[tex-live] TeXlive for Debian/Sarge and upward - version 2005.08.24-1 online

[Karl Berry]

    "texinfo.tex" file of it's own and it's version is 1999-09-25.10. So

If the current octave documentation fails with the *current* texinfo.tex
(ftp://tug.org/tex/texinfo.tex), please report it to
bug-texinfo at gnu.org, with the actual error messages and a pointer to
where I can get the sources, etc.

Meanwhile, you might mention to the octave maintainers that their
texinfo.tex is woefully out of date.  If there is some reason why they
are choosing not to update, then I'd like to discuss it with them.  The
primary goal of texinfo.tex is to be useful for GNU packages like
Octave, after all.

I don't think this is related to the etex vs. tex vs. pdfetex question,
unless you specifically tested it, and the same .texi+texinfo.tex works
with tex and fails with etex.  It didn't sound like you did that.

    I just suppose etex is some sort of extended or enhanced tex. How is
    it related to pdftex? Some pointers to the literature will be much
    appreciated.

Surprisingly, I could not quickly find a concise explanation of this to
point you to.  I should write one, unless someone else can give a pointer.

tex is (in TeX Live anyway) still the original program as written by Knuth.

etex adds some primitives, mostly related to TeX programming, rather
than typesetting.  The manual is in a file named etex_man.pdf.
http://www.tug.org/ftp/texlive/Contents/live/texmf-dist/doc/etex/base/etex.html

pdftex adds primitives for the possibility of native pdf output from
tex.  More recently, primitives for other sorts of features, including
advanced typographical features (called "microtypography" or "hz") have
been added.  The manual is in a file named pdftex-a.pdf; see also
pdftex.org.

pdfetex combines etex and pdftex; in practice, this is what is used for
everything except (plain) tex, and it is maintained by the pdftex group.

Hope this helps.

    I'm still trying to learn the immense intricacies of texmf. :-)

We appreciate your interest and willingness to explore :).

In case it's of any use, http://tug.org/begin.html is my attempt at a
relatively brief collection of links for getting started with TeX.
(Comments welcome.)

Best,
Karl