[texworks] ConTeXt version & calling convention

[Stefan Müller]

Hi,

I'll post this on the ConTeXt mailing list. I can only partially answer 
your questions.

On 05.03.2011 14:27, Stefan Löffler wrote:
> Hi,
>
> recently, it has been brought to my attention (off-list) why we still
> have ConTeXt MKII in our standard list of tools in Tw.
> Since I have practically no experience with ConTeXt, I hope someone of
> you can help me here:
>
>   * According to [1], the current version is MKIV, and it's classified as
> "It's a development version and new features are being added constantly,
> but it's fully usable."
>   - So, what I'd like to know is: is MKIV the common choice nowadays,
> with MKII being largely abandoned? And if so, is MKIV supported by all
> major, modern TeX distros? And if so, does it work out of the box (i.e.,
> I install the ConTeXt package and it works)?

I think a lot of users still choose MkII because it isn't really changed 
anymore. With MkIV it can happen that a document runs on one version and 
doesn't on another. This doesn't happen very often but only sometimes. 
E.g. because a parameter key in some setup macro changed or something.

It's kinda out of the box: You get the "minimals" archive from the 
website, unpack them somewhere and run a "first-setup" script. Then you 
have a running ConTeXt MKIV. At this point you have to call "setuptex" 
from inside which sets paths and stuff. For usage with TeXworks it's 
easiest to add the path to the bins in TW settings.

>   * The current command line used in Tw for ConTeXt is `texmfstart
> texexec<file>`.
> [2] lists `texexec<file>` under the "Your 1st [...] ConTeXt document"
> tutorial, but `context<file>` under "Running Mark IV". I suspect the
> former is MKII? Then why doesn't it make use of `texmfstart`? But more
> importantly, how does a portable way for MKIV look like? `context
> <file>`? `texmfstart context<file>`?

texexec is MkII. I think it's a script that calls texmfstart, but I'm 
not sure.

To use ConTeXt MkIV I have in TW settings for typesetting: "context" as 
command, and in arguments there is "--synctex" and "$fullname". That'll 
probably help you(?)

>   * The current command line used in Tw for XeConTeXt is `texmfstart
> --xtx texexec<file>`.
> Is there a MKIV version of XeConTeXt as well? If so, is it
> stable/usable/the common choice? And if so, how to call it?
>
> Note that all of the above questions are intended for the average user,
> not for experts. So basically someone who decides to use ConTeXt and Tw
> now (or in the last few years), and has a fairly up-to-date TeX distro.
>
> Regards,
> Stefan
>
>
>
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConTeXt
> [2] http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Main_Page
>