makeinfo - Man Page
translate Texinfo documents
Synopsis
makeinfo [OPTION]... TEXINFO-FILE...
Description
Translate Texinfo source documentation to various other formats, by default Info files suitable for reading online with Emacs or standalone GNU Info.
This program is commonly installed as both `makeinfo' and `texi2any'; the behavior is identical, and does not depend on the installed name.
General options
- --document-language=STR locale to use in translating Texinfo keywords
for the output document (default C)
- --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)
- --conf-dir=DIR
search also for initialization files in DIR
- --init-file=FILE
load FILE to modify the default behavior
- -c, --set-customization-variable VAR=VAL
set customization variable VAR to value VAL
- --trace-includes
print names of included files
- -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
- --html
output HTML
- --epub3
output EPUB 3
- --latex
output LaTeX
- --plaintext
output plain text rather than Info
- --xml
output Texinfo XML
- --dvi, --dvipdf, --ps, --pdf
call texi2dvi to generate given output, after checking validity of TEXINFO-FILE
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, if producing Info, write to standard output by default.
- --no-split
suppress any splitting of the output; generate only one output file
- --[no-]number-sections
output chapter and sectioning numbers; default is on
- --[no-]number-footnotes
number footnotes sequentially; default is on
- -o, --output=DEST
output to DEST. With split output, create DEST as a directory and put the output files there. With non-split output, if DEST is already a directory or ends with a /, put the output file there. Otherwise, DEST names the output file.
- --disable-encoding
do not output accented and special characters in Info and plain text output based on document encoding
- --enable-encoding
override --disable-encoding (default)
Options for Info and plain text
- --fill-column=NUM
break Info lines at NUM columns (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 (this is the 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 -
- --css-ref=URL
generate CSS reference to URL
- --internal-links=FILE
produce list of internal links in FILE
- --split=SPLIT
split at SPLIT, where SPLIT may be `chapter', `section' or `node'
- --transliterate-file-names
use file names in ASCII transliteration
- --node-files
produce redirection files for nodes and anchors; default is set only if split
Options for DVI/PS/PDF
- --Xopt=OPT
pass OPT to texi2dvi; can be repeated
Input file options
- -D VAR
define the variable VAR, as with @set
- -D 'VAR VAL'
define VAR to VAL (one shell argument)
- -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
- --ifhtml
process @ifhtml and @html
- --ifinfo
process @ifinfo
- --iflatex
process @iflatex and @latex
- --ifplaintext
process @ifplaintext
- --iftex
process @iftex and @tex
- --ifxml
process @ifxml and @xml
By default, an --ifFORMAT setting is on only when the output format is FORMAT; for example, --ifhtml is on when outputting HTML. Also, when --ifFORMAT is on, @ifnotFORMAT text is not processed.
Each --ifFORMAT option may be prefixed with `--no-' to negate it; for example, --no-ifhtml means not to process @ifhtml or @html text, and to process @ifnothtml text.
Examples
- makeinfo foo.texi
write Info
- makeinfo --html foo.texi
write HTML
- makeinfo --xml foo.texi
write Texinfo XML
- makeinfo --docbook foo.texi
write Docbook XML
- makeinfo --plaintext foo.texi
write plain text to standard output
- makeinfo --pdf foo.texi
write PDF using texi2dvi
- 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
Reporting Bugs
Email bug reports to bug-texinfo@gnu.org, general questions and discussion to help-texinfo@gnu.org.
Texinfo home page: https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/
Copyright
Copyright © 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc. License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
See Also
The full documentation for texi2any is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and texi2any programs are properly installed at your site, the command
info texi2any
should give you access to the complete manual.
Referenced By
db2x_texixml(1), info(5), latex2man(1), texinfo(5).
The man page texi2any(1) is an alias of makeinfo(1).