makeinfo(1)

makeinfo1

Translate texinfo documents

Usage

makeinfo [OPTION] ... TEXINFO-FILE ...

Overview

Translate Texinfo source documentation to various other formats, by default Info files suitable for reading online with Emacs or standalone GNU Info.

General options:

--error-limit=NUM

quit after NUM errors (default 100).

--force

preserve output even if errors.

--help

display this help and exit.

--no-validate

suppress node cross-reference validation.

--no-warn

suppress warnings (but not errors).

--reference-limit=NUM

warn about at most NUM references (default 1000).

-v, --verbose

explain what is being done.

--version

display version information and exit.

Output format selection (default is to produce Info):

--docbook

output Docbook XML rather than Info.

--html

output HTML rather than Info.

--xml

output Texinfo XML rather than Info.

--plaintext

output plain text rather than Info.

General output options:

-E, --macro-expand FILE

output macro-expanded source to FILE. ignoring any @setfilename.

--no-headers

suppress node separators, Node: lines, and menus from Info output (thus producing plain text) or from HTML (thus producing shorter output); also, write to standard output by default.

--no-split

suppress splitting of Info or HTML output, generate only one output file.

--number-sections

output chapter and sectioning numbers.

-o, --output=FILE

output to FILE (directory if split HTML),

Options for Info and plain text:

--enable-encoding

output accented and special characters in Info output based on @documentencoding.

--fill-column=NUM

break Info lines at NUM characters (default 72).

--footnote-style=STYLE

output footnotes in Info according to STYLE: `separate' to put them in their own node; `end' to put them at the end of the node

in which they are defined (default).

--paragraph-indent=VAL

indent Info paragraphs by VAL spaces (default 3). If VAL is `none', do not indent; if VAL is `asis', preserve existing indentation.

--split-size=NUM

split Info files at size NUM (default 300000).

Options for HTML:

--css-include=FILE

include FILE in HTML <style> output; read stdin if FILE is -.

Options for XML and Docbook:

--output-indent=VAL

indent XML elements by VAL spaces (default 2). If VAL is 0, ignorable whitespace is dropped.

Input file options:

--commands-in-node-names

allow @ commands in node names.

-D VAR

define the variable VAR, as with @set.

-I DIR

append DIR to the @include search path.

-P DIR

prepend DIR to the @include search path.

-U VAR

undefine the variable VAR, as with @clear.

Conditional processing in input:

--ifdocbook

process @ifdocbook and @docbook even if not generating Docbook.

--ifhtml

process @ifhtml and @html even if not generating HTML.

--ifinfo

process @ifinfo even if not generating Info.

--ifplaintext

process @ifplaintext even if not generating plain text.

--iftex

process @iftex and @tex; implies --no-split.

--ifxml

process @ifxml and @xml.

--no-ifdocbook

do not process @ifdocbook and @docbook text.

--no-ifhtml

do not process @ifhtml and @html text.

--no-ifinfo

do not process @ifinfo text.

--no-ifplaintext

do not process @ifplaintext text.

--no-iftex

do not process @iftex and @tex text.

--no-ifxml

do not process @ifxml and @xml text.

Also, for the --no-ifFORMAT options, do process @ifnotFORMAT text.

The defaults for the @if... conditionals depend on the output format: if generating HTML, --ifhtml is on and the others are off; if generating Info, --ifinfo is on and the others are off; if generating plain text, --ifplaintext is on and the others are off; if generating XML, --ifxml is on and the others are off.

Examples

makeinfo foo.texi

write Info to foo's @setfilename

makeinfo --html foo.texi

write HTML to @setfilename

makeinfo --xml foo.texi

write Texinfo XML to @setfilename

makeinfo --docbook foo.texi

write DocBook XML to @setfilename

makeinfo --no-headers foo.texi

write plain text to standard output

makeinfo --html --no-headers foo.texi write html without node lines, menus makeinfo --number-sections foo.texi write Info with numbered sections makeinfo --no-split foo.texi write one Info file however big

Releases

55 releases since OpenBSD 2.7; the text changed 2 times.

  1. 2.7–3.1
  2. 3.2–3.9
  3. 4.0–8.0

--css-include since OpenBSD 4.0; --docbook since OpenBSD 3.2; --enable-encoding since OpenBSD 3.2; --ifdocbook since OpenBSD 4.0; --ifplaintext since OpenBSD 3.2; --ifxml since OpenBSD 4.0; --no-ifdocbook since OpenBSD 4.0; --no-ifplaintext since OpenBSD 3.2; --no-ifxml since OpenBSD 4.0; --output-indent since OpenBSD 4.0; --plaintext since OpenBSD 4.0; --split-size since OpenBSD 3.2; --xml since OpenBSD 3.2.

Reporting bugs

Email bug reports to [email protected], general questions and discussion to [email protected]. Texinfo home page: http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/

From man 8.0-current-20261101 in OpenBSD 8.0-current (2026-11-01). Parsed by carta from the page's man source.