latex-first-aid no results

[kberry]

It would be nice if texdoc returned something for "latex-first-aid". Maybe just an alias for "firstaid" since that is, unfortunately, the name of the package.

[muzimuzhi]

For me, texdoc latex-first-aid finds nothing but texdoc firstaid opens latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf, which should be the right doc. Or maybe it acts differently with a full installation?

$ texdoc --verbose firstaid
texdoc info: View command: open "/usr/local/texlive/2026basic/texmf-dist/doc/latex/firstaid/latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf"
texdoc info: Setting environment LC_CTYPE to: en_SG.UTF-8

$ texdoc --verbose latex-first-aid
Unfortunately, there are no good matches for "latex-first-aid".

There may be online documentation available for "latex-first-aid" at
    https://texdoc.org/serve/latex-first-aid/0
This documentation may be for a different version than you have installed.

Would you like to search online? (y/N) N

$ texdoc --version
Texdoc 4.1.1 (2025-02-11)

Copyright 2008-2025 Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard, Takuto Asakura, the TeX Live Team.
License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <https://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

[wtsnjp]

Thanks for the report.
Indeed, in a full TeX Live installation, texdoc firstaid already opens latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf, which seems to be one of the intended documents.
In principle, Texdoc could be extended to treat queries like latex-<something> more loosely (e.g., by ignoring the latex- prefix and retrying the search). However, it is not clear how often users actually invoke Texdoc with such longer names, and removing the latex- prefix manually already resolves the issue.
So while such a feature could certainly be considered, it would probably depend on whether there is broader demand for it.

[kberry]

If one user typed it, it seems likely to me that plenty of others have also. Since so many of the core latex packages start with "latex-", it's an easy thing to think of.

I think aliases for latex-firstaid and latex-first-aid are the appropriate fix in this case. I wouldn't try to generalize to all latex- prefixes. looking at the list of packages, that doesn't look like that would be useful.

FWIW. It doesn't matter to me personally.

[muzimuzhi]

Indeed, in a full TeX Live installation, texdoc firstaid already opens latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf, which seems to be one of the intended documents.

Just checked that both texdoc firstaid (matches the dir name) and texdoc first-aid (matches part of the file name) work.

$ texdoc -l firstaid
 1 /usr/local/texlive/2026basic/texmf-dist/doc/latex/firstaid/latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf
   = Package documentation
 2 /usr/local/texlive/2026basic/texmf-dist/doc/latex-dev/firstaid/latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf
   = Package documentation
 3 /usr/local/texlive/2026basic/texmf-dist/doc/latex/firstaid/README.md
   = Readme
 4 /usr/local/texlive/2026basic/texmf-dist/doc/latex/firstaid/changes.txt
 5 /usr/local/texlive/2026basic/texmf-dist/doc/latex/latex-lab/latex-lab-firstaid.pdf
 6 /usr/local/texlive/2026basic/texmf-dist/doc/latex/pdfmanagement-testphase/pdfmanagement-firstaid.pdf
Enter number of file to view, RET to view 1, anything else to skip:

Since so many of the core latex packages start with "latex-", it's an easy thing to think of.

I doubt it.

Searching on https://texdoc.org/index.html,

• For doc names starting with latex2e-, latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf is the only one provided by the The LaTeX Project. The remaining are mostly provided by the latex2e-help-texinfo package and its translations.
• For doc names starting with latex-, what from the The LaTeX Project are those using latex-lab- prefix. Most of the remaining do have latex- in their package name.

I think aliases for latex-firstaid and latex-first-aid are the appropriate fix in this case.

As latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf is so special, I agree with the suggested addition.

Or, if the LaTeX kernel could rename it to latex-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf, so texdoc latex-first-aid will work and texdoc only needs to add an alias for latex-firstaid.

[wtsnjp]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Since it appears that latex-firstaid is a special case, I will add dedicated aliases for it.

[muzimuzhi]

Thank you for the detailed explanation. Since it appears that latex-firstaid is a special case, I will add dedicated aliases for it.

@wtsnjp As long as the doc still calls latex2e-first-aid-for-external-files.pdf, we need both latex-first-aid and latex-firstaid.