[tex-live] TL2009

[George N. White III]

On Sat, Dec 13, 2008 at 8:43 PM, Karl Berry <karl at freefriends.org> wrote:
>    > Don't bother updating your installation with the help of tlmgr, wait for
>    > the next TeXLive edition.
>
> Actually I think this is a perfectly viable approach unless someone
> actually *needs* a particular update.  After all, this is the first year
> TL has had updates.  That did not make TL useless for the last decade.

For the last decade people who needed an update to the texmf trees had
to put the update in a local tree, and hopefully remember to remove local
additions once they appear in the main trees.  The package manager
should greatly reduce the need to have stuff from CTAN in local texmf
trees.

Fine grained updating means people can be finding problems year 'round
rather than focusing on TL release testing.   I expect release testing to
become more about the package manager.   The problem with the "if it
ain't broke don't fix it approach" is that when the inevitable breakdown
does occur one discovers that a "stitch in time saves nine" has merit.
A good example was when pdftex started to be used for .dvi output.  Some
users had been constructing documents using mistaken methods to
test for pdf output.

>    2) If there will be TL2009 how installation would be different from
>    TL2008 completely update with tlmgr?
>
> We haven't figured out tl09 deployment yet -- the earliest we can
> realistically hope for is summer 09.  But my expectation is that it
> won't be possible to use tlmgr update to get from 08 to 09.  We have a
> list of infrastructure things we want to improve which cannot be done
> while retaining compatibility with the oh-so-ancient :) version that is
> on the 08 DVD.
>
> I'd be curious if it is possible to use the miktex package manager to
> upgrade between significant releases.

What defines a significant release?   With a package manager that can
update binaries "anytime", a new release is only needed when the packaging
changes or maybe when few packages in the last release don't have updates.

-- 
George N. White III <aa056 at chebucto.ns.ca>
Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia