Missing files in TL25

[Max Chernoff]

Hi Mikael,

On Thu, 2025-02-27 at 16:07 +0100, Mikael Sundqvist wrote:
> I happened (on linux) to get
>
> ./texmf-dist/doc/latex/bibarts/bibsort.exe
>
> when doing a full install. That looks a bit weird, and it also looks
> out of place if it should be installed at all.

Agreed, that doesn't seem like the right location at all.

> > 1. Most of the downstream Linux distros have the same policy, so this
> >    makes it much easier for them to package TL.
>
> I thought TUG decided what goes into TL.

Yes, TUG (well, Karl mainly) decides what goes into and then distributes
TL, but most of the Linux distros repackage TL into their own
repositories. So using the install script from CTAN

    https://mirror.ctan.org/systems/texlive/tlnet/install-tl-unx.tar.gz

is the official/main way to install TL, but running

    apt install texlive
    dnf install texlive
    pacman -S texlive

or similar should also work (although it will usually give you an
ancient version).

Now, however the distros decide to package TL is completely their own
responsibility, but it's better for everyone if we make it easier on
them. This is a fairly weak justification for this specific policy, but
it's still something to keep in mind.

> consistency would be a good thing. We need to be able to explain
> the logic to users.

The official policies are

    https://tug.org/texlive/pkgcontrib.html

    https://tug.org/texlive/copying.html

but as you've noticed, this is applied quite inconsistently. If a
specific file is pointed out, then the rules will be applied pretty
consistently, but many of these files were first added back before TL
had a consistent policy, and others were just missed since Karl does 99%
of the updates/unloads and it's not possible for one person to review
every single file.

I'll also add that Norbert maintains a separate TL repo "tlcontrib" that
*is* willing to host such files. The LaTeX support files for Lucida are
already there, so he'd almost certainly accept these files in a
"context-nonfree-fonts" package. Of course, this is more work for you
and the end users, but it's still a fairly simple solution.

Thanks,
-- Max