>>>>> "Robert" == Robert Dodier <robert.dodier at gmail.com> writes:
Robert> On 2012-11-07, Wolfgang Dautermann <dauti at oeh.tu-graz.ac.at> wrote:
>> many Maxima-packages include documentation - but often only as a comment
>> in the sourcecode (and there is no convenient way to display it from maxima.
>>
>> Octave(/Matlab) has a simple method for displaying help for
>> addon-packages: they parse comments and display it using a
>> help()-command
>> (http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/doc/interpreter/Comments-and-the-Help-System.html).
>>
>> I have written a similar function for Maxima - you can find it at:
>> http://wolfgang.dautermann.at/maxima/help_package.mac
Robert> Well, since Maxima already uses Texinfo for documentation, I think it's
Robert> better to use that for packages too. Texinfo is idiosyncratic but not
Robert> too hard to use. Instead of creating a new system for parsing
Robert> documentation, I am inclined to use an existing system.
Robert> Some time ago I figured out a way to link per-package Texinfo files into
Robert> the built-in help system. I raised the idea of merging that into the
Robert> Maxima help system but didn't get any interest. Maybe I'll try again.
I think that's a great idea. It's a pain to have to add them to the
main texinfo files, so having per-package texinfo files is really
nice. Let's do this.
Ray