texinfo: Using Texinfo

Overview

Output Formats

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1.2 Using Texinfo
=================

Using Texinfo, you can create a printed document (via the TeX
typesetting system) with the normal features of a book, including
chapters, sections, cross references, and indices.  From the same
Texinfo source file, you can create an Info file with special features
to make documentation browsing easy.  You can also create from that same
source file an HTML output file suitable for use with a web browser, a
Docbook file, or a transliteration in XML format.  See the next section
(Note: Output Formats) for details and sample commands to generate
output from the source.

  TeX works with virtually all printers; Info works with virtually all
computer terminals; the HTML output works with virtually all web
browsers.  Thus Texinfo and its output can be used by almost any
computer user.

  A Texinfo source file is a plain ASCII file containing text
interspersed with "@-commands" (words preceded by an '@') that tell the
Texinfo processors what to do.  You can edit a Texinfo file with any
text editor, but it is especially convenient to use GNU Emacs since that
editor has a special mode, called Texinfo mode, that provides various
Texinfo-related features.  (Note: Texinfo Mode.)

  Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project.  More
information is available at the GNU documentation web page
(http://www.gnu.org/doc/).