[XeTeX] Future *TeX [was: XeTeX maintenance]

[Karljurgen Feuerherm]

As noted earlier in the parent thread, one of the problems is lack of
peopleŠ.

I¹ve been conscious for some time that I wish I knew more about the guts
of Xe(La)TeX so I could 1) be more efficient at diagnosing my own problems
and 2) be able to devise solutions and so contribute back to the community
at a higher level.

So I have two questions (which maybe ought to be separate threads, but
this may not be necessaryŠ.)

a) there¹s been some (semi-serious?) banter about LuaTeX (for example;
I.e. what about ConTeXt?) as a XeTeX alternative. There seem to be people
on both sides of that fence; there¹s some notion in the air that some
engine basics are better in one or the other. Given that this is at XeTeX
list, and we are thus presumably all at some level invested in XeTeX, in
what ways is the grass greener on the Œother side¹ and what prognosis do
we have for improving our own grass? Going on from there (and perhaps
unwarrantedly taking sides without proper grounding!)

b) assuming a certain level of Xe(La)TeX competence at the Œpresenting¹
level, what recommendations would experts on this list make to Œupping the
ante¹ I.e. progress toward a more insider understanding of the software?

K

On 2015-04-26, 07:00, "Philip Taylor" <P.Taylor at Rhul.Ac.Uk> wrote:

>
>
>Joseph Wright wrote:
>
>> The problem as always is not so much money as people.
>
>Yes, I do appreciate that, but sometimes money is also an obstacle ("do
>I work on X, which will help keep a roof over my head, or on XeTeX,
>which may bring me fame but which may also result in my eviction ?").
>
>> [Also, you do know about LuaTeX, yes? ;-)
>
>Yes, of course, but I see it as an evolutionary dead-end, much as I
>would wish to see it otherwise.
>
>> More seriously, XeTeX isn't a drop-in replacement for TeX90/pdfTeX.]
>
>I have yet to find a legacy document which behaves differently (legacy
>Plain TeX, that is, not legacy LaTeX); if you can point me at one, I
>should be interested to experience the differences for myself.
>
>** Phil.
>
>
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