[tex-k] .web and .ch file question

[Hartmut Henkel]

Hi TeX fans,

just wondering why in TeX source distros always .web and intermediate
.ch files are mangled, while no all-containing .web file ever is
generated. E. g. if one wants to look into the _complete_ web-file, one
has to invent another name, e. g. _pdftex.web, and then type:

tie -m _pdftex.web pdftex.web pdftex.ch

Always carry the .ch along, also for weaving, tedious. Instead, a
full-contained pdftex.web (or another program) can obviously be created
by e. g.

        ./tie -m pdftex.web \
        tex.web \
        $(srcdir)/pdftexdir/pdftex.ch \
        $(srcdir)/pdftexdir/hz.ch  \
        $(srcdir)/pdftexdir/misc.ch \
        $(srcdir)/pdftexdir/tex.ch0 \
        $(srcdir)/tex.ch \
        $(srcdir)/pdftexdir/tex.ch1 \
        $(srcdir)/pdftexdir/tex.pch \
        $(srcdir)/pdftexdir/tex.ch2

which is bit-identical to the above _pdftex.web, no intermediate .ch
file needed. Is there a secret behind those intermediate .ch files?

Best Regards

Hartmut