[an error occurred while processing this directive] Node:Info cannot find Top, Next:, Previous:Make hangs, Up:Trouble

6.9 Info doesn't like some files

Q: When I run the Info browser, it tells me it cannot find the node "Top".

Q: Sometimes, when I mistype the name of the Info topic, info.exe seems to hang....

A: Check your installation of info files. The file DJGPP.ENV in the root of your DJGPP installation mentions the variable INFOPATH which should point to the directory where Info looks for its files. It must find there a file named DIR, the file you are trying to read, and other files with .iNN or .NN extension, where NN is a number. Also, make sure you didn't edit the beginning of DJGPP.ENV, where the value of %DJDIR% is computed; if you did, try the original DJGPP.ENV.

Also, the DJGPP environment variable should be set to point to the full pathname of the file DJGPP.ENV. See problems with DJGPP variable setting, for a description of some frequent problems with setting the DJGPP variable.

Assuming the above checks OK, and all the necessary info files are indeed installed in those directories (did you remember to give that -d switch to PKUNZIP when unzipping all DJGPP packages?), it might be that you have an old version of info.exe. Upgrading to version 3.12 or later should solve several problems which cause Info to complain about the "Top" node, or at least make its error messages more self-explaining.

Some people unzip the txi40b.zip file with WinZip and fail to disable its feature whereby by default each zip file is unzipped into a separate directory. This disrupts the DJGPP directory structure and break almost every DJGPP package, including Info. You need to unzip all DJGPP files under the same directory!

Another possibility is that the file DIR or the Info file that you want to browse is corrupted. For example, it might be a compressed file, but without the tell-tale .gz or similar extension that tells info.exe to decompress it. You could examine the offending file(s) with a text editor, and re-install them as needed.

If you invoke Info with a name of a topic that is non-existent or not installed on your system, and you don't have a man command or its clone installed, versions of Info before 3.12 would wait for 15 seconds before they print an error message and exit. If you think Info is wedged, wait for 15 seconds and see what happens then. The DJGPP port of Texinfo 3.12 removes this misfeature, so upgrade if you can.


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