[tex-live] texmf backwrad compatibility -- a proposal

Karl Berry karl at freefriends.org
Fri May 28 15:24:40 CEST 2004


    There are at least some syntax changes in the texmf.cnf (no !!
    anymore, other differences in how paths are specified).  There is at
    least a potential for user-level changes as a result of this.

I certainly agree that changes to texmf.cnf that are not
backward-compatible will have at least as much impact as moving .enc and
.map files, probably more.  That is, I would guess that more users have
their own personal or document-specific texmf.cnf's than have their own
enc/maps.

So the next question is, are such changes really necessary/desirable?
You could just accept and ignore !!, for starters.  It is probably hard
to answer such questions definitively now.


Thomas already gave various examples showing why "compatible" paths have
their own problems.  Thus, I don't think it would be desirable to just
throw in TEXMF/fonts// (or whatever) to the end of the paths at the last
minute.  I don't see any practical way to test both the compatible and
clean paths; I think we'd be better off just changing now if we're going
to change.  Personally, I hope we can stick to what we all already
agreed on.

k



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