[tex-live] TexLive version of CWEB can't handle strings >1024 characters

[Norbert Preining]

Hi Arthur,

ok ... sorry I assumed that it is different in TeX Live 2012 ...

On Mon, 03 Sep 2012, Arthur O'Dwyer wrote:
> ajo at ubuntu:/tmp$ cd texlive-2012/texk/web2c/cwebdir
> ajo at ubuntu:/tmp/texlive-2012/texk/web2c/cwebdir$ grep longest_name
> cweave.w | head -1
> @d longest_name 1000 /* section names and strings shouldn't be longer
> than this */

Indeed. So it seems that this should be changed.

Karl, Peter???

> Would it be possible for the next patch-release of TexLive to build
> CWEAVE with the "longest_name" macro set to at least 3000?

What do you mean with "patch-release" - please do NOT mix 
Debian and upstream TeX Live. I am speaking here in a double position:
I am both one of the maintainers of the real TeX Live as distributed
by TUG, as well as the maintainer of TeX Live in Debian. And Ubuntu
takes what is in Debian.

> > The next version of TeX Live for Debian is already in Debian sid and
> > testing and will be included in the soon to be released Debian stable.
> > In Ubuntu it is included in the current dev branch and will be in the 12.10
> > release.
> 
> I'm not sure how your statement is relevant. I understand that it
> could take a long time for any new changes in TeX Live to propagate
> down into Ubuntu's package system --- and in particular that I

Right.

> shouldn't expect upgrading my Ubuntu system to 12.10 to magically fix
> the problem --- but that doesn't mean that

Again, please do not mix up things. Here some facts:

- TeX Live 2009 in Ubuntu will very probably not fix that. *I* on the
Debian side will not fix it, no interest since the new Debian/stable will
be released soon, and this is not a security fix.

- TeX Live 2012 in Ubuntu *MIGHT* fix it *IF* I fix it in Debian, and 
the fix is accepted into testing. This is not automatic anymore, since
Debian is in pre-release freeze.

- TeX Live 2012 (upstream, TUG) will not fix it, since we cannot recompile all
binaries for all architecture.

- TeX Live 2013 (upstream, TUG) will very probably adjust this parameter

- TeX Live 2013 Debian will include it, of course.

> I think I've pointed out a real deficiency in the CWEAVE currently
> distributed with TeX Live (a deficiency which does not exist in
> Levy/Knuth's original), and in this followup email I've even gone so
> far as to pinpoint the exact line in the current TeXLive sources
> hosted on tug.org. Tell me where to send the patch, and I'll patch it
> for you too. :)

No need to send a patch. We see the problem, thanks for pointing it out.

But you don't understand the procedure to go through to get fixes
into releases of Ubuntu and Debian, as well as update to TeX Live proper,
so please trust us.

> If this deficiency gets fixed in TeX Live 2013, I'll definitely
> consider upgrading to TeX Live 2013. It is *not* fixed in TeX Live
> 2012, so there's no point in my upgrading yet.

RIght, by now it is not fixed in TL 2012, nor TUG nor Debian nor Ubuntu.

Best wishes

Norbert

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Norbert Preining                preining@{jaist.ac.jp, logic.at, debian.org}
JAIST, Japan                                   TeX Live and Debian Developer
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