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Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable

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  Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable Nishan Singh Mann <nishan.singh.mann@gmail.com> - 2018-01-22 05:40 +0100
    Re: Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable Davor Balder <dbalder@ozemail.com.au> - 2018-01-22 06:20 +0100
    Re: Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable Ben Finney <bignose@debian.org> - 2018-01-22 06:40 +0100
    Re: Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable davidson <davidson@freevolt.org> - 2018-01-22 16:10 +0100
      Re: Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable davidson <davidson@freevolt.org> - 2018-01-22 16:40 +0100
        Re: Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable Nishan Singh Mann <nishan.singh.mann@gmail.com> - 2018-01-23 04:30 +0100

#191405 — Emacs info documentation missing in Debian Unstable

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Hello, on Ubuntu 17.10 which to my knowledge is based on Debian unstable,
installing Emacs via $sudo apt install emacs and then trying to view the
Emacs manual using C-h r fails with error "Info file emacs does not exist"
The same set of instructions on Ubuntu 16.04 works and one ends up with a
local copy of the GNU emacs manual. Did the documentation get delegated to
another package or am I missing something?
Thanks,
Nishan


-- 
Nishan Singh Mann

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#191406

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On 22/01/18 15:33, Nishan Singh Mann wrote:
> Hello, on Ubuntu 17.10 which to my knowledge is based on Debian 
> unstable, installing Emacs via $sudo apt install emacs and then trying 
> to view the Emacs manual using C-h r fails with error "Info file emacs 
> does not exist" The same set of instructions on Ubuntu 16.04 works and 
> one ends up with a local copy of the GNU emacs manual. Did the 
> documentation get delegated to another package or am I missing something?
> Thanks,
> Nishan
>

You might be missing a package:


apt install *emacs24-common-non-dfsg*

Core documentation has been split due to dfsg issues.

Refer to:

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsForDebian

for some light bedtime reading :-)

Kind regards,

D

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#191407

Nishan Singh Mann <nishan.singh.mann@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello, on Ubuntu 17.10 which to my knowledge is based on Debian unstable,
> installing Emacs via $sudo apt install emacs and then trying to view the
> Emacs manual using C-h r fails with error "Info file emacs does not
> exist"

The Emacs manual is distributed subject to the GNU FDL, which imposes
non-free restrictions on modification and redistribution. (Yes, it's
very misleading to have non-free restrictions in a so-called “free
documentation license”, but that's what the FSF have chosen.)

Manoj Srivastava has summarised effectively
<URL:https://people.debian.org/~srivasta/Position_Statement.xhtml> why
the GNU FDL makes a work non-free.

So, Emacs under condition of the GNU GPL is free, and is in Debian; but
the Emacs manual under condition of the GNU FDL is non-free, so it
cannot be in Debian.

You can either view the manual online
<URL:https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/> or get it from outside
Debian (for example, the ‘non-free’ area which is not part of Debian).

-- 
 \        “Ubi dubium, ibi libertas.” (“Where there is doubt, there is |
  `\                                                        freedom.”) |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney

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#191408

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On Mon, 22 Jan 2018, Nishan Singh Mann wrote:

> Hello, on Ubuntu 17.10 which to my knowledge is based on Debian
> unstable, installing Emacs via $sudo apt install emacs and then
> trying to view the Emacs manual using C-h r fails with error "Info
> file emacs does not exist" The same set of instructions on Ubuntu
> 16.04 works and one ends up with a local copy of the GNU emacs
> manual. Did the documentation get delegated to another package or am
> I missing something?  Thanks, Nishan

A little web-searching shows that someone with usernames not
dissimilar to yours has recently asked this question in other fora,
and received terse answers similar to the ones posted here thus
far.[1]

Below is an attempted ELI5 (explain-like-I'm-5-years-old answer).

Caveat 1: This is the debian-user list. You say you are using Ubuntu,
not debian, so you really would have done better to pursue this
question on an Ubuntu forum/list. It has been many years since I ran
Ubuntu, and make no claims to know best ubuntu-practice.

Caveat 2: You don't mention what emacs version you are using. I will
assume you are using emacs24.

First I will describe what I do, as a debian user, to install emacs
documentation. This will answer the question implicit in your subject
line, which is not identical to the question you pose in your message
body.

Then I will discuss what little I know (or believe I know) about
translating that workflow to ubuntu.

