[tex-live] CTAN packages and generated files

[Joseph Wright]

On 02/09/2018 15:46, Manfred Lotz wrote:
> Hi folks,
> For packages uploaded to CTAN we have a policy that in a package we
> don't like to have files which are generated by .ins or .dtx because we
> want to avoid redundancy.
> 
> So we check for either   \generate{  \file{...}  ... } or
> generateFile{..} to find those files we then would complain about.
> Hope this is technically correct.
> 
> A notable exception is the case where the mandatory README file (which
> actaually may be one of README, README.txt or README.md) is generated
> by a .dtx or .ins.
> 
> 
> Now, my question:
> 
> It also could happen that an x.dtx contains a generate statement which
> mentions x.ins. Perhaps, also the other way around. Dunno.
> 
> 
> So, my thinking was if in x.dtx I find something like
> 
> \generate
>    {
>      ...
>      \file{x.ins}
>      ...
>    }
> 
> I just ignore that because x.dtx and x.ins are always required to exist
> as a pair. Otherwise LaTeX would complain when processing x.ins/x.dtx.
> Actually, this is the way checking takes place currently.
> 
> 
> Is this correct?

No. It's possible to make a 'self-contained' .dtx file which has the 
.ins instruction in the .dtx and generates everything in a single "tex 
foo.dtx" run.

Joseph