[OS X TeX] End of i-Installer/i-Packages support per 1/1/2007

[Bruno Voisin]

Le 11 nov. 06 à 16:15, Gerben Wierda a écrit :

> As I have announced at TUG2006 in Marrakech this week, my support  
> for i-Installer and the i-Packages will end on January 1st, 2007.

I must admit that I do not share Dick Koch's optimism (later in this  
thread). It seems to me this announcement means the end of free TeX  
on the Mac as we know it.

i-Installer and the i-Packages not only provided, thanks to teTeX, a  
careful and consistent selection of TeX components, but they also  
provided, thanks to Gerben, a GUI to the installation and  
configuration of TeX. If in the future, because of the end of i- 
Installer and the i-Packages, this means that for selecting the  
formats to build, the hyphenation files to include, the map files to  
activate, etc., one has to edit config files manually, then I know  
that I, for one, will look for another implementation of TeX.

> There are several reasons why I have to end support. The most  
> important reasons are:
> - The end of teTeX and the volatility of TeX Live.  Keeping up with  
> changes in TeX Live is beyond me and the support load that will  
> come from it is *way* beyond me

I can but agree with this feeling about TeXLive. Like Dick Koch, I  
have never looked at TeXLive actually. But having tested the TeXLive- 
based TeX i-Package, it seems to me that TeXLive is so big and so  
changing that one can but get lost in it, and spend most of one's  
time learning to use and configure TeX instead of actually using it.  
Which brings us to...

>  - My day job will take more energy and time (remember: my i- 
> Package/i-Installer activities have been done in my spare time).
> - I want to be a TeX *user* for a change.

Yes, that's exactly how I feel too. I probably (fingers crossed) will  
tread the same path as you.

I must also admit that dealing with Rowland McDonnell's questions a  
few weeks ago has taken a significant toll of my enthusiasm towards  
TeX. I think that, thanks to the combined efforts of several people  
off-list and on-list, Rowland has obtained more-or-less satisfactory  
answers to his questions. But providing these answers has proved in  
my case both exhausting and frustrating, and has left me with a  
bitterness and weariness towards all things TeX, which has since  
never fully worn off.

> - 6 years have been wonderful but also enough.
>
> I will try to leave the setup in such a state that someone else can  
> take it up. I will also be available for advise *if* someone else  
> takes it up but only to a certain level (e.g. I am not going to  
> help people learn perl or Objective-C or Cocoa or etc.)
>
> It is not all over yet but I'd like to thank you all for your  
> support and for being such nice, friendly and constructive users.

And you for being such a competent, nice, patient and reliable  
developer. Though we have never met personally, only through this and  
other related email lists, not meeting you here any longer will feel  
like the loss of a friend.

Bruno------------------------- Info --------------------------
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