[tex-live] TL13 status

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 2013-04-10 at 17:42:06 +0100, Philip TAYLOR wrote:

 > Robin Fairbairns wrote:
 > 
 > > your "just do it" approach (as it seems to me) simply cannot
 > > work.  we need a suggested project plan before we even start
 > > devoting ctan time to the matter.
 > 
 > If I may, I'd like to draw this sub-thread to a close.  There was
 > no intended suggestion of "just do it" : rather, I was seeking to
 > offer input into TeX Live's future evolution.  If there is no
 > enthusiasm to further discuss the ideas proposed, then I am happy
 > to leave it at that.

There is no enthusiasm because nobody else encountered the problems
you have in mind.  It's possible already to revert to a previous
release of a package and it seems that most people are satisfied with
this solution, even in critical environments.  And even if there's a
bug in a package on the DVD and the user has a poor network
connection, updating a single package is not a big deal even then.

As far as I understand you have the DVD in mind in the first place.
But the majority of TeX users don't have the DVD and even the majority
of those who have it is using the network installer though.  Those who
install from a DVD update their system afterwards anyway.

Since almost everybody is using the network installer, the DVD is more
or less meaningless, it's just a snapshot.  The network installer
installs the latest packages available from CTAN and people are not
aware of bugs in packages on the DVD at all.

In order to discuss TeX Live's future evolution, I don't think that
the old release you are using is a good starting point for such a
discussion, simply because particular features of tlmgr are not
available there.  If you encounter problems with a current release,
I'm convinced that developers are much more enthusiastic.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
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