Reinhard Kotucha wrote:
Some time ago I read somewhere (maybe in a mail from Hans) that probably LuaTeX will be distributed along with pdfTeX for a while until it finally will be renamed to pdfTeX.
This is exactly what I ask for with the only exception that it should be called pdfxtex instead of LuaTeX and other experimental stuff can go there as well.
part of the problem is that we have no control over what is shipped by distributers; most program sthat i use have 'stable' versions and 'experimental' versions (take ghostscript) one of the decisions made at the informal pdftex meeting that martin, hartmut, taco and i had was that we should have stable versions (.40 to start with), maybe bug fixes t that (.41) but then instead of pdfxtex we can have just (eg) version .50 as the experimental one using two binaries (and therefore two formats etc) is simply no fun;
There is LuaTeX now and there will be Unicode-TeX and OTF-TeX in the future and they all will be renamed to pdfTeX sooner or later. So why not call all the experimental stuff pdfxtex?
.50+ .60+ .70-+
If you put experimental stuff into the mainstream release you have to be absolutely sure that it does not have any unwanted side effects. Of course, an experimental version should work, but you have more freedom for experiments because it is for evaluation only, not for production.
distributers should not put the latest pdftex (no x) in their mainstream release anyway; only stable versions; normally the 'tex live code freeze version' is the one they should use
In short: It's a matter of philosophy. You prefer to keep things secret, I prefer to involve more people.
it has nothing to do with secrecy; take thanh's font related extensions, often the few people who ask for it do the first testing, then provide feedback, and thanh changes, extends etc things; a pretty fast cycle btw and history shows that in that process functionality and control changes; so it would put a burden on documenting that in that stage; even now, i'm sure that the new \*code (char based glue) cannot be described yet, since its behaviour may change, side effects may go away of become part of the spec etc the sooner things are 'documented formally' (in the manual), the more dependencies show up since it will be used in packages; and since packages are normally uncontrolled (relative to each other) ... ; remember what fuzz there was when pdftex replaced tex in tl: many ways to test pdftexness, using old (obsolete) and new primitives, etc (in the beginning of pdftex much testing was done in version that thanh just send me (binaries) and by using it for aday or two in a production environment processing big docs, most problems could be repaired without the need for readme's, change lists, etc) anyhow, it's also a matter of convenience, speed up code writing/testing cycles etc Hans ----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------