[latex3-commits] [git/LaTeX3-latex3-latex2e] develop: documented alias function (868465cf)

[Frank Mittelbach]

Repository : https://github.com/latex3/latex2e
On branch  : develop
Link       : https://github.com/latex3/latex2e/commit/868465cf42160766fc7b4b760693dd40507800d1

>---------------------------------------------------------------

commit 868465cf42160766fc7b4b760693dd40507800d1
Author: Frank Mittelbach <frank.mittelbach at latex-project.org>
Date:   Sun Jan 12 12:55:14 2020 +0100

    documented alias function


>---------------------------------------------------------------

868465cf42160766fc7b4b760693dd40507800d1
 base/doc/ltnews31.tex | 66 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------
 1 file changed, 43 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)

diff --git a/base/doc/ltnews31.tex b/base/doc/ltnews31.tex
index f78a77a3..c365e527 100644
--- a/base/doc/ltnews31.tex
+++ b/base/doc/ltnews31.tex
@@ -394,7 +394,7 @@ chosen document font.  For such cases NFSS now offers
 \end{verbatim}
 tells \LaTeX{} that if you are typesetting in the sans serif font
 \texttt{Montserrat-LF} and the Greek encoding \texttt{LGR} is asked
-for, then \LaTeX{} should use \texttt{IBMPlexSans-TLF} to fulfil the
+for, then \LaTeX{} should use \texttt{IBMPlexSans-TLF} to fulfill the
 encoding request.
 
 The code is based on ideas from the \pkg{substitutefont}
@@ -445,7 +445,25 @@ the transcript is suppressed (which is not really recommended).
 
 \section{Other changes to the \LaTeX{} kernel}
 
-\emph{added \texttt{alias} size function}
+\subsection{New \texttt{alias} size function for use in \texttt{.fd} files}
+
+Most of the newer fonts supported in \TeX{} have been set up with the
+\texttt{autoinst} tool by Marc Penninga. In the past this program did
+set up the font faces using the face names chosen by its designer,
+e.g., \enquote{\texttt{regular}}, \enquote{\texttt{bold}}, etc., and
+then mapped those via substitution to the standard NFSS shape names,
+i.e., \enquote{\texttt{m}} or \enquote{\texttt{b}}. As a result one
+got unnecessary substitution warnings such as \enquote{\texttt{Font
+    T1/abc/bold/n not found using T1/abc/b/n instead}}.
+
+We now provide a new NFSS \texttt{alias} size function that can and will be
+used by \texttt{autoinst} in the future. It provides the same
+functionality as the \texttt{subst} function but is less vocal about
+its actions, such that only relevant font substitutions show up as
+warnings.
+
+
+
 
 
 \subsection{UTF-8 characters in package descriptions}
@@ -506,7 +524,7 @@ typesetting was used.
 
 Most \TeX{} engines only support a maximum of sixteen concurrently
 open write streams and if those have been used up, then
-\texttt{filecontents} or any other code trying to upen another one
+\texttt{filecontents} or any other code trying to open another one
 will fail. In \LuaTeX{} more write streams are available and those can
 now be utilized as well.
 %
@@ -589,6 +607,7 @@ functionality in \LaTeX{}. This is seen for example in improved UTF-8 handling,
 which uses \cs{ifincsname}. The following primitive functionality (which in
 \LuaTeX{} may be achieved using Lua code) will therefore be \emph{required} by
 the \LaTeX{} kernel from the start of 2021:
+%
 \begingroup\setlength\columnsep{0pt}
 \begin{multicols}{2}
 \begin{itemize}
@@ -617,17 +636,20 @@ the \LaTeX{} kernel from the start of 2021:
 \end{itemize}
 \end{multicols}
 \endgroup
-For ease of reference, these primitives will be referred to as the
-`\pdfTeX{} utilities'. With the exception of \cs{expanded}, these have been
-present in \pdfTeX{} since the release of version 1.40.0 in 2007; \cs{expanded}
-was added for \TeX{}~Live 2019. Similarly, the full set of utility primitives
-have been available in \XeTeX{} from the 2019 \TeX{}~Live release, and have
-always been available in \LuaTeX{} (some by Lua emulation). p\TeX{} and
-up\TeX{} gained all of the above bar \cs{ifincsname} for \TeX{}~Live
-2019, and will have that primitive from the 2020 release.
-
-At the same time, engines which are fully Unicode-capable must all provide
-the following primitives
+%
+For ease of reference, these primitives will be referred to
+as the `\pdfTeX{} utilities'. With the exception of \cs{expanded},
+these have been present in \pdfTeX{} since the release of version
+1.40.0 in 2007; \cs{expanded} was added for \TeX{}~Live
+2019. Similarly, the full set of utility primitives have been
+available in \XeTeX{} from the 2019 \TeX{}~Live release, and have
+always been available in \LuaTeX{} (some by Lua emulation). p\TeX{}
+and up\TeX{} gained all of the above bar \cs{ifincsname} for
+\TeX{}~Live 2019, and will have that primitive from the 2020 release.
+
+At the same time, engines which are fully Unicode-capable must all
+provide the following primitives
+%
 \begingroup\setlength\columnsep{0pt}
 \begin{multicols}{2}
 \begin{itemize}
@@ -637,11 +659,13 @@ the following primitives
 \end{itemize}
 \end{multicols}
 \endgroup
-Note that it has become standard practice to check for Unicode-aware engines
-with the existence of the \cs{Umathcode} primitive. As such, this is already
-a requirement: engines lacking these primitives cannot access Unicode features
-of the \LaTeXe{} kernel or of \pkg{expl3}. Note that up\TeX{} has facilities for
-handling Unicode but is not classed as a Unicode engine by the base LaTeX code.
+%
+Note that it has become standard practice to check for Unicode-aware
+engines with the existence of the \cs{Umathcode} primitive. As such,
+this is already a requirement: engines lacking these primitives cannot
+access Unicode features of the \LaTeXe{} kernel or of
+\pkg{expl3}. Note that up\TeX{} has facilities for handling Unicode
+but is not classed as a Unicode engine by the base LaTeX code.
 
 \begin{thebibliography}{9}
 
@@ -661,10 +685,6 @@ handling Unicode but is not classed as a Unicode engine by the base LaTeX code.
   \emph{\LaTeX{} documentation on the \LaTeX{} Project Website}.\\
   \url{https://latex-project.org/documentation/}
 
-%\bibitem{31:site-pub}
-%  \emph{\LaTeX{} Project publications on the \LaTeX{} Project Website}.\\
-%  \url{https://latex-project.org/publications/}
-
 \end{thebibliography}
 
 \end{document}