[tex-hyphen] Naming of Serbo-Croatian patterns

[Dejan Muhamedagic]

Hi,

On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 11:32:33PM +0200, Mojca Miklavec wrote:
> On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 10:38 PM, Nikola Lečić wrote:
> > On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 02:00:47PM +0200
> >>  Mojca Miklavec wrote:
> >
> >> I'm almost sure that users of babel expect
> >> \usepackage[serbian]{babel}
> >> to work, not \usepackage[serbocroatian]{babel}.
> >
> > Indeed. Unfortunately, as we all know, the question of Serbo-Croatian
> > language is not only philological and technical, but also a political
> > one, and thus cannot be resolved on this mailing list. Therefore I'd
> > suggest to follow the simple logic. As the author, Dejan has the right
> > to name and describe his package as he pleases. Mojca, as the
> > distribution author, has the right to make the usage of that package
> > as easy and straightforward as possible. Accessing Dejan's work e.g.
> > through '\usepackage[serbian]{babel}' in TeX Live doesn't break any
> > licensing rules.

I'm not opposed to the usepackage[serbian]. Or
usepackage[whatever]. It's just the patterns and the exceptions
list which were prepared for the Serbo-Croatian language. However
are the various language variants called today and if the
hyphenation patterns fit, of course they can be used with any of
them. Now, I don't know how that maps to name variations, but I
guess that it's not different from the say UK/US hyphenation
pattern sets (there are two of those, right?).

> > So, in the case of the aforementioned web-page, the solution is to use
> > two columns (one with the original package descriptions). In babel- or
> > TL-specific cases the distribution makers has the right to organize
> > their meta-work as they please.
> 
> Yes, I'm certainly aware of the fact that political question is way
> more important to people than the linguistic one in this case and I
> would certainly like to avoid endless and pointless political
> discussions. I would like to package files in such a way that the
> majority of users will be happy.

So, how do you figure out what makes the majority happy? :)

> I fully agree with calling the patterns Serbo-Croatian on the low
> level (and maybe also to present them as such). And we certainly need
> to keep using Serbian inside language.dat for Babel. But I'm looking
> for technical suggestions about the best way to handle the
> intermediate files and names. Include the best way to merge patterns
> together from two scripts into a single file. And the best way to
> package them for projects outside of the TeX world.

I'm afraid that I cannot really help much here. I've been away
from the TeX packaging details for ages now.

> (And I'm seriously curious how people in the neighbouring countries
> use TeX when writing in their native language.)

I'm curious too. For instance, I think that there are also some
Croatian hyphenation patterns. I wonder how do they fare and if
people are using them or the ones produced by me.

And yes, I have to agree with both of you that, unfortunately, the
political and emotional connotations are still as powerful as
ever.

Cheers,

Dejan

> Mojca