12.11.2 Document preamble

When processing a document, ‘texinfo’ back-end generates a minimal file header along with a title page, a copyright page, and a menu. You control the latter through the structure of the document (see Headings and sectioning structure). Various keywords allow to tweak the other parts. It is also possible to give directions to install the document in the ‘Top’ node.

File header

Upon creating the header of a Texinfo file, the back-end guesses a name for the Info file to be compiled. This may not be a sensible choice, e.g., if you want to produce the final document in a different directory. Specify an alternate path with #+TEXINFO_FILENAME keyword to override the default destination.

Along with the output file name, the header contains information about the language (see Export settings) and current encoding used¹⁶². Insert a #+TEXINFO_HEADER keyword for each additional command needed, e.g., @code{@synindex}.

If you happen to regularly install the same set of commands, it may be easier to define your own class in org-texinfo-classes, which see. Set #+TEXINFO_CLASS keyword accordingly in your document to activate it.

Title and copyright page

The default template includes a title page for hard copy output. The title and author displayed on this page are extracted from, respectively, #+TITLE and #+AUTHOR keywords (see Export settings). It is also possible to print a different, more specific, title with #+TEXINFO_PRINTED_TITLE keyword, and add subtitles with #+SUBTITLE keyword. Both expect raw Texinfo code in their value.

Likewise, information brought by #+AUTHOR may not be enough. You can include other authors with several #+SUBAUTHOR keywords. Values are also expected to be written in Texinfo code.

#+AUTHOR: Jane Smith
#+SUBAUTHOR: John Doe
#+TEXINFO_PRINTED_TITLE: This Long Title@inlinefmt{tex,@*} Is Broken in @TeX{}

Copying material is defined in a dedicated headline with a non-nil :COPYING: property. The contents are inserted within a @copying command at the beginning of the document whereas the heading itself does not appear in the structure of the document.

Copyright information is printed on the back of the title page.

* Copying
  :PROPERTIES:
  :COPYING: t
  :END:

  This is a short example of a complete Texinfo file, version 1.0.

  Copyright \copy 2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

The Top node

You may ultimately want to install your new Info file to your system. You can write an appropriate entry in the top level directory specifying its category and title with, respectively, #+TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY and #+TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE. Optionally, you can add a short description using #+TEXINFO_DIR_DESC. The following example would write an entry similar to Org’s in the ‘Top’ node.

#+TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY: Emacs
#+TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE: Org Mode: (org)
#+TEXINFO_DIR_DESC: Outline-based notes management and organizer