This is file `00readme.txt'. (Start your first tour of the bullcntr package by reading this file.) This file is part of a work named "bullcntr package". Copyright (C) 2007 by Gustavo MEZZETTI . The bullcntr package may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3 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 1.3 or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX version 2005/12/01 or later. The bullcntr package has the LPPL maintenance status "author-maintained". The file `manifest.txt' that comes along with this file specifies what the bullcntr package consists of; more precisely, it explains how the locutions "Work" and "Compiled Work", used in the LaTeX Project Public License, are to be interpreted in the case of this work. This file, after giving a brief description of the bullcntr package, explains how to install it and how to generate its documentation. October 1, 2007 (vers. 0.04) CONTENTS ======== - Brief description of the software - Installation in a snapshot - Checking the contents of the distribution - How to install the bullcntr package - How to generate the main documentation - Ancillary files and documentation BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SOFTWARE ================================= This software is named after its primary component, but it actually contains _two_ packages: the bullcntr package and the bullenum package. The bullcntr package defines the command "\bullcntr", which can be thought of as an analogue of the "\fnsymbol" command: like the latter, it displays the value of a counter lying between 1 and 9, but uses, for the purpose, a regular pattern of bullets. The bullenum package--which also loads the bullcntr package as part of its own initialization--defines the environment "bullenum", a list-making environment similar to "enumerate", which numbers its item using the "\bullcntr" command. Most users will simply use this package and never call the bullcntr package directly. INSTALLATION IN A SNAPSHOT ========================== The bullcntr package is distributed in the usual .dtx + .ins format. The main file is `bullcntr.dtx', with installation script `bullcntr.ins'. Do the usual things to install it and to generate the documentation. If you do not know what the usual things are, read below. Note that in order to generate the documentation you should do the following: latex; latex; makeindex (.idx); makeindex (.glo); latex; latex. The distribution also includes three files with extension `.tex': these are sample source files that illustrate how to use the abovementioned packages, and should simply be copied to the same location where the documentation is put. CHECKING THE CONTENTS OF THE DISTRIBUTION ========================================= Before installing the bullcntr package and generating its documentation, it is a good idea to read the file `manifest.txt', which lists all the files that make up the distribution, to check that you don't lack any of them (in particular, that you have the file `manifest.txt' itself!). If you do find that some files are missing, don't hesitate to complain to the distributor from whom you obtained the others: this person, company, or institution is infringing the copyright (actually, the copyleft) of the bullcntr package. Please remember, however, that in order to comply with the copyright a distributor is only requested to supply the files listed in `manifest.txt' under the title "MEANING OF THE TERM `Work'", but not those listed under "MEANING OF THE TERM `Compiled Work'". HOW TO INSTALL THE BULLCNTR PACKAGE =================================== To install the bullcntr package, follow these steps: 1) Make sure that the files `bullcntr.dtx' and `bullcntr.ins' are placed in the same directory; below, we shall indicate this directory as "the current directory". 2) Run LaTeX (or Plain TeX) once on the file `bullcntr.ins'. This will generate, in the current directory, the following two LaTeX input files: bullcntr.sty bullenum.sty 3) Move the files listed in 2) from the current directory to a LaTeX input directory--see b) and c) below. 4) If you wish, delete the file `bullcntr.log' to save disk space. Installation is now finished! The following comments may be useful: a) The above listing of the files you need to move is also displayed on the terminal at the end of the run of the file `bullcntr.ins'. b) The documentation of your TeX installation should tell you how to find the LaTeX input directory/ies, and probably also how to create new LaTeX input directories reserved to hold your private classes and packages. If your TeX installation offers you the chance of defining your private LaTeX input directories, I recommend you exploit this possibility and place the generated files into such a directory. c) If you are not able to find the LaTeX input directories, or