{"slug": "gnu-info", "name": "GNU Info", "category": "notes", "category_name": "Notes and knowledge", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 3, "warners": 0, "score": 2.58, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2026-02-20", "latest": "2026-04-04", "why": "I use it all the time, preferring it to everything else", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I use it all the time, preferring it to everything else", "kind": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["GNU Info"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 762247680, "item_id": 47640480, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47640480", "by": "dasyatidprime", "date": "2026-04-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Eventually I facepalmed when I realized an Info version was available and switched to that", "excerpt": "Ah! Yeah, that makes more sense\u2014I misinterpreted you at first since I don't normally think of \u201cinternal link\u201d as the default exemplar of \u201chyperlink\u201d. And yeah, I don't see good target markup for that. Stuff like starting your search regexp with \u201c^ +\u201d helps but is still janky. I'd tend to categorize this mostly as \u201cman pages aren't meant to be long treatments of more complex software\u201d, of course? Some large packages d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why the heck are we still using Markdown?"}, {"id": 753458224, "item_id": 47091139, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47091139", "by": "mook", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it in particular for bash, mostly because it has better expositions for parameter expansions.", "excerpt": "I use it in particular for bash, mostly because it has better expositions for parameter expansions. To the point that I know searching for \"%%\" in particular will get me to the correct section. For everything else\u2026 I think it's also necessary for GNU find expressions?", "context": "", "use_case": "reading bash documentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Notes on Clarifying Man Pages"}, {"id": 753443808, "item_id": 47090238, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47090238", "by": "teddyh", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it all the time, preferring it to everything else", "excerpt": "I use it all the time, preferring it to everything else\u00b9. Especially when reading the Python documentation. 1. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44213303>", "context": "", "use_case": "reading software documentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Notes on Clarifying Man Pages"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["reading bash documentation", "reading software documentation"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47065972", "title": "Notes on Clarifying Man Pages", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47629903", "title": "Why the heck are we still using Markdown?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 762247680, "item_id": 47640480, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47640480", "by": "dasyatidprime", "date": "2026-04-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Eventually I facepalmed when I realized an Info version was available and switched to that", "excerpt": "Ah! Yeah, that makes more sense\u2014I misinterpreted you at first since I don't normally think of \u201cinternal link\u201d as the default exemplar of \u201chyperlink\u201d. And yeah, I don't see good target markup for that. Stuff like starting your search regexp with \u201c^ +\u201d helps but is still janky. I'd tend to categorize this mostly as \u201cman pages aren't meant to be long treatments of more complex software\u201d, of course? Some large packages d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why the heck are we still using Markdown?"}, {"id": 753458224, "item_id": 47091139, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47091139", "by": "mook", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it in particular for bash, mostly because it has better expositions for parameter expansions.", "excerpt": "I use it in particular for bash, mostly because it has better expositions for parameter expansions. To the point that I know searching for \"%%\" in particular will get me to the correct section. For everything else\u2026 I think it's also necessary for GNU find expressions?", "context": "", "use_case": "reading bash documentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Notes on Clarifying Man Pages"}, {"id": 753443808, "item_id": 47090238, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47090238", "by": "teddyh", "date": "2026-02-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use it all the time, preferring it to everything else", "excerpt": "I use it all the time, preferring it to everything else\u00b9. Especially when reading the Python documentation. 1. <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44213303>", "context": "", "use_case": "reading software documentation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Notes on Clarifying Man Pages"}]}