinfo File, for a full explanation of that minimal example.

Here are some notes on the example:

• The ‘$Id:’ comment is for the CVS (see (cvs)Top section `Overview' in Concurrent Versions System) or RCS (http://www.gnu.org/software/rcs) version control systems, which expand it into a string such as:

  $Id: texinfo.txi,v 1.225 2008/09/07 22:47:46 karl Exp $

  (This is useful in all sources that use version control, not just manuals.) You may wish to include the ‘$Id:’ comment in the @copying text, if you want a completely unambiguous reference to the documentation version.

  If you want to literally write $Id$, use @w: @w{$}Id$. Unfortunately, this technique does not currently work in plain text output, since it's not clear what should be done. We hope to find a solution in a future release.

• The ‘version.texi’ in the @include command is maintained automatically by Automake (see (automake)Top section `Introduction' in GNU Automake). It sets the ‘VERSION’ and ‘UPDATED’ values used elsewhere. If your distribution doesn't use Automake, but you do use Emacs, you may find the time-stamp.el package helpful (see (emacs)Time Stamps section `Time Stamps' in The GNU Emacs Manual).
• The @syncodeindex command reflects the recommendation to use only one index where possible, to make it easier for readers to look up index entries.
• The @dircategory is for constructing the Info directory. See section Installing Info Directory Files, which includes a variety of recommended category names.
• The `Invoking' node is a GNU standard to help users find the basic information about command-line usage of a given program. See (standards)Manual Structure Details section `Manual Structure Details' in GNU Coding Standards.
• It is best to include the entire GNU Free Documentation License in a GNU manual, unless the manual is only a few pages long. Of course this sample is even shorter than that, but it includes the FDL anyway in order to show one conventional way to do so. The ‘fdl.texi’ file is available on the GNU machines and in the Texinfo and other GNU source distributions.

  The FDL provides for omitting itself under certain conditions, but in that case the sample texts given here have to be modified. See section GNU Free Documentation License.

• If the FSF is not the copyright holder, then use the appropriate name.
• If your manual is not published on paper by the FSF, then omit the last sentence in the Back-Cover Text that talks about copies from GNU Press.
• If your manual has Invariant Sections (again, see the license itself for details), then change the text here accordingly.
• For documents that express your personal views, feelings or experiences, it is more appropriate to use a license permitting only verbatim copying, rather than the FDL. See section Verbatim Copying License.

Here is the sample document:

\input texinfo   @c -*-texinfo-*-
@comment $Id: texinfo.txi,v 1.225 2008/09/07 22:47:46 karl Exp $
@comment %**start of header
@setfilename sample.info
@include version.texi
@settitle GNU Sample @value{VERSION}
@syncodeindex pg cp
@comment %**end of header
@copying
This manual is for GNU Sample (version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}),
which is an example in the Texinfo documentation.

Copyright @copyright{} 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

@quotation
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being ``A GNU Manual,''
and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below.  A copy of the
license is included in the section entitled ``GNU Free Documentation
License.''

(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: ``You have the freedom to
copy and modify this GNU manual.  Buying copies from the FSF
supports it in developing GNU and promoting software freedom.''
@end quotation
@end copying

@dircategory Texinfo documentation system
@direntry
* sample: (sample)Invoking sample.
@end direntry

@titlepage
@title GNU Sample
@subtitle for version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}
@author A.U. Thor (@email{bug-texinfo@@gnu.org})
@page
@vskip 0pt plus 1filll
@insertcopying
@end titlepage

@contents

@ifnottex
@node Top
@top GNU Sample

This manual is for GNU Sample (version @value{VERSION}, @value{UPDATED}).
@end ifnottex

@menu
* Invoking sample::
* Copying This Manual::
* Index::
@end menu


@node Invoking sample
@chapter Invoking sample

@pindex sample
@cindex invoking @command{sample}

This is a sample manual.  There is no sample program to
invoke, but if there was, you could see its basic usage
and command line options here.


@node GNU Free Documentation License
@appendix GNU Free Documentation License

@include fdl.texi


@node Index
@unnumbered Index

@printindex cp

@bye