June 2025 - ntg-context - Mailing Lists

Can ConTeXt output in grayscale?
by Joel 11 Jun '25

11 Jun '25

I have a document with lots of color text, Metapost art, and various images in PDF, JPG, and PNG format. I might have the printer just print in black and white, as it cuts printing costs in half. Is there a way to tell ConTeXt to compile everything so it appears grayscale, so I can better visualize how it would look printed? --Joel

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\time pendant to \currenttime
by Benjamin Buchmuller 11 Jun '25

11 Jun '25

Hi list, I was wondering if there is a "\time" equivalent similar to "\currentdate" -> "\date"? I know from the wiki (and source) that there is "\currenttime", but "\time[h=8, m=30]" will not typeset "8:30", so it doesn't seem to be implemented. I understand that such an implementation might become arbitrarily complicated … In fact, I'm trying to typeset durations like "3:30 min" which is not exactly a "time" either, but neither \unit{3:30 minute} nor a math formula achieve the expected rendering. Of course, one could just type it plainly, but maybe this little gap is worthwhile considering in a future version. :-) Thank you! Best Benjamin

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regular online meet-up
by Henning Hraban Ramm 11 Jun '25

11 Jun '25

You’re invited to our regular online meet-up, TOMORROW Wednesday, June 11th, _20:00_ CEST (UTC+2) (sorry, I forgot to invite before the weekend) at https://lecture.senfcall.de/hen-rbr-rku-oke (same, but shorter: https://u.mtxrun.eu/ctxmtg) ConTeXt users of all levels are welcome! Looking forward to seeing you, Hraban (Same blurb as always:) [Howto] * No special software installation required; most modern browsers should work (WebRTC required). * Open the URL above, accept the privacy statement, * enter your name, * click "join" (or "start" if you’re the first), * click "with microphone", allow your browser to access it, check the audio. * Your microphone is muted if you join. Activate microphone and/or camera with the buttons at the bottom. * Minimize the default presentation with the "screen" button, bottom right. * If you’d like to share your screen or upload a file, you can make yourself the presenter: Click on your user name, change the setting, then you’ll see the "screen sharing" button beside the camera button; also there’s now "manage presentations" behind the "plus" button. Beware there is only one presenter at a time, so don’t kill someone else’s presentation. [Technical hints] * Sound is usually better if you use a headset (less noise for everyone). * Connection problems are mostly due to low bandwidth or high latency on your side, esp. with mobile connections. * Sometimes leaving and re-entering helps. * If audio/video doesn’t work for you, you can still use the text chat. * Screen sharing needs a lot of bandwidth. * BigBlueButton documentation applies: https://bigbluebutton.org/tutorials/ [Netiquette] * Please use a name that we recognize from here. Some feel uncomfortable with anonymous lurkers. * Mute your microphone while you’re not talking. * It’s nice to show your face at least when you join. * If there are connection problems, stop camera sharing. * The room is set to “everyone’s a moderator“, I trust you...

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ConTeXt in TeX Live
by Max Chernoff 11 Jun '25

