[OS X TeX] How Long...

[Herbert Schulz]

Howdy,

In assembling software for the MacTeX 2008 release I've stumbled  
across a bit of a dilemma that may be a bit controversial. The  
questions is... How much longer should we support Panther (OS X 10.3.9).

More and more software updates have dropped Panther support so that  
requires having two versions of the software in the MacTeX (and  
MacTeXtras) distribution; an older one for Panther and a newer one for  
Tiger/Leopard. This is leading to a bit of bloat in the distribution  
as well as limiting what can be included because of space  
considerations.

One very recent example is the release of Aquamacs Emacs 1.4 which is  
no longer Panther compatible. Since this is a large distribution, a  
 >50MB dmg file, it is impractical to include both the 1.4 and 1.3b  
(Panther compatible) versions in MacTeX.

So, let the discussion begin. How many people, especially at  
Universities and other Organizations, which distribute software via  
Disk still need Panther versions?

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)