[texhax] ldots, cdots, ddots, binom, blah, blah, [blind]

[Barbara Beeton]

phil,
    > How can blind people access the TeXbook? All I can contribute to my
    > question is that the copyright holder is the American Mathematical
    > Society, so the question should be directed to *them* (I am not a member).

    Uwe raises a rather important issue here, and I am sorry that
    I missed the message when it first appeared.  I recently asked
    the TeX Live team why the TeXbook was not included in the TeX
    Live distribution, and after a few off-beam responses I think
    we finally arrived at the heart of the matter when Karl Berry
    (TUG President) wrote :

    > [T]he requirement is that everything in the [TeX Live] 
    > distribution be free according to the FSF definition.
    > texbook.tex isn't.

    So, the obvious source for a machine-readable copy of
    the TeXbook (TeX Live) cannot contain such a copy, because
    of the constraints that the TeX Live team have placed
    on what can and cannot be included.  Fortunately,
    TeX Live is not the only source of TeX.  Somewhat
    larger (and now so large that it is no longer
    distributed on CD or DVD, as far as I know) is CTAN
    itself : the Comprehensive TeX Archive.  And of
    course CTAN /does/ contain a machine-readable copy
    of "The TeXbook", at

    	http://ctan.org/get/systems/knuth/dist/tex/texbook.tex

    However, once one has acquired that file and peered inside, one
    reads :

    > % This manual is copyright (C) 1984 by the American Mathematical Society.
    > % All rights are reserved!
    > % The file is distributed only for people to see its examples of TeX
    > input,
    > % not for use in the preparation of books like The TeXbook.
    > % Permission for any other use of this file must be obtained in writing
    > % from the copyright holder and also from the publisher (Addison-Wesley).
    > \loop\iftrue
    >   \errmessage{This manual is copyrighted and should not be TeXed}\repeat

    so even when one has the source, one is not allowed to process it.

    So to return to Uwe's question : "How can blind people access the TeXbook?",
    the answer is "with great difficulty", if we assume that what he meant was
    "/legally/ access the TeXbook?".  But surely in these enlightened days of
    "equal access for all", there must be some legislation to cover issues such
    as these ?  And I am reasonably certain that Don Knuth himself would not
    want the copyright issue to be a bar that prevented blind people from
    gaining
    access.  So what I suggest is that we raise this with the TUG Board (of
    which
    I am a member), and ask whether they are willing to make representations
    to DEK, to AMS and to A-W, asking for a blanket waiver to allow those to
    whom a printed copy of the book is useless (such as those who are blind),
    and who have a genuine need to consult the TeXbook, to be allowed to process
    the machine-readable source (on condition, of course, that the resulting
    DVI/PDF file is solely for their own use, and will never be passed on to
    others).

    What do other TeXhax readers think ?

the texbook file has no special facilities for
making it "accessible" in any meaningful way
as a pdf file, and i've decoded enough dvi files
to not wish that on anyone who's never tried to
do it before.  that leaves the file texbook.tex
itself for inspection via an editor with voice
output. and there's certainly no prohibition
against that.

would that not be a viable approach, if not
exactly trivial?
							-- bb