--- a/src/doc/user/usermanual.xml
+++ b/src/doc/user/usermanual.xml
@@ -661,6 +661,18 @@
<option>-c</option> option to <command>recoll</command> and
<command>recollindex</command>.</para>
+ <para>When working with the <command>recoll</command> index
+ configuration GUI, the configuration directory for which parameters
+ are modified is the one which was selected by
+ <envar>RECOLL_CONFDIR</envar> or the <option>-c</option> parameter,
+ and there is no way to switch configurations within the GUI.</para>
+
+ <para>Additional configuration directory (beyond
+ <filename>~/.recoll</filename>) must be created by hand
+ (<command>mkdir</command> or such), the GUI will not do it. This is
+ to avoid mistakenly creating additional directories when an
+ argument is mistyped.</para>
+
<para>A typical usage scenario for the multiple index feature
would be for a system administrator to set up a central index
for shared data, that you choose to search or not in addition to
@@ -5190,19 +5202,30 @@
the <guilabel>Index configuration</guilabel> dialog
(<guilabel>Preferences</guilabel> menu). The GUI tool will try
to respect your formatting and comments as much as possible,
- so it is quite possible to use both ways.</para>
+ so it is quite possible to use both approaches on the same
+ configuration.</para>
<para>The most accurate documentation for the
configuration parameters is given by comments inside the default
files, and we will just give a general overview here.</para>
- <para>By default, for each index, there are two sets of
+ <para>For each index, there are at least two sets of
configuration files. System-wide configuration files are kept
in a directory named
like <filename>/usr/[local/]share/recoll/examples</filename>,
and define default values, shared by all indexes. For each
index, a parallel set of files defines the customized
parameters.</para>
+
+ <para>The default location of the customized configuration is the
+ <filename>.recoll</filename>
+ directory in your home. Most people will only use this
+ directory.</para>
+
+ <para>This location can be changed, or others can be added with the
+ <envar>RECOLL_CONFDIR</envar> environment variable or the
+ <option>-c</option> option parameter to <command>recoll</command> and
+ <command>recollindex</command>.</para>
<para>In addition (as of &RCL; version 1.19.7), it is possible
to specify two additional configuration directories which will
@@ -5221,17 +5244,7 @@
future: do not use colon characters inside the directory
paths.</para>
- <para>The default location of the configuration is the
- <filename>.recoll</filename>
- directory in your home. Most people will only use this
- directory.</para>
-
- <para>This location can be changed, or others can be added with the
- <envar>RECOLL_CONFDIR</envar> environment variable or the
- <option>-c</option> option parameter to <command>recoll</command> and
- <command>recollindex</command>.</para>
-
- <para>If the <filename>.recoll</filename> directory does not
+ <para>If the <filename>.recoll</filename> directory does not
exist when <command>recoll</command> or
<command>recollindex</command> are started, it will be created
with a set of empty configuration files.
@@ -5243,7 +5256,6 @@
default location, not if <option>-c</option> or
<envar>RECOLL_CONFDIR</envar> were used (in the latter
cases, you will have to create the directory).</para>
-
<para>All configuration files share the same format. For
example, a short extract of the main configuration file might
@@ -5269,6 +5281,9 @@
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
+ <para>Long lines can be broken by ending each incomplete part with
+ a backslash (<literal>\</literal>).</para>
+
<para>Depending on the type of configuration file, section
definitions either separate groups of parameters or allow
redefining some parameters for a directory sub-tree. They stay
@@ -5283,15 +5298,31 @@
character (~) is expanded to the name of the user's home
directory, as a shell would do.</para>
- <para>White space is used for separation inside lists.
- List elements with embedded spaces can be quoted using
- double-quotes.</para>
-
- <formalpara>
- <title>Encoding issues</title>
- <para>Most of the configuration parameters are plain ASCII. Two
- particular sets of values may cause encoding issues:</para>
- </formalpara>
+ <para>Some parameters are lists of strings. White space is used for
+ separation. List elements with embedded spaces can be quoted using
+ double-quotes. Double quotes inside these elements can be escaped
+ with a backslash.</para>
+
+ <para>No value inside a configuration file can contain a newline
+ character. Long lines can be continued by escaping the
+ physical newline with backslash, even inside quoted strings.</para>
+ <programlisting>
+astringlist = "some string \
+with spaces"
+thesame = "some string with spaces"
+ </programlisting>
+
+ <para>Parameters which are not part of string lists can't be
+ quoted, and leading and trailing space characters are
+ stripped before the value is used.</para>
+
+ <formalpara>
+ <title>Encoding issues</title>
+ <para>Most of the configuration parameters are plain ASCII. Two
+ particular sets of values may cause encoding issues:</para>
+ </formalpara>
+
+
<para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>File path parameters may contain non-ascii