[tex-live] texdoc can't find texmf.cnf

[Jonathan Kew]

On 23 Jun 2008, at 2:04 pm, David Kastrup wrote:

>> Source specials will soon be available in pdf too.
>
> Only reverse search, not forward search.

SyncTeX provides both.

>   And "soon available" has been
> the statement of every Omega2 talk in the last 15 years or so.

I don't see the relevance of Omega2 schedules or (non-)delivery.  
SyncTeX support, which provides source-special-like functionality  
independent of the output format, will be in both pdftex and xetex  
engines for TeX Live 2008 (and derivatives), as are the components  
needed by viewers or editing environments that want to support it.

> But the hard point is not made easier by ignoring nice, fast,  
> usable and
> well TeX-integrated dvi viewers.

Is there such a viewer available on, and well integrated into, all  
the major TL target platforms? xdvi, for example, may be well TeX- 
integrated, but it's not well Mac-integrated or well Windows-integrated.


Personally, it makes little difference to me which format is used.  
But I think it's clear that PDF is the de facto standard for fully- 
formatted documentation, and I think TeX is best served by  
integrating with the wider computing world as much as possible rather  
than (by default) living in its own parallel universe.

Expert users are of course free to use other formats and other tools  
that may serve them better, but let's not impose our specialist  
approaches on B.~L.~User in cases where he has already-familiar tools  
that can serve the purpose.

JK