On 6/14/2025 8:47 AM, Max Chernoff via ntg-context wrote:
Hi Hans,
On Thu, 2025-06-12 at 13:56 +0200, Hans Hagen wrote:
I uploaded a new version,
Looks like my autoupdating scripts worked well, the new version should be available in TeX Live as of a few hours ago.
hm, there will be a new upload with some reported issues fixed ... i wonder if a too frequent texlive sync is good, as it sounds pretty beta and isn't tex live also in linux distributions? maybe some delay is better; is there some policy wrt that in texlive? like monthly update or so that we can then adapt to?
In case anyone ever encounters any critical bugs in the version packaged by TeX Live, it's pretty easy to downgrade the prior version:
$ tlmgr restore context 75454 $ tlmgr restore context.x86_64-linux 75425
(run "tlmgr restore context" to list the available versions)
Or if you need to downgrade to an even earlier version, it's only slightly more involved:
$ rm /usr/local/texlive/2025/bin/x86_64-linux/{mtxrun,mtxrun.lua,context,context.lua,luametatex} $ tlmgr install --reinstall --file \ https://texlive.info/tlnet-archive/2025/06/12/tlnet/archive/context.tar.xz \ https://texlive.info/tlnet-archive/2025/06/12/tlnet/archive/context.x86_64-l...
(replace the "2025/06/12" with whatever date you want to downgrade to)
-- additional warnings (or abort) in case one runs from tex live and missing or expected files Sure, fine by me. One possible idea: instead of relying on the file luametatex.h existing/not existing, I could add a "distributed_by" key (or similar) to the texmfcnf.lua file in TeX Live. Then ConTeXt could display the contents of that key in the log file, right below the ConTeXt version, so that it's clear to users (and people reading messages to the mailing list) that they're using an unofficial version.
that would only work for texlive then but it could be an option indeed
ps. i might reintroduce the beta/current updating scheme at some point .. still undecided
Also fine by me; let me know if you ever want me to make any changes to the packaging in TeX Live.
i'll think of it; basically in the installer you can already set it to beta so it's basiclaly just another path then but it might not be worth the trouble in the end
% texmf-dist/tex/context/modules/mkxl/m-texlive.mkxl %D This is a variant on code I found in a \TEXLIVE\ installation in \type %D {cont-sys.mkxl} in 2025. In \type {cont-sys.mkxl} one can add this: %D %D \starttyping %D \usemodule[texlive] %D \stoptyping
I've updated cont-sys.mkxl with your new code, thanks!
Ha, you noticed. I wanted to test that but you beat me on that.
%D I guess that the reason for this hackery is that a \TEXLIVE\ doesn't do %D an update of the file database after installing some \CONTEXT\ related %D files. In a similar manner, when a used updated something \CONTEXT\ we %D don't generate an lsr file. Here both are checked.
So TeX Live (tlmgr) always runs "mtxrun [--luatex] --generate" and "context [--luatex] --make" whenever it modifies any ConTeXt files, but since most users install TeX Live to "/usr/local/texlive/$YEAR" (or similar), tlmgr runs as root, so it can only update the caches/formats in "/usr/local/texlive/$YEAR/texmf-var/". But if a someone ever runs "mtxrun --generate" or "context --make" as a regular user, ConTeXt will create caches/formats in "~/.texlive$YEAR/texmf-var/", and then it will ignore all the files in "/usr/local/texlive/$YEAR/texmf-var/", even if they're newer than the user-local ones.
i suppose it also catched users putting e.g. fonts someplace without runnign file database updaters .. chicken-egg stuff (also becaus ein context we have texmf-fonts and a more flat structure) btw, i installed a texlive in a vm and it seemd to work (i explicitly have to set these paths to a more reliable isolation (i want no funny .foo and mess in ~) but using the same tex related var local and home paths works)
I wrote that code as a quick hack back in 2023, but as we all know, quick hacks tend to stay around far longer than they should :). If there's some way to tell ConTeXt to always use the system's filename cache files for "root == 'selfautoparent:texmf-dist'", and then the user-local filename cache files for other roots, that would probably be even better.
indeed. and having a module has better change of keeping in sync if we need more explanation in that file, we can add it (Just let me know) (i wondered about a warning of using a different than default papersize as set up by texlve - i saw that it's optional in the installer - but that is a bit hard to catch realiable but i'll think about it; manuals are rendered assuming A4) Thanks for the patience and effort. Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | www.pragma-ade.nl | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------