[tex-live] Re: debian packages ready

[Frank Küster]

David Kastrup <dak at gnu.org> wrote:

> Norbert Preining <preining at logic.at> writes:
>
>> I have taken out preview-latex of the texlive-latexextra package (not of
>> course out of TeX live proper).
>>
>> Fortunately the debian package preview-latex-style does NOT depend on
>> tetex specifically, so you can install it also into texlive.
>>
>> The texlive-latexextra suggests preview-latex-style
>
> It can't just suggest it if ps4pdf depends on it.

Oh, I think it can, or we can use recommends: 

,---- Recommends:
| The Recommends field should list packages that would be found together
| with this one in all but unusual installations.
`----
,---- Suggests:
|     This is used to declare that one package may be more useful with
|     one or more others. Using this field tells the packaging system
|     and the user that the listed packages are related to this one and
|     can perhaps enhance its usefulness, but that installing this one
|     without them is perfectly reasonable.
`----

If one LaTeX style from a couple in texlive-latexextra needs an
additional file, this doesn't mean that it has to declare a "Depends".
A depends is rather for "you cannot make any sensible use of this
package, or it even fails to install, unless...", and this is clearly
not the case here.  I'd say Recommends is in order.

>  _IF_ Debian will
> follow the suggested package layout in AUCTeX's INSTALL file (and the
> only way to find out is to ask the Debian maintainers), then you
> should alternatively depend on preview-tetex, which is a saner name.

Why should it be renamed to preview-tetex?  It has nothing to do with
teTeX (at least nothing with the Debian teTeX packages, and not more
with teTeX than with TeXlive), and it can be used with texlive-* or with
tetex-* packages.

> However, preview-tetex would be installed in the teTeX tree, so I
> don't quite see how it can substitute for TeXlive.  Or is TeXlive
> supposed to not be installed in parallel with teTeX?

No, on a Debian system you can only have one (at least with Debian
packages - of course you can install a copy of the other in
/usr/local). 

> Anyway, please don't use "preview-latex" in your package names unless
> you are talking about the Emacs package: the Emacs system is called
> "preview-latex", but the style files are just "preview".  Yes, Debian
> got this wrong, too, at the moment.

"preview" as a package name is maybe a little too generic, and will lead
people to think it is something to preview file contents (isn't this the
name of the Mac application for this?).  Within texlive, it would be
okay to call it preview only (although this isn't needed AFAIS), but as
a separate Debian package, adding something about TeX is really needed,
I'd say.  preview-latex-styles is not so bad after all, (la)tex-preview
could be an alternative.

Regards, Frank
-- 
Frank Küster
Inst. f. Biochemie der Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer