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From: Scho...@sc.ZIB-Berlin.de (Rainer Schoepf)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: LaTeX2e -- A New Version of LaTeX
Date: 03 Aug 1993 10:49:30 GMT
Organization: Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum fuer Informationstechnik Berlin
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The following announcement was made last week at the Annual meeting of
the TeX User's Group (TUG) at Aston University, Birmingham, UK. It was
converted automatically from LaTeX source format into plain text by
the dvidoc processor.
LaTeX2e -- A New Version of LaTeX
Leslie Lamport and the LaTeX3 project team
July 27, 1993
1 Reasons For LaTeX2e
There are two primary reasons for introducing a new version of
LaTeX:
* Standardisation: a single format incorporating NFSS2, to
replace present multiplicity of incompatible formats (NFSS,
lfonts, pslfonts, etc.)
* Maintenance: a standardised system is essential to a
reliable maintenance policy.
Note that LaTeX2e is only a ``working name''---thus this may
change.
2 Guiding Principles
The following two guiding principles are to be followed:
I Unmodified version 2.09 input files will produce the same
output with LaTeX2e as with version 2.09.
II All new features of LaTeX2e will conform to the conventions
of version 2.09, making it as easy as possible for current
users to learn to use them.
3 Preamble Commands
In order to distinguish old (2.09) documents from those using
facilities from the new version, LaTeX2e documents will use a
different command on the first line.
\documentclass[options]{class}
The \documentclass command specifies what kind of document
this is---for example, article, book, letter, slide.
\includepackage[options]{package}
Including a package adds new commands and/or redefines
existing commands to provide additional functionality.
\documentstyle[options,dvidoc]{style}
Invokes the LaTeX2.09 compatibility mode.
4 Documentation
The new version will be described in a new edition of LaTeX:
A document preparation system by Leslie Lamport and in The
LaTeX Companion by Goossens, Mittelbach and Samarin (both to be
published by Addison-Wesley). The Companion will also contain a
complete description of NFSS2.
5 Distribution Policy
Maintenace of the new system will be undertaken by the LaTeX3
project team.
A complete distribution of all files, incorporating
corrections of errors, will be made available twice a year on
fixed dates. This will happen even if there were no changes to
the files, and hence only the release dates have to be updated.
We are currently looking into the possibility of additionally
distributing diff files.
6 Error Reports
Error reports can be made using a report generating program
latexbug.tex. This will be part of the main distribution.
Error reports will be accepted only if the version of LaTeX2e
that produces the error is not older than one year. Error
reports can be sent to the following mail address:
latex-b...@rus.uni-stuttgart.de
or a postal address that is to be announced.
2
--
Rainer Schoepf
Konrad-Zuse-Zentrum
fuer Informationstechnik Berlin
Heilbronner Strasse 10
D-10711 Berlin
Federal Republic of Germany
<Scho...@sc.ZIB-Berlin.de> or <Scho...@sc.ZIB-Berlin.d400.de>
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