[tex-live] Re: tex *live* packages [was: .. acronym package missing doc]

[Sebastian Rahtz]

Itay Furman wrote:

> Could you be more specific:
> 1) 'CTAN -> TeXLive processor': is it that 'giand perl script' 
> and friends?

yes. its not *that* big, just a messy accretion over the years

> 2) what is tall order? how much time (or other resources) you 
> anticipate in that?

depends how good a programmer you are. my idea is to take
the current Perl script and simplify it considerably by 
taking out all the special cases. This information would be 
stored in TPM2 .xml files. When the script runs on package 
X, it reads X.xml, which tells it the parameters for the job 
(is it a  latex package, a font package, etc; what is the 
doc file; which .ins file to run).

> I'd like to try and pay back to the community, but don't want to 
> raise too many expectations.

the alternative is for you to work on checking the metadata;
if I (or someone else) changes the sausage machine to read
XML files, the job is to make sure they are right!
-- 
Sebastian Rahtz      Information Manager
Oxford University Computing Services
13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN. Phone +44 1865 283431