[XeTeX] Porting XeTeX

[Martin Schröder]

2008/3/14, Joel C. Salomon <joelcsalomon at gmail.com>:
>  I'm asking mainly because of Plan 9, a UNIX-like OS with a C compiler
>  (but no C++) to which the freetype library has been ported.  There's
>  an old port of TeX that doesn't work too well anymore, so there's been
>  some talk about porting a modern TeX.  (LuaTeX requires C++ for the
>  PDF library it uses, so that's out for now.)

XeTeX/pdfTeX/luaTeX use xpdf for pdf inclusion, which needs C++. If
you find a reliable free pdf-library in C that can be used instead
(gnu-pdf is NOT finished), you are welcome to adapt the programs to
that; in the meantime I suggest you get a C++-compiler for Plan9. :-)

Best
   Martin

PS: I find it curious that on os from the Bell labs (plan9) doesn't
support a language from the Bell labs (c++). :-)