you are not allowed to modify them and cannot create your personal LaTeX input directories, do this: place the files listed under 2) above in any directory of your choice (a newly created, empty directory would be the best choice, however); then put all the LaTeX source files that you want to typeset using the bullcntr package in that same directory. Of course, this solution becomes impractical if the number of such source files exceeds a dozen or so; but for a few files you can do this way, at least until you decide to finally learn how to create your private LaTeX input directories! :-) d) You may also choose to install the bullcntr package inside the main texmf tree of your TeX installation (as opposed to installing it inside a directory devoted to private classes and packages). In this case, note that the **proposed** (but not yet approved!) TDS-compliant location for the bullcntr package, that is, the directory inside which you should put the files listed in 2), is $TEXMF/tex/latex/bullcntr/ The **proposed** location for the documentation, on the other hand, is $TEXMF/doc/latex/bullcntr/ We shall describe below in detail which files should be put in this place. Of course, in order to do all this you must have appropriate access priviledges to the texmf tree of your site. HOW TO GENERATE THE MAIN DOCUMENTATION ====================================== An alternative form of the documentation, already typeset and packaged in PDF format, is given in the file `bullcntr-man.pdf' that you might have found on some sites (e.g., the CTAN sites). This file, however, is not part of the bullcntr package and distributors are not requested to include it among the distributed files. Moreover, it does not contain any implementation notes (in which most users are not at all interested). If the distributor from whom you obtained the bullcntr package did not provide the file `bullcntr-man.pdf', or if you want the full documentation, complete with all implementation notes, you can generate it by following these steps: 1) Run LaTeX (_not_ Plain TeX) _twice_ on the file `bullcntr.dtx'. This, among other things, will generate the files `bullcntr.idx' and `bullcntr.glo' in the same directory as the file `bullcntr.dtx'. 2) Run MakeIndex on the file `bullcntr.idx' obtained in 1), using the style file `gind.sty', which is part of the standard LaTeX distribution. 3) Run MakeIndex on the file `bullcntr.glo' obtained in 1), using the style file `gglo.sty', which is part of the standard LaTeX distribution. 4) Run LaTeX _two_ more times on the file `bullcntr.dtx'. 5) If you wish, you can now delete the following files, to save disk space: bullcntr.aux bullcntr.glo bullcntr.gls bullcntr.idx bullcntr.ilg bullcntr.ind bullcntr.lof bullcntr.log bullcntr.toc After step 4), you should get the documentation in DVI format in the file `bullcntr.dvi', located in the same directory as `bullcntr.dtx', with all indexes, table of contents, etc. correctly set. However, if you are neurotic (as I am), you could run LaTeX three or four times, instead of two, in step 1)... :-) Other LaTeX typesetting engines should work in the same way, perhaps producing the output in a different format; for example, you may use pdflatex in place of LaTeX to obtain the documentation in PDF format (doing so, of course, produces a file named `bullcntr.pdf'). When you have typeset the documentation, in either format (or in both formats, why not), you might want to install it in the main texmf tree of your site; as said above, $TEXMF/doc/latex/bullcntr/ is the **proposed** location for this purpose, that is, the directory inside which you should put the files `bullcntr.dvi' and/or `bullcntr.pdf', or equivalent files in other formats, should you have produced any. This is also the place where ancillary files and documentation, described in the next section, should be put. ANCILLARY FILES AND DOCUMENTATION ================================= If you want to distribute a "Compiled Work" (see manifest.txt), you are bound to make the following files available to your users: 00readme.txt manifest.txt bullcntr-man.tex bullcntr-sam.tex bullenum-sam.tex These files are best placed together with the compiled documentation (files `bullcntr.dvi' and/or `bullcntr.pdf'), possibly under $TEXMF/doc/latex/bullcntr/ Any compiled version of the above files that you wish to include in your distribution of a "Compiled Work" (e.g., the file `bullcntr-man.pdf') also belongs here. Remember, however, that you are not obliged to distribute such compiled files, except--always in the case of a "Compiled Work"--for the result of typesetting `bullcntr.dtx'; for other files, distributing their sources suffices to comply with the license. Once again, see `manifest.txt' and the LaTeX Project Public License for precise instructions. Have fun with the bullcntr package!