MERGE-INFO(1)

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay bestie, meet merge-info — she merges and unmerges GNU Info index files 💅 (this is the merge-info(1) page from the XStow Reference Guide, and yes she's iconic)

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

merge-info        [OPTION ...] FILE FILE

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so merge-info can merge and unmerge the GNU Info index files named dir. Those files are usually made by install-info when you install an application, or they just get auto-generated by a mkinfodir script. no cap 🫶

now here's the situation: if you're installing 2 packages at two different locations, you end up with two different dir files. eg. one in

/stow/foo/usr/local/info/dir

and one in

/stow/bar/usr/local/info/dir

and this is literally the common case if you're using a tool like xstow(1). merge-info handles that whole thing — she merges both dir files and creates a new dir file. main character energy tbh 👑

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🌈 USAGE 🌈

merge-info [OPTION ...] FILE FILE

Merge two files:

merge-info /stow/foo/info/dir /stow/bar/info/dir

Remove the content of a dir file from another dir file:

merge-info -u /stow/foo/info/dir /stow/bar/info/dir

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💖 OPTIONS 💖

• -dl, -debug-level INT — sets the debug level. An unsigned integer is accepted. The default value is 0. 🎀
• -h, -help — shows a help screen. she's helpful like that 🫶
• -V, -Version — displays the version number of the XStow package. merge-info is shipped with xstow(1). ⭐
• -u, -unmerge — unmerge instead of merge. note: it is not possible splitting up one dir file into two. but removing the content of one dir file from the other one is possible. 🙈
• -o, -outfile — write the resulting dir file not to stdout. write it to a given file. since merge-info does not open this outfile until all the merging or unmerging stuff is done, it's allowed that the outfile is one of the source files. eg.:

merge-info -u foo/info/dir bar/info/dir -o foo/info/dir

• -d, -duplicate — remove duplicate entries. when merging 2 files an entry can appear in more than one section. if you do not want this, use this option. 🧚

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🌱 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌱

• XSTOW_DEBUG_LEVEL — same as the -debug-level option. 💜

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

merge-info was written by Martin Oberzalek <kingleo@gmx.at>.

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🎀 COPYING 🎀

merge-info, a tool for merging GNU Info index files.

Copyright (C) 2004-2021 by Martin Oberzalek <kingleo@gmx.at>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

info(1) install-info(1) xstow(1)

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and that's the whole page, bestie ✨ this one's from the XStow package, version 1.1.1, dated 2026-02-10 — go forth and merge your dir files, you absolute legend 💅💖