11 Jun '25

Hi all, Previously, ConTeXt was imported into TeX Live once per year, via a TDS archive from CTAN. There were a few problems with this: 1. To handle this import, the TeX Live maintainers had to create lots of custom scripts, and even then, the import still needed lots of manual effort. 2. ConTeXt received zero updates throughout the year, not even for bug fixes. So even if a bug were fixed upstream, TeX Live users would need to wait up to a full year. 3. ConTeXt contained a number of support files for non-free fonts, which are against TeX Live's policies, so they were removed. However, this meant that there was no easy way for users to install these files. 4. The ConTeXt TDS archive does not contain all files present in the ConTeXt Standalone Distribution. Notably, this includes the ConTeXt companion fonts, which had to be manually imported into TeX Live (and were briefly mispackaged last year). Because of this, I've taken over packaging ConTeXt for CTAN and TeX Live. The very first release via this new process has already been imported into TeX Live, and should reach the CTAN mirrors shortly. I've set up some scripts that automatically repackage the contents of the ConTeXt Standalone Distribution every day, so the ConTeXt in TeX Live should never be more than a couple days older than the official upstream version. In addition, I've created a new "context-nonfree" package on TLContrib that contains any files excluded from TeX Live for policy reasons, so that users can easily install these optional support files. The primary goal of this project is to make an installation of TeX Live with "scheme-context" (plus "context-nonfree" from TLContrib) behave identically to the ConTeXt Standalone Distribution with all modules installed. Note that "scheme-full" (AKA the default "Full" TeX Live installation) is a superset of "scheme-context", which means that most TeX Live users will now have a complete ConTeXt installation by default. Repacking ConTeXt took quite a bit of work, so I'm sure that I've introduced some mistakes. If you do notice any bugs, the best place to report them would be at the project's GitHub page https://github.com/gucci-on-fleek/context-packaging/issues/ but if you prefer, you can also message the public mailing lists ntg-context(a)ntg.nl or tex-live(a)tug.org, or email me privately. If you're interested to read more about this repackaging process, all the scripts, some additional documentation, and the build logs are available on GitHub: https://github.com/gucci-on-fleek/context-packaging And a special thanks to Karl Berry, Manfred Lotz, Norbert Preining, and Hans Hagen for helping out with all of this! Thanks, -- Max

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Modes & enumerations
by Matthias Weber 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

Hello all, I would like to typeset a certain enumeration when a corresponding mode is enabled, like so: \defineenumeration [Solution] [text={Solution:}, headstyle=bold, before={\startmode[solution]}, after={\stopmode}, style=normal, title=no ] \starttext \enablemode[solution] \startSolution Enabled \stopSolution \stoptext This works, but when I disable the mode, I get the error message tex error > runaway error: end of file encountered mtx-context | fatal error: return code: 1 Is there a suitable incantation to make this work? Thanks for all the help, Matthias

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parallel subcolumn sets and footnotes
by Pablo Rodriguez 05 Jun '25

05 Jun '25

Dear Hans and Mikael, the sample below contains parallel subcolumn sets with footonotes. I cannot make them work properly and they are supposed to work. Is there something I’m missing in the sample. Many thanks for your help, Pablo \showframe\showgrid \starttext \setuplayout[grid=yes] \setupwhitespace[none] \definecolumnset [paral] [n=1] \definesubcolumnset[paral][L][1] \definesubcolumnset[paral][R][2] \page[even] \startcolumnset[paral] \dorecurse{25} {\startsubcolumnset[L] \startsubject[title=Zapf] \samplefile{zapf}\footnote{\samplefile{knuth}} \stopsubject \stopsubcolumnset \startsubcolumnset[R] \startsubject[title=Knuth] \samplefile{knuth}\footnote{\samplefile{zapf}} \stopsubject \stopsubcolumnset \flushsubcolumnsets[spread]} \stopcolumnset \stoptext

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exporting to epub
by Matthias Weber 02 Jun '25

02 Jun '25

Hi, I am trying to export to epub. I found epub-mkiv-demo.tex and export-example.tex, and both compile fine, generating the XML tree. The instructions say that I have to run mtxrun --script epub --make --purge test but I get unknown script ‘epub.lua’. I don’t have epub.lua anywhere. It also says that the console would tell me what script to run, but it only tells me mtx-context | pdfview methods: auto default evince okular pdfxcview sumatra zathura, current method: sumatra (directives_pdfview_method) pdfview | command: wine "sumatrapdf.exe" -reuse-instance -bg-color 0xCCCCCC "epub-mkiv-demo.pdf" 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null & The directories with the XML trees contain a script epub-mkiv-demo-pub.lua which I can run, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. I am clearly doing something wrong. Any hints on how to proceed will be much appreciated. Thanks, Matthias

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