mkiv goes beta

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

Hi,

ConTeXt MKiV goes beta.

Now, why today, 06/08/07? It happens to be the birthday of one of the 
most demanding users on this list and when at bachotek 2007 we discussed 
the moment of going beta Arthur suggested that this would be the perfect 
day. I could not agree more, especially because Mojca is one of the most 
demanding and testing users and eagerly awaiting new things.

	So, Mojca, here's your birthday present!

It's part of a package from Taco, Arthur, Patrick and me ..

- of course there is the luaTeX binary, even better than the beta (be
   patient with taco in fixing bugs)
- then there is a new wiki page (cleverly hidden till today, you don't
   want to know what tricks arthur used to get it all running well)
- of course you can now also try luaTeX/MkIV on the wiki running page
   (don't complain too much to patrick about performance)
- and yes, you need the latest ConTeXt zip as well (i cross my fingers
   that it works ok)

On the website there is the usual zip, but also a new magazine, one that 
tells how to install luaTeX:

	http://www.pragma-ade.com/general/magazines/mag-0012.pdf

When I was preparing this release I had "Major Impacts 2" and "Split 
Decision" (by Steve Morse) running in loop-mode on the sqeezebox. I 
realize that LuaTeX will have a major impact on ConTeXt, as has the 
decision to split into MkII and MkIV. The experiences of many years of 
user demand and usage will be reflected in upcoming releases. The 
challenge will be to get the mosy ou tof all engines.

A few extra notes:

- typescripts are reorganized so that in luaTeX open type fonts
   are used instead, by default some features are enabled
- using type one fonts is possible (no encoding needed), but the
   backend needs a fix to support wide fonts, Taco is working on this
- typesetting arab and such is possible, more on this later on
   this list; scripts like chinese is work in progress
- there is much experimental, unused code, but expect to see more
   of it coming into action the next months
- make sure to install lua itself because 'luac' is needed to
   bytecompile cached data (much faster)
- make sure to set the TEXMFCACHE environment variable as well as
   TEXMFCNF and TEXMF; caching is really needed and because we no
   longer use kpse MkIV needs to know what tree to use

I uploaded the lot, minimals included. Expect more frequent uploades 
since I'm not sure if thinks work for all platforms. Also, be prepared 
to keep your own binaries uptodate.

And ... from now on xetex users should use the official 
\definefontfeature interface as well.

Happy testing ...

Hans

-- 

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                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
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                                              | www.pragma-pod.nl
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