[tex-live] Fwd: xindy bugs + fixes (xindy.sty, perl scripts)

[Joachim Schrod]

Norbert Preining wrote:
> I would suggest that you send a diff against current TL (if possible, ie
> if you have a checkout of our svn repo), otherwise simply of all the
> files you have changed, and I will merge them into our distribution.
> I guess we can simply add
> 	texmf/tex/latex/xindy/xindy.sty

Probably not -- xindy.sty is not free software, see below. This is
the explanation that I just sent to the xindy mailing list:


Concerning xindy.sty: It is by intent that it is not part of the
distribution.

On the one hand, it is an interesting contribution that I don't
want to throw away. On the other hand, it introduces a new
non-standard markup specifically for xindy where I don't
understand why it is necessary to do so. In particular,
\indexindy instead of \index and the non-standard way to specify
index layers and print keys irks me, all LaTeX books introduce
\index as *the* markup for indexing and I can't see why it is not
possible to realize a markup scheme that's compatible to LaTeX's
standard notion and extends that. There is also the compatibility
question with DMJ's index.sty and MK's splitindex to consider,
but these are of lower priority.

Distribution this xindy.sty would mean to cement that -- IMHO
very unfortunate -- markup realization as `the' standard LaTeX
markup scheme of xindy, since the package is named xindy.sty. (If
it would be named indexindy.sty or such for it's realization of
the \indexindy tag, I would be less reluctant.)

Last, but not least, xindy.sty is not free software and can thus
not be part of the xindy distribution. Its licence is:

% You are allowed to distribute this file under the condition
% that it is distributed UNCHANGED. You are NOT ALLOWED to take
% money for the distribution or use of either this file or a
% changed version, except for a nominal charge for copying etc.

As such, it will not be acceptable to TL anyhow, as far as I
understand TL's license policy.

If I read this license statement correctly, I'm not even allowed
to distribute Zdenek's patched version, only the patch to it. That
said, I don't want to discard Zdenek's work. I will therefore fetch
any patches from him and place them in CVS, where xindy.dtx is
currently, so that it doesn't get forgotten, at least.

Best,
	Joachim

PS: The other patches from Zdenek have been incorporated upstream.

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Joachim Schrod			Email: jschrod at acm.org
xindy maintainer		http://www.xindy.org/
Roedermark, Germany