D.9.6.1 Using Info-validate

To use Info-validate, visit the Info file you wish to check and type:

M-x Info-validate

Note that the Info-validate command requires an uppercase ‘I’. You may also need to create a tag table before running Info-validate. See Tagifying a File.

If your file is valid, you will receive a message that says “File appears valid”. However, if you have a pointer that does not point to a node, error messages will be displayed in a buffer called ‘*problems in info file*’.

For example, Info-validate was run on a test file that contained only the first node of this manual. One of the messages said:

In node "Overview", invalid Next: Texinfo Mode

This meant that the node called ‘Overview’ had a ‘Next’ pointer that did not point to anything (which was true in this case, since the test file had only one node in it).

Now suppose we add a node named ‘Texinfo Mode’ to our test case but we do not specify a ‘Previous’ for this node. Then we will get the following error message:

In node "Texinfo Mode", should have Previous: Overview

This is because every ‘Next’ pointer should be matched by a ‘Previous’ (in the node where the ‘Next’ points) which points back.

Info-validate also checks that all menu entries and cross-references point to actual nodes.

Info-validate requires a tag table and does not work with files that have been split. (The texinfo-format-buffer command automatically splits large files.) In order to use Info-validate on a large file, you must run texinfo-format-buffer with an argument so that it does not split the Info file; and you must create a tag table for the unsplit file.