[tex-k] kpathsea Question

[Karl Berry]

Hi Marc,

    but I do believe the documentation should be the ultimate reference.

In my view, the code is the ultimate reference here.

    have some ``global'' ls-R database near the root and override it in
    some offspring directory.

I grant you the hypothetical idea, but I still fail to see any practical
reason to ever do any such "overriding".

    I need an authoritative answer, 

I understand.  Unfortunately, I can't give you one without doing all the
research, which I can't take the time for any time soon, if ever.  I
guess the only authoritative answer I can give you is that "it's defined
to be undefined".  Sorry.

Byeond that, what I can tell you is that however the code behaves now
should just be considered the intent.  I never documented these unusual
cases because they never seemed relevant in the real world (and still
don't, to be honest).

If you did the experiments, I'm happy to consider them the answer :).

    a proper job out of the package installation because it's a common question

Yes, it certainly is.  And we've explained it as well as we can in our
documentation, I think.  Alternative explanations are certainly
welcome.  But if you start trying to describe multiple ls-R's along the
same tree, I rather think the result would be confusion, not clarity :).

    I intend to make the chapters available soon. I can send you the
    current versions if you're interested. If you have some comments
    about the kpatsea/ls-R

Sure, I'm happy to look, just can't promise any given level of feedback.
I'll certainly have nothing to say about Windows.  You might be best off
posting the drafts here so others can see too.

Best,
Karl