[luatex] Negative value(s) of \endlinechar

[Taco Hoekwater]

On 21 May 2014, at 10:37, David Carlisle <d.p.carlisle at gmail.com> wrote:

> 
> Taco wrote
> 
> >>
>  * David Carlisle detects that \endlinechar has only one
> 
> >>
>   negative value `-1’
> 
> 
> > True, but that is just an implementation detail.
> 
> 
> Well yes/no it's not _just_ an implementation detail: I was trying to fix a bug in the current re-defintion of \typein in lualatex which had been redefined  to avoid the 127 restriction (the redefinition in current lualatex makes it unsafe to use a # in the.value supplied on the terminal)

One depressing problem with TeX is that every weird bit of tex.web gets documented
and used and counted on :( 

Ok, so I’ll have to change luatex’s \endlinechar to accept invalid negative values just to
be compatible with the other engines. Not a big deal, really.

> While testing typein I noticed another difference between pdftex and luatex that I don't know is intended or not:
> 
> \read15 to \zzzz
> \bye
> 
> in  tex/pdftex/xetex produces
> 
> \zzzz=
> 
> but in luatex produces
> 
> \zzzz =
> 
> with a space after the command name.
> 
> This probably only makes a difference to people running diff over logs as part of a regression test suite:-)  But since it does make a difference
> could you confirm whether it's intended to be like that (and we should accommodate it while normalising any test logs) or if it is likely to change.

That change will stay. The general ‘tex’ rule is that multi-letter csnames are followed
by a space when printed. The fact that \read is actually an exception to that rule is just
a bit too bizarre to allow for.

Best wishes,
Taco