IN DEBIAN

In /etc/apt/sources.list, I have an entry that normally looks like
this,

  deb http://debian.univ-lorraine.fr/debian/ stretch main

with

  * a TYPE (deb)
  * a URI (http://...)
  * a SUITE (stretch)
  * and one or more COMPONENTS (main)

When I want to install the emacs documentation, I just append
"non-free" to the components on that line, changing the line above to…

  deb http://debian.univ-lorraine.fr/debian/ stretch main non-free

…and then I run

  # apt-get update

so that my local package lists are updated to include the non-free
packages on offer from the repository referenced by that line in
sources.list.

Then I install the emacs documentation with

  # apt-get install emacs24-common-non-dfsg

(or whatever package contains the docs for my emacs version).

After installing the full emacs documentation, I usually edit my
sources.list once again, to remove the "non-free" component, since
installing emacs documentation is the only time I require non-free
packages.

FOR UBUNTU

As I recall, Ubuntu names its components somewhat differently; I don't
believe it has a component named "non-free". So some translation is
required to apply the workflow above to an Ubuntu system. It is my
understanding that the Ubuntu's emacs24-common-non-dfsg package is in
the "universe" component.

So I expect that substituting "universe" for "non-free" in the
workflow above, would do what you want.

I hope this helps. Good luck.

NOTES

1. For example: https://askubuntu.com/questions/998527/emacs-info-manual-missing-in-ubuntu-17-10

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#191409

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018, davidson wrote:

> On Mon, 22 Jan 2018, Nishan Singh Mann wrote:
>
>> Hello, on Ubuntu 17.10 which to my knowledge is based on Debian
>> unstable, installing Emacs via $sudo apt install emacs and then
>> trying to view the Emacs manual using C-h r fails with error "Info
>> file emacs does not exist" The same set of instructions on Ubuntu
>> 16.04 works and one ends up with a local copy of the GNU emacs
>> manual. Did the documentation get delegated to another package or
>> am I missing something?  Thanks, Nishan

Regarding the differences you experience between Ubuntu 16.04 and
Ubuntu 17.10, it appears that the emacs24-common-non-dfsg package got
moved from the "main" component to the "universe" component, as can be
seen by examining the following files:

Ubuntu 16.04, packages in "main"
  http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

Ubuntu 17.10, packages in "universe"
  http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/artful/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz

[..]
> FOR UBUNTU
>
> As I recall, Ubuntu names its components somewhat differently; I
> don't believe it has a component named "non-free". So some
> translation is required to apply the workflow above to an Ubuntu
> system. It is my understanding that the Ubuntu's
> emacs24-common-non-dfsg package is in the "universe" component.

...as of Ubuntu 17.10, that is.

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#191421

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Thank you davidson, Davor and Ben. I appreciate your help and have resolved
the issue. I am not well versed with such details and yes I agree this
question would have been better posed on an Ubuntu mailing list. Next time,
I will be more careful.
Regrads,
Nishan

On Mon, 22 Jan 2018 at 10:34 davidson <davidson@freevolt.org> wrote:

> On Mon, 22 Jan 2018, davidson wrote:
>
> > On Mon, 22 Jan 2018, Nishan Singh Mann wrote:
> >
> >> Hello, on Ubuntu 17.10 which to my knowledge is based on Debian
> >> unstable, installing Emacs via $sudo apt install emacs and then
> >> trying to view the Emacs manual using C-h r fails with error "Info
> >> file emacs does not exist" The same set of instructions on Ubuntu
> >> 16.04 works and one ends up with a local copy of the GNU emacs
> >> manual. Did the documentation get delegated to another package or
> >> am I missing something?  Thanks, Nishan
>
> Regarding the differences you experience between Ubuntu 16.04 and
> Ubuntu 17.10, it appears that the emacs24-common-non-dfsg package got
> moved from the "main" component to the "universe" component, as can be
> seen by examining the following files:
>
> Ubuntu 16.04, packages in "main"
>
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/xenial/main/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
>
> Ubuntu 17.10, packages in "universe"
>
> http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/artful/universe/binary-amd64/Packages.gz
>
> [..]
> > FOR UBUNTU
> >
> > As I recall, Ubuntu names its components somewhat differently; I
> > don't believe it has a component named "non-free". So some
> > translation is required to apply the workflow above to an Ubuntu
> > system. It is my understanding that the Ubuntu's
> > emacs24-common-non-dfsg package is in the "universe" component.
>
> ...as of Ubuntu 17.10, that is.
>
>

-- 
Nishan Singh Mann

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