When using C-h i, emacs shows a menu with info about various programs.

I get the impression that when using slackbuilds, emacs does not become `aware' of the new programs' info even though info works on the cli.

For example: I installed gnuplot by ./config; make; make install because there is no slackbuild and a gnuplot entry shows up in the menu in emacs. Same for some other programs installed this way. Note that INFOPATH is still empty.

But then I installed gsl using the slackbuild and no entry shows up in emacs.

Does anyone know why this happens? Obviously I would like emacs to become aware of my slackbuild additions...

Try this, as root:

It may be that most info files present in Slackware are not dealt with.
Ideally this should be done like this
The texinfo Slackware package ships with a custom "dir" file that contains most of the entries for info files included in Slackware, but AFAICT not all.
I guess this is also one of the disadvantages of not having dependency resolution. There is no guarantee that texinfo is installed before installing the package that holds the info files, so you cant be sure install-info exists, so that the dir file can be updated. So Pat ships a custom dir file, thats currently last updated 2,5 years ago.
I suppose dealing with info files could largely be improved in Slackware. But from what i can tell, most people dont like info files much.

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Thanks for the explanation, so I'll update the dir file by hand, it's a small job since I don't have that many slackbuilds.