[tex-live] TeXLive2007: Bug in (Xe)TeX for 64bit and big endianess

[Norbert Preining]

Hi all!

Many has been said in this thread, but we still see no conclusion in any
way...

OTOH we have pdftex team and depending projects like luatex etc which
want to use xpdf code

OTOH we have the distributors which have security concerns,
certification issues, and don't want to check the source code of 20
packages using xpdf code.

I both points are valid, but I don't see any solution ATM but that we
get an approved libxpdf. As long as this will not happen distributors
will patch the sources to use libpoppler, and upstream will use xpdf
code in the source.

This is the reality, pdftex and friends might choose xpdf, but at the
end it will be patched away. And since there is *hardly* any hand made
*nix system in the wild (most people use distributions), most people but
those installing TeX (Live) from the DVD/CD will have a TeX system with
the binaries linked against libpoppler.

What I want to say is that pdftex and friends, and Derek from xpdf,
should consider this in their further development. It is nothing you can
avoid (with decent means).

Well, lets hope for a libxpdf ;-)

Best wishes

Norbert

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Dr. Norbert Preining <preining at logic.at>                    Università di Siena
Debian Developer <preining at debian.org>                         Debian TeX Group
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