On Sat, Jan 17, 2026 at 05:43:39PM +0200, Eli Zaretskii wrote: > > Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2026 13:03:27 +0100 > > From: [email protected] > > Cc: Gavin Smith <[email protected]>, [email protected] > > > > > Oh, so the "--enable-c-texi2any" configure-time option defaults to > > > "no", not to "detect"? I thought it defaults to "detect", because > > > "./configure --help" says "Use texi2any program implemented in C if > > > possible", and I see ctexi2any.exe was built as part of the build, so > > > evidently that _was_ possible. > > > > Indeed, whether ctexi2any.exe can be build is detected. > > "--enable-c-texi2any" is not about building ctexi2any, but whether it is > > this implementaiton of texi2any rather than the Perl one that it used in > > tests and is installed. There is no "detect" value for this option, > > actually, as it does not make sense. I think that it is the --help > > message that is misleading. > > > > What about: > > "Use texi2any program implemented in C if built" > > Yes, that's better. Maybe also change the name of the option, since > options that start with --enable or --disable are usually for optional > features that are used if enabled.
The other possibility is --with, which is even less relevant as it is for the use of external packages, so I think enable should be used. > > As long as there is a need of Perl for indices sorting, the two > > implementations are gonna be similar. > > OK, thanks. But if ctexi2any is not installed, neither should be the > DLLs that it uses, libtexinfo*.dll, right? Or are they used by some > other parts of the package? They are used by the Perl XS extensions. That is the reason why the Perl main program can be almost as fast as the C program, it is because it uses the same C code, through XS extensions in case of the Perl main program, as the ctexi2any program. (And ctexi2any embeds a Perl interpreter to have access to Perl sorting for indices, HTML customization in Perl and converters only available in Perl.). -- Pat
