[twg-tds] storing scripts in the texmf tree

[Olaf Weber]

Olaf Weber writes:
> Hans Hagen writes:

>> just wondering: maybe kpsewhich can be extended by something

>> in texmf.cnf:   format.whatever pathspec
>> in kpsewhich:   -format=whatever

>> or so ...

> Perhaps I haven't followed the discussion in sufficient detail, but
> the proposed semantics of this extension aren't clear to me.

Based on some private feedback from Hans, let me describe what I've
implemented the successor to kpathsea (call it kpse).  In kpse, there
is a kpse.cnf file (the name is determined by the app using kpse),
which contains sections describing formats like this:

	[tfm]
	variable = TFMFONTS
	suffix = .tfm
	suffix-required
	program = mktextfm
	binary
	path = .;{$TEXMF/fonts,$VARTEXFONTS}/tfm//

For scripts you could use (for example):

	[scripts]
	description = "Architecture independent executables"
        variable = SCRIPTSPATH
        path = {$TEXMF}/scripts

The "path" is a setting that can be overruled by the "variable" in
texmf.cnf.  Often the path in kpse.cnf and the setting in texmf.cnf
would effectively be identical:

        SCRIPTSPATH = {$TEXMF}/scripts

The "other binaries" and "other text files" formats would/could be
discontinued as such.

-- 
Olaf Weber

               (This space left blank for technical reasons.)