[comp.text.tex] BibTeX: 0.98 .bst -> 0.99 .bst translator?

tuttle@crl.dec.com (Mark R. Tuttle) (06/25/91)

Many people have BibTeX style files (the .bst files) that are written
for use with BibTeX version 0.98.  Since BibTeX version 0.99 is not
compatible with the old style files, these people either have to give
up on their old style files or keep a fossilized version of BibTeX
around.

Is there a program around to translate old style files into style
files compatible with BibTeX 0.99?  From 15 minutes of messing around,
the only difference between the two versions of BibTeX that I am aware
of are

1.  The order of arguments to the assignment function `:=' have been reversed.
    Can a translator just replace every occurrence of `:=' with `swap$ :='?

2.  The first argument to change.case$ must be one of "t", "u", or "l".
    Can a translator just replace every occurrence of 
	"ul" with "t"
	"uu" with "u", and
	"ll" with "l"?

Are there other differences?  Are there reasons that a general
translator would be difficult to write?

Thanks for your help,
Mark

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|Mark R. Tuttle					tuttle@crl.dec.com	|
|DEC Cambridge Research Lab			(617) 621-6635		|
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