Re: [9fans] TeX: need feedback

[tlaronde@polynum.com]

On Mon, Apr 26, 2010 at 11:47:50AM -0400, John Floren wrote:
>
> TeX installed ok, but I couldn't get LaTeX installed; I attempted to
> follow the instructions in your README, but there was no indication
> that anything actually worked. Have you installed it on a Plan 9
> system? The instructions seemed a lot more Linux-oriented than Plan 9.

I don't use LaTeX, so I have simply looked in the old teTeX package
installed on my NetBSD, and tested there if I was able to dump the
format with kerTeX.  It worked.

If you dump the format, afterwards when invoking latex(1), you must set
the TEXINPUTS and TEXFONTS with the directories where live the latex
data (there may be several directories and subdirectories; with GPL
web2c, one must look in the "texmf.cnf").

If the always "new" version of LaTeX can not be dumped (because it needs
more capacities); or if it is able to dump but when loading some
extensions, it cries "capacities exceeded", then I will have to increase
some sizes in the change file. The format I dumped was 5 years old but
it was far from overloading the capacities.

For what I know, nothing should prevent the use of LaTeX: it is just a
matter of paths (hence the description of the environment variables).

Incidentally, one could perhaps ask the latex.org to try kerTeX and to
tell what to do; or ask if a Knuth's version of TeX, with capacities
extended, can be used with LaTeX or if they need to change something in
the program. (Even in this latter case, nothing prevent using kertex_M
and kertex_T, but adjust the change file for tex; the hard part was the
engineering, not adjusting.)

But since I don't use LaTeX, I can not tell more and don't plan to look
more deeply. What's why I do need feedback.

If there is something missing in the "kernel" (kerTeX) preventing
absolutely the use of LaTeX (I verified mainly that the "big" default
format was enough to dump latex), I will modify it. But a "package" must
use the "kernel"; and not the other way around.

I use my own set of macros---mistex...---and I have even not made
something special in kerTeX for it. So for others...;)

My view is: there is the METAFONT/TeX kernel, conform to Knuth's Digital
Typography but with size increased (by default). And using this
framework, one can use whatever set of macros one wants simply by
dumping the format and adjusting the paths.
--
        Thierry Laronde <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                      http://www.kergis.com/
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