karl@CS.UMB.EDU (Karl Berry) (03/15/91)
I have released Eplain version 1.8. It is available by ftp from ftp.cs.umb.edu [192.12.26.23] in pub/tex/eplain/eplain.tar.Z or the contents of pub/tex/eplain (eplain.tex and eplain.texinfo are the most important files), or from ics.uci.edu [128.195.1.1] in the directory TeX/eplain (same file setup). Aside from bug fixes, there are a few new (minor) features: * Line numbers are given in undefined label messages (if you are using a TeX that understand \inputlineno). * A new macro \fullmonthname expands to the unabbreviated name of the current month (in English). * \testfileexistence can test for the existence of any file, not just files whose root is \jobname. * A new macro \sanitize turns a token list into characters (from Ron Whitney); the table of contents macros use this, so that a toc line like 'Chapter on $\sin$ and $\cos$' gets written exactly as that, instead of \sin and \cos expanded. For those (no doubt large number) of you who haven't heard of Eplain: it is a collection of macros intended to provide relatively low-level capabilities, regardless of how your document appears. For example, it has macros to do symbolic cross-referencing, but not macros to produce a section heading. It also has some definitions that make it easier to change the conventions of plain TeX's output. For example, it lets you produce left-justified math displays by simply saying `\leftdisplays'. karl@cs.umb.edu karl@ai.mit.edu ..!harvard!umb!karl
xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Xiaofei Wang) (03/15/91)
I can not speak too much good about eplain, but one thing that TeX authors often forget/not take into account is the portability of filenames. For example, MSDOS will not accept filename like ``eplain.info''. Yes, one can rename the filenames and change the \input lines, etc. But I don't think it takes any effort for authors to take this into consideration. 12345678.123 is a perfect name for most operating systems. -- xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu / rutgers!ub!xiaofei / v118raqa@ubvms.bitnet
ne201ph@prism.gatech.EDU (Halvorson,Peter J) (03/15/91)
In article <65334@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu (Xiaofei Wang) writes: >I can not speak too much good about eplain, but one thing that >TeX authors often forget/not take into account is the portability of >filenames. > >For example, MSDOS will not accept filename like ``eplain.info''. > >Yes, one can rename the filenames and change the \input lines, etc. >But I don't think it takes any effort for authors to take this into >consideration. 12345678.123 is a perfect name for most operating >systems. >-- >xiaofei@acsu.buffalo.edu / rutgers!ub!xiaofei / v118raqa@ubvms.bitnet What about CDC mainframes? They don't allow . in a file name, it is reserved for the cycle number ( sad but true). The CDC's are almost dead at Georgia Tech, and I'd just as soon see something better replace MSDOS as well. Peter Halvorson -- Nuclear Engineering Program Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!ne201ph Internet: ne201ph@prism.gatech.edu -- peter@fission.gatech.edu -- Peter Halvorson -- Nuclear Engineering Program Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332 uucp: ...!{allegra,amd,hplabs,ut-ngp}!gatech!prism!ne201ph Internet: ne201ph@prism.gatech.edu -- peter@fission.gatech.edu