Get rid of footnotes

Markdown doesn't support them.

6 files changed, 27 insertions, 34 deletions

diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/build-script.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/build-script.xml
index c9af198f2..5c55954fc 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/build-script.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/build-script.xml
@@ -33,13 +33,10 @@ steps:</para>
 
     <para>When Nix runs a builder, it initially completely clears the
     environment (except for the attributes declared in the
-    derivation).  For instance, the <literal>PATH</literal> variable is
-    empty<footnote><para>Actually, it's initialised to
-    <filename>/path-not-set</filename> to prevent Bash from setting it
-    to a default value.</para></footnote>.  This is done to prevent
-    undeclared inputs from being used in the build process.  If for
-    example the <literal>PATH</literal> contained
-    <filename>/usr/bin</filename>, then you might accidentally use
+    derivation).  This is done to prevent undeclared inputs from being
+    used in the build process. If for example the
+    <literal>PATH</literal> contained <filename>/usr/bin</filename>,
+    then you might accidentally use
     <filename>/usr/bin/gcc</filename>.</para>
 
     <para>So the first step is to set up the environment.  This is
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
index a11de0088..0625bcdfe 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/derivations.xml
@@ -13,16 +13,15 @@ of which specify the inputs of the build.</para>
 
 <itemizedlist>
 
-  <listitem xml:id="attr-system"><para>There must be an attribute named
-  <varname>system</varname> whose value must be a string specifying a
-  Nix platform identifier, such as <literal>"i686-linux"</literal> or
-  <literal>"x86_64-darwin"</literal><footnote><para>To figure out
-  your platform identifier, look at the line <quote>Checking for the
-  canonical Nix system name</quote> in the output of Nix's
-  <filename>configure</filename> script.</para></footnote> The build
-  can only be performed on a machine and operating system matching the
-  platform identifier.  (Nix can automatically forward builds for
-  other platforms by forwarding them to other machines; see <xref
+  <listitem xml:id="attr-system"><para>There must be an attribute
+  named <varname>system</varname> whose value must be a string
+  specifying a Nix system type, such as
+  <literal>"i686-linux"</literal> or
+  <literal>"x86_64-darwin"</literal>. (To figure out your system type,
+  run <literal>nix -vv --version</literal>.) The build can only be
+  performed on a machine and operating system matching the system
+  type.  (Nix can automatically forward builds for other platforms by
+  forwarding them to other machines; see <xref
   linkend='chap-distributed-builds' />.)</para></listitem>
 
   <listitem><para>There must be an attribute named
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
index f6e67813d..a6f258abc 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/generic-builder.xml
@@ -42,14 +42,14 @@ genericBuild ③</programlisting>
     <filename>bin</filename> subdirectory, it's added to
     <literal>PATH</literal>; if it has a <filename>include</filename>
     subdirectory, it's added to GCC's header search path; and so
-    on.<footnote><para>How does it work? <filename>setup</filename>
-    tries to source the file
+    on. (This is implemented in a modular way:
+    <filename>setup</filename> tries to source the file
     <filename><emphasis>pkg</emphasis>/nix-support/setup-hook</filename>
     of all dependencies.  These “setup hooks” can then set up whatever
     environment variables they want; for instance, the setup hook for
     Perl sets the <literal>PERL5LIB</literal> environment variable to
     contain the <filename>lib/site_perl</filename> directories of all
-    inputs.</para></footnote>
+    inputs.)
     </para>
 
   </listitem>
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/language-constructs.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/language-constructs.xml
index 86c25d723..e1c589f61 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/language-constructs.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/language-constructs.xml
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ is, in a normal (non-recursive) set, attributes are not added to the
 lexical scope; in a recursive set, they are.</para>
 
 <para>Recursive sets of course introduce the danger of infinite
-recursion.  For example,
+recursion.  For example, the expression
 
 <programlisting>
 rec {
@@ -34,9 +34,8 @@ rec {
   y = x;
 }.x</programlisting>
 
-does not terminate<footnote><para>Actually, Nix detects infinite
-recursion in this case and aborts (<quote>infinite recursion
-encountered</quote>).</para></footnote>.</para>
+will crash with an <literal>infinite recursion encountered</literal>
+error message.</para>
 
 </section>
 
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/language-values.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/language-values.xml
index cebafb1f5..5520a4938 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/language-values.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/language-values.xml
@@ -154,11 +154,10 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
 
   <listitem><para><emphasis>Paths</emphasis>, e.g.,
   <filename>/bin/sh</filename> or <filename>./builder.sh</filename>.
-  A path must contain at least one slash to be recognised as such; for
-  instance, <filename>builder.sh</filename> is not a
-  path<footnote><para>It's parsed as an expression that selects the
-  attribute <varname>sh</varname> from the variable
-  <varname>builder</varname>.</para></footnote>.  If the file name is
+  A path must contain at least one slash to be recognised as such. For
+  instance, <filename>builder.sh</filename> is not a path: it's parsed
+  as an expression that selects the attribute <varname>sh</varname>
+  from the variable <varname>builder</varname>. If the file name is
   relative, i.e., if it does not begin with a slash, it is made
   absolute at parse time relative to the directory of the Nix
   expression that contained it.  For instance, if a Nix expression in
@@ -176,7 +175,7 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   <para>Paths can also be specified between angle brackets, e.g.
   <literal>&lt;nixpkgs&gt;</literal>. This means that the directories
   listed in the environment variable
-  <envar linkend="env-NIX_PATH">NIX_PATH</literal> will be searched
+  <literal linkend="env-NIX_PATH">NIX_PATH</literal> will be searched
   for the given file or directory name.
   </para>
 
diff --git a/doc/manual/expressions/simple-expression.xml b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-expression.xml
index 29fd872ee..ad97220a8 100644
--- a/doc/manual/expressions/simple-expression.xml
+++ b/doc/manual/expressions/simple-expression.xml
@@ -21,10 +21,9 @@ need to do three things:
   such as dependencies, sources, and so on.</para></listitem>
 
   <listitem><para>Write a <emphasis>builder</emphasis>.  This is a
-  shell script<footnote><para>In fact, it can be written in any
-  language, but typically it's a <command>bash</command> shell
-  script.</para></footnote> that actually builds the package from
-  the inputs.</para></listitem>
+  shell script that builds the package from the inputs. (In fact, it
+  can be written in any language, but typically it's a
+  <command>bash</command> shell script.)</para></listitem>
 
   <listitem><para>Add the package to the file
   <filename>pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix</filename>.  The Nix