[OS X TeX] updated packages

[Gerben Wierda]

On 6 Feb 2006, at 18:34, Victor Ivrii wrote:

> I suspect that without Gerben we will not be able to find an  
> explanation.

Probably not. Here is what I can say about it:

My strategy:
- texmf.gwtex contains stuff that is not in texmf.tetex. This also  
means it contains dfifferent stuff when you install 2003 (teTeX2)  
versus 2004-2005 (teTeX3). It even used to be that you had the teTeX  
beamer (3.01)when you installed 2004-2005 and the gwtex beamer (3.06)  
when you installed 2003, so 2003 got you a *newer* beamer than  
2004-2005.
- I follow teTeX in texmf.tetex because I can't do everything. If  
there are problems in teTeX (e.g. outdated stuff) I try to get Thomas  
Esser to make a new release.
- Some extras are installed in texmf.local (e.g. the ConTeXt updater,  
MusixTeX, etc) so they can be installed/uninstalled easily.

Currently, it is becoming clear that teTeX is dead and won't be  
updated anymore. So, it is getting more and more out of date. This is  
presenting me with a serious problem in terms of maintenance.  
Currently, I already replace some stuff in teTeX3 with other stuff  
(i.e. Latin Modern fonts) but this is against my strategy so it is  
really an exception. Another exception is that I do now install  
beamer in texmf.gwtex even if it is part of texmf.tetex. Again,  
against the clean strategy, but a result from the slowly worsening  
situation.

The fact that teTeX seems to have died makes the problem worse over  
time. Most likely outcome: i will have to find another source for my  
main texmf tree (now texmf.tetex). One option: build my own (ugh),  
another option: use MikTeX when it becomes avaiilable for Unix. I  
have no idea yet what the outcome will be, but for the time being I  
will probably first move to patching texmf.tetex / adding stuff to  
texmf.gwtex.

The state of the TeX i-package is also the result of having  
experimented with trying to build TeX on various platforms. Hence the  
difference between *EXPERIMENTAL* and the rest. I will probably fix  
that soon as I have decided to drop 10.2 support.

I hope to release an update soon, but the real work will foollow  
after that. If there is a volunteer to build an updated texmf.tetex,  
you're welcome.

G
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