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diff --git a/macros/latex-dev/base/ltnews19.tex b/macros/latex-dev/base/ltnews19.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..af99d329dd --- /dev/null +++ b/macros/latex-dev/base/ltnews19.tex @@ -0,0 +1,116 @@ +% \iffalse meta-comment +% +% Copyright (C) 1993-2019 +% The LaTeX3 Project and any individual authors listed elsewhere +% in this file. +% +% This file is part of the LaTeX base system. +% ------------------------------------------- +% +% It may be distributed and/or modified under the +% conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c +% of this license or (at your option) any later version. +% The latest version of this license is in +% http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt +% and version 1.3c or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX +% version 2008 or later. +% +% This file has the LPPL maintenance status "maintained". +% +% The list of all files belonging to the LaTeX base distribution is +% given in the file `manifest.txt'. See also `legal.txt' for additional +% information. +% +% The list of derived (unpacked) files belonging to the distribution +% and covered by LPPL is defined by the unpacking scripts (with +% extension .ins) which are part of the distribution. +% +% \fi +% Filename: ltnews19.tex +% +% This is issue 19 of LaTeX News. + +\documentclass{ltnews} + +\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} + +\usepackage{lmodern,url} + +\publicationmonth{September} +\publicationyear{2009} + +\publicationissue{19} + +\begin{document} + +\maketitle + +\section{New \LaTeX\ release} + +This issue of \LaTeX~News marks the first release of a new version of +\LaTeXe\ since the publication of The \LaTeX\ Companion in 2005--2006. + +Just in time for \TeX\ Live 2009, this version is a maintenance +release and introduces no new features. A number of small changes have +been made to correct minor bugs in the kernel, slightly extend the Unicode +support, and improve various +aspects of some of the \texttt{tools} packages. + +\section{New code repository} + +Since the last \LaTeX\ release, the entire code base has been moved +to a public \textsc{svn} repository% +\footnote{\url{http://www.latex-project.org/svnroot/latex2e-public/}} +and the entire build architecture re-written. In fact, it has only +been possible for us to consider a new \LaTeX\ release since earlier +this year when the test suite was finally set up with the new system. +In the process, a bug in the \LaTeX\ picture fonts distributed with +\TeX\ Live was discovered, proving that the +tests are working and are still very valuable. + +Now that we can easily generate new packaged versions of the \LaTeXe\ +distribution, we expect to be able to roll out bug fixes in a much +more timely manner than over the last few years. New versions should +be distributed yearly with \TeX\ Live. Having said this, the +maintenance of the \LaTeXe\ kernel is slowing down as the bugs become +fewer and more subtle. Remember that we cannot change any of the +underlying architecture of the kernel or any design decisions of the +standard classes because we must preserve backwards compatibility with +legacy documents at all costs. + +Even new features cannot be added, because any new documents using +them will not compile in systems (such as journal production engines) +that are generally not updated once they've been proven to work as +necessary. + +None of this is to say that we consider \LaTeXe\ to be any less +relevant for document production than in years past: a stable system +is a useful one. +Moreover, the package system continues to provide a flourishing and stable +means +for the development of a wide range of extensions. + +\newpage + +\section{Babel} + +One area of the \LaTeXe\ code base that is still receiving feedback to +be incorporated into the main distribution is the Babel system for +multilingual typesetting. +While the Babel sources have already been added to the \textsc{svn} repository the +integration of the test system for Babel is still outstanding. + + +\section{The future} + +While work on \LaTeXe\ tends to maintenance over active development, +the \LaTeX3 project is +seeing new life. Our goals here are to provide a transition from the +\LaTeXe\ document processing model to one with a more flexible +foundation. Work is continuing in the \textsf{expl3} programming +language and the \textsf{xpackages} for document design. Future +announcements +about \LaTeX3 will be available via the \LaTeX\ Project +website and in TUGboat. + +\end{document} |