Below is a detailed reply to Eli, but while writing this I found out what I *really* want :-)
Please make *all* heading commands – including `@XXXheading` – control the default print label of `@xref` in the PDF if `@xrefautomaticsectiontitle` is active. This would make my suggestion of an option unnecessary, but I'm not sure whether this can be easily implemented. >> I see 'This is a meaningful anchor label' in both the HTML and Info >> output, but I get 'A' in the produced PDF. > > You get "A, page NNN", where NNN is the page of the anchor, right? So > why is "A" a problem? The chapter name actually appears in the > document, whereas the anchor label does not. IMHO, the problem is that it is not immediately clear where to look at that page. Here is a real-world example: In LilyPond's Notation Reference, we have an unnumbered sub-sub-section called 'Articulations and ornamentations' (on page 146). As with almost all similar sections in the manual, it is followed by the sub-sub-headings 'Predefined commands' and 'Selected snippets'. The latter, as the title says, contains LilyPond code snippets that demonstrate various tips and techniques, and where each one comes with a separate title using the macro `@subsubsubheading` – these snippets originate from a 'LilyPond Snippet Repository' (https://lsr.di.unimi.it) and are imported semi-automatically. One of them is 'Controlling the vertical ordering of scripts' (on page 148), and the corresponding `@anchor` next to it has this title as its label. In the PDF, if I hover with the mouse above an `@xref` to that anchor, I see 'Articulations and ornamentations', but I want to see 'Controlling the vertical ordering of scripts', because this is the heading next to the `@anchor`. [BTW, we would really, really benefit if Texinfo introduced equivalents to LaTeX's `\part`! Right now, we define `@subsubsubheading` by simply calling `@subsubheading`.] >> IMHO, this is counterproductive behaviour because `@anchor` is often >> not associated with a heading, and it can easily happen that the label >> comes many pages after the last `@node`. > > You assume that the text of the anchor's label is significant. I don't assume this in general. However, we do this in LilyPond, and it fits for us. > But it isn't (or shouldn't), at least not in the printed output. > You have the 4th argument of @xref to achieve what you want, if you > really want that, and that argument allows you to specify _any_ text > as the label for the cross-reference, regardless of whether it is or > isn't the label of the anchor or the name of a node/chapter. > > IOW, if you want meaningful names for references, use the 3rd and 4th > arguments to @xref. I know all that, thanks. However, following your advice would enforce us to make a distinction between `@xref` calls to a `@node` label and calls to an `@anchor` label, which is cumbersome – and I think it is also sub-optimal regarding Texinfo's API. Having an option to control the display of `@xrefs` for `@anchor` labels would be a *much* lighter solution on the user side. Again, what I suggest is a Texinfo option similar to `@xrefautomaticsectiontitle`. I can easily modify macro `\getprintedrefname` in `texinfo.tex` to do it just for LilyPond (and I'm going to do that soon), but maybe it makes sense for other people, too. Werner
