+% @copying ... @end copying.
+% Save the text away for @insertcopying later. Many commands won't be
+% allowed in this context, but that's ok.
+%
+% We save the uninterpreted tokens, rather than creating a box.
+% Saving the text in a box would be much easier, but then all the
+% typesetting commands (@smallbook, font changes, etc.) have to be done
+% beforehand -- and a) we want @copying to be done first in the source
+% file; b) letting users define the frontmatter in as flexible order as
+% possible is very desirable.
+%
+\def\copying{\begingroup
+ % Define a command to swallow text until we reach `@end copying'.
+ % \ is the escape char in this texinfo.tex file, so it is the
+ % delimiter for the command; @ will be the escape char when we read
+ % it, but that doesn't matter.
+ \long\def\docopying##1\end copying{\gdef\copyingtext{##1}\enddocopying}%
+ %
+ % We must preserve ^^M's in the input file; see \insertcopying below.
+ \catcode`\^^M = \active
+ \docopying
+}
+
+% What we do to finish off the copying text.
+%
+\def\enddocopying{\endgroup\ignorespaces}
+
+% @insertcopying. Here we must play games with ^^M's. On the one hand,
+% we need them to delimit commands such as `@end quotation', so they
+% must be active. On the other hand, we certainly don't want every
+% end-of-line to be a \par, as would happen with the normal active
+% definition of ^^M. On the third hand, two ^^M's in a row should still
+% generate a \par.
+%
+% Our approach is to make ^^M insert a space and a penalty1 normally;
+% then it can also check if \lastpenalty=1. If it does, then manually
+% do \par.
+%
+% Seems pretty fragile, but for the limited use of getting the copying
+% text (which should be quite simple) inserted, we can hope it's ok.
+% %
+{\catcode`\^^M=\active %
+\gdef\insertcopying{\begingroup %
+ \parindent = 0pt % looks wrong on title page
+ \def^^M{%
+ \ifnum \lastpenalty=1 %
+ \par %
+ \else %
+ \space \penalty 1 %
+ \fi %
+ }%
+ \copyingtext %
+\endgroup}%
+}