[tex-eplain] German.sty does not work in (e)plain.tex

[Michael Weller]

Thank you very much, Karl.

As I said, I'm not so deep into the details of TeX.

I think we are getting closer.

Having:
  \catcode`@=11\def\l at german{\lang at german}\catcode`@=12
  \input german.sty

Yields:
  (./x.tex (/usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/german/german.sty v2.5e 1998-07-08
  ! Undefined control sequence.
  \l at german ->\lang at german

  <argument> \chardef \l at austrian =\l at german
                                           \wlog {german -- \string
\languag...

  \grmn at dqfirst #1#2->#1

  l.602 }{}

If I use
  \catcode`@=11\def\l at German{\lang at German}\catcode`@=12

it has no effect at all:
  (./x.tex (/usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/german/german.sty v2.5e 1998-07-08
  german -- \language number for German undefined, default 255 used,
  german -- Please read "gerdoc.tex" how to install hyphenation patterns.)
  [1] )
  Output written on x.dvi (1 page, 1856 bytes)

[Ok it says \@ifundefined{l at german} in german.sty, so..]

I also tried adding it to language.def (lazy as I am):
  % == plain XeTeX
  \addlanguage {German}{xu-dehypht.tex}{}{2}{3}
  \addlanguage {ngerman}{xu-dehyphn.tex}{}{2}{3}
  \catcode`@=11\def\l at german{\lang at german}\catcode`@=12

But this bombs out as:

/usr/share/texmf # fmtutil-sys --byfmt etex
fmtutil: running `pdftex -ini   -jobname=etex -progname=etex
-translate-file=cp227.tcx *etex.ini' ...
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592-1.40.3 (Web2C 7.5.6) (INITEX)
 (/usr/lib/texmf/web2c/cp227.tcx)
entering extended mode
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/plain/config/etex.ini
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/plain/etex/etex.src
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/plain/base/plain.tex Preloading the plain format:
codes,
registers, parameters, fonts, more fonts, macros, math definitions,
output routines, hyphenation (/usr/lib/texmf/tex/generic/hyphen/hyphen.tex
[skipping from \patterns to end-of-file...]))
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/plain/etex/etexdefs.lib Skipping module "grouptypes";
Loading module "interactionmodes"; Skipping module "nodetypes";
Skipping module "iftypes";) (/etc/texmf/tex/plain/config/language.def
(/usr/lib/texmf/tex/generic/hyphen/hyphen.tex)
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/xu-hyphen/xu-dehypht.tex
(/usr/lib/texmf/tex/generic/hyphen/dehypht.tex
German Traditional Hyphenation Patterns `dehypht' Version 3.2a <1999/03/03>
(Formerly known under the name `ghyph31' and `ghyphen'.)))
(/usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/xu-hyphen/xu-dehyphn.tex
(/usr/lib/texmf/tex/generic/hyphen/dehyphn.tex
New German Hyphenation Patterns `dehyphn' Rev.31 <2001-05-07> (WaS))))
Augmenting the Plain TeX definitions: \tracingall;
Adding new e-TeX definitions: \eTeX, \loggingall, \tracingnone,
register allocation;
! Missing number, treated as zero.
<to be read again>
                   @
l.418 \et@
          xins=\insc at unt % \et at xins=255 % allocates insertions 254, 253, ...
?
! Emergency stop.
<to be read again>
                   @
l.418 \et@
          xins=\insc at unt % \et at xins=255 % allocates insertions 254, 253, ...
No pages of output.
Transcript written on etex.log.
Error: `pdftex -ini  -jobname=etex -progname=etex -translate-file=cp227.tcx
*etex.ini' failed

############################################################################
###
fmtutil: Error! Not all formats have been built successfully.
Visit the log files in directory
  /var/lib/texmf/web2c
for details.
############################################################################
###

This is a summary of all `failed' messages and warnings:
`pdftex -ini  -jobname=etex -progname=etex -translate-file=cp227.tcx
*etex.ini' failed

I'm sure we are getting close, but that does not exactly solve it. Certainly
the lack of a definition for l at german (or ngerman) is what breaks german.sty


Michael.


> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: Karl Berry [mailto:karl at freefriends.org]
> Gesendet: Montag, 8. Februar 2010 00:43
> An: michael.weller at t-online.de
> Cc: tex-eplain at tug.org
> Betreff: Re: [tex-eplain] German.sty does not work in (e)plain.tex
> 
> Hi Michael,
> 
>     However, I cannot get plain tex to use german.sty.
> 
> This works for me:
> 
> \catcode`@=11 \def\l at german{\lang at german}\catcode`@=12
> \input german.sty
> 
> Explanation: \addlanguage (which is in the file named "etex.src")
> defines \lang at german (or \lang at whatever).  This is for use with Babel.
> Apparently german.sty uses \l at whatever instead of \lang at whatever.  Sigh.
> 
>     \addlanguage {German}{xu-dehypht.tex}{}{2}{3}
>     \addlanguage {ngerman}{xu-dehyphn.tex}{}{2}{3}
>     to /etc/texmf/tex/plain/config/language.def
> 
> That was the hard part, so congratulations.  Since you've already done
> that, I hope that the above will get you going.  If you don't feel like
> modifying your documents you could add the \def's to language.def and
> remake etex.fmt again.
> 
> Hope this helps,
> Karl