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Formatting Documentation
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Formatting Documentation
The GDB 4 release includes an already-formatted reference card, ready for
printing with PostScript or Ghostscript, in the gdb subdirectory of the main source directory. In gdb-4.15-96q4/gdb/refcard.ps of the version 4.15-96q4 release. If you can use PostScript or Ghostscript
with your printer, you can print the reference card immediately with refcard.ps.
The release also includes the source for the reference card. You can format
it, using TEX, by typing:
make refcard.dvi.
The GDB reference card is designed to print in landscape mode on US letter
size paper; that is, on a sheet 11 inches wide by 8.5 inches high. You will need
to specify this form of printing as an option to your DVI output program. All the documentation for GDB comes as part of the
machine-readable distribution. The documentation is written in Texinfo format, which is a
documentation system that uses a single source file to produce both online
information and a printed manual. You can use one of the Info formatting commands
to create the online version of the documentation and TEX (or
texi2roff) to typeset the printed version. GDB includes an already formatted copy of
the online Info version of this manual in the gdb subdirectory. The main Info file is gdb-version-number/gdb/gdb.info, and it refers to subordinate files matching gdb.info* in the same directory. If necessary, you can print out these files, or read
them with any editor; but they are easier to read using the info subsystem in GNU Emacs or the standalone info program, available as part of the GNU Texinfo distribution. If you want to format these Info files yourself, you
need one of the Info formatting programs, such as texinfo-format-buffer or makeinfo.
If you have
makeinfo installed, and are in the top level GDB source directory (gdb-4.15-97r1, in the case of version 4.15-97r1), you can make the Info file by typing:
cd gdb
make gdb.info
If you want to typeset and print copies of this manual, you need TEX, a
program to print its DVI output files, and texinfo.tex, the Texinfo definitions file. TEX is a typesetting program; it does not
print files directly, but produces output files called dvi files. To print a
typeset document, you need a program to print dvi files. If your system has TEX
installed, chances are it has such a program. The precise command to use depends on
your system; lpr -d is common; another (for PostScript devices) is dvips. The DVI print command may require a file name without any extension or a .dvi extension. TEX also requires a macro definitions file called texinfo.tex. This file tells TEX how to typeset a document written in Texinfo format. On
its own, TEX cannot either read or typeset a Texinfo file. texinfo.tex is distributed with GDB and is located in the gdb- version-number/texinfo directory. If you have TEX and a dvi printer program installed, you can
typeset and print this manual. First switch to the the gdb subdirectory of the main source directory (for example, to gdb-4.15-97r1/gdb) and then type: make gdb.dvi.
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