[tex-live] Bug#564089: \FDP at colonspace is no longer defined in frenchb v2.3d (v2.4a is OK)

[Daniel Flipo]

Vincent Lefevre a écrit le 09/01/2010 01:52 :

> So, \renewcommand{\Fcolonspace}{\thinspace} is not correct either
> since it is not documented. Only ThinColonSpace=true is documented
> for the current version. But this also means that Debian/stable is
> obsolete.

Wrong statement!

Debian/stable holds v.1.6g of frenchb, in frenchb.dtx (V.1.6g), 
\renewcommand{\Fcolonspace}{\thinspace} is fully documented:

%    \textbf{Changes in version 1.5}:
...
%      \item From version 1.5f on, it is possible to customize
%         the space inserted before a colon in French; its default
%         value is |\space| (as in previous versions of |frenchb|),
%         but it can now be changed to |\thinspace| by redefining
%         |\Fcolonspace|.

and also in the same file:

%  \subsection*{Customizing frenchb: an example of configuration file}
...
%% frenchb inserts a normal space before a colon in French (following
%% I.N. specifications), but some people prefer a thinspace instead;
%% uncomment the following line if you prefer a thinspace.
%%
%%\renewcommand{\Fcolonspace}{\thinspace}

Debian/sid holds v.2.3d of frenchb, the command \frenchbsetup{} is now 
the recommended way to gather all customizations, it is fully documented
(see \subsection{Customisation} in frenchb.dtx) *and* (most of) the 
former ways of doing customisation still work (ie 
\renewcommand{\Fcolonspace}{\thinspace}), what are you complaining about?

The advice you got here in 1998 (!) was correct at that time (no way of 
customizing the colonspace was supported, internal macros had to be 
tweaked), later (in v.1.5) I added support to do this properly and even 
later (v2.x) I added \frenchbsetup{} to make life easier for end-users 
with backward compatibility in mind, please read sections 4.6 
"Incompatibilités assumées" and 4.7 "Comment recompiler à l'identique un 
document écrit pour frenchb 1.6" in the French documentation here:
http://daniel.flipo.free.fr/frenchb/

Anyway, people taking care of TeXLive and Debian distibutions are *not 
responsible* for packages changes, next time, instead of filing a bug 
report to Debian or TeXLive, please read the documentation first, then 
contact the package maintainer if you are still in trouble.

-- 
Daniel Flipo