[tex-k] italic.mf mentioned in The METAFONTbook

[胡亚捷 (Hu Yajie)]

The opening of page 305 of The METAFONTbook states that

    Computer Modern has `roman.mf' and `italic.mf' ...

When I noticed this six months ago, I thought it was a white lie
because it would be distracting to explain the difference between
text italic (textit.mf) and math italic (mathit.mf) there, so I
didn't report it, thinking that Volume E would give the whole story.
But recently I noticed that the bottom of page 46 of Volume E
referred the reader back to Volume C:

    First read the explanation of Computer Modern that appears
    in Appendix E of The METAFONTbook.

So this could really confuse the reader. Is the "italic.mf" really
a white lie, or is it a bug I should have reported?

P.S.: Earlier versions of Computer Modern did have an italic.mf
in the SAIL language: https://www.saildart.org/ITALIC.SAI[FNT,DEK]
in METAFONT79:        https://www.saildart.org/ITALIC.MF[FNT,DEK]
and planned for MF84: https://www.saildart.org/ITALIC.MF[CM,DEK]
but the MF84 version is never implemented.