[tex-live] Announcing TLContrib

[Taco Hoekwater]

Hello everybody,

Please allow me to introduce a new project: TLContrib.

TLContrib is a website + repository that hosts contributed packages
for TeX Live 2010. The packages on TLContrib are packages that are
not distributed inside TeX Live proper for one or another of following
reasons:

  * because it is not free software according to the Debian guidelines;
  * because it is a binary update;
  * because it is not available on CTAN;
  * because it is an intermediate release for testing.

In short, anything TeX-related that can not be on TeX Live but can
still legally be distributed over the Internet can have its place
on TLContrib.

The ultimate goal is to provide a companion to the core TeX Live
tlnet distribution in much the same way as Debian's non-free tree
is a companion to their normal, 100% free software distribution. The
goal is not to replace TeX Live: package and updates that can be part
of TeX Live itself should stay (or be added) there. TLContrib is simply
trying to fill in a gap in the current distribution system.


Quick start: to use TLContrib as a TeX Live repository, point the TeX
Live package manager to http://tlcontrib.metatex.org/2010/

For more detailed information, visit the website:

   http://tlcontrib.metatex.org/

The current version of the website is preliminary, and much can still
be improved. Even so, both the website and the repository are fully
functional and can be used for both the publication of packages and
as a repository source for the TeX Live package manager.

Currently included in the repository are:

   * context 2010.07.30
   * the context cow fonts
   * luatex 0.63.0 (but not yet for all architectures)
   * metapost 1.502 (also not for all architectures)

Currently, there are binary updates for  i386-linux, universal-darwin
win32, x86_64-darwin, and x86_64-linux. Mojca Miklavec and myself are
working hard on providing the missing architectures soon.


This announcement is also a call for more contributors: if you are the
maintainer of a package that you would like to see distributed but that
for one reason or another can not or should not be in the core TeX Live
distribution, please consider adding it to TLContrib. The website
explains the process, and it is of course possible to ask questions on
the mailing list:

   tlcontrib at ntg.nl

Incidentally, the mailing list's web page is:

   http://www.ntg.nl/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tlcontrib

I hope you will like this new addition to the TeX community, and I also
want to take the opportunity to thank the TeX Live and ConTeXt minimals
teams for their encouragement and ongoing help in bringing this project
to life.

Best wishes,
Taco