compliation failure of minimal latex documents

[Joseph Wright]

On 04/02/2020 20:02, Norbert Preining wrote:
>> However expl3 is loaded in the kernel *only if* expl3.ltx exists, which
>> means you have l3kernel installed, which belongs to
>> collection-latexrecommended, same as l3backend, so you should also
>> have l3backend, unless your installation is incomplete, for some reason.
> 
> But then it should **also** work with a not loaded expl3, please.
> 
> So bottom line
> - if expl3 is **required** for latex, then it should be in
>    collection-latex

That's going to be the case for new features, but at present there are 
no changes that require that

> - if it is included only if available, then latx **must not break**
>    if it is not

It doesn't break at present; no expl3, no attempt to load expl3.

> Please look into this, thanks

Who exactly is that addressed to? The LaTeX team do not control 
packaging in TL. I'd imagine that l3kernel should have l3backend as a 
dependency, but I've no idea if that helps with collections.

Joseph