[XeTeX] TeXLive update issues

[Karl Berry]

    I am glad to announce that I now have fully functioning version of
    TeXLive 2009! 

Glad to hear it.

    1. In the unlikely event of the repository updating any of the TeX
    packages, would the update be likely to scupper my 2009 settings? Or is
    there just one package I should be wary of?

Unless you've explicitly intermingled them (which I gather you've undone
:), system updates shouldn't affect the TL'09 installation at all, or
vice versa.

    ultimately to search my 2007 distro if it draws a blank in 2009?

My guess is that it would cause more trouble than it solves, but you
could try something like this:

TEXINPUTS=:!!/usr/share/texmf/tex//
export TEXINPUTS

(Um, be sure to quote that !! if you're doing it on the cmdline.)

    3. What would be the best way to set up a command-line method of quickly
    processing via my 2007 distro rather than through the now default 2009?

Shell script.  Adjust to taste:

#!/bin/sh
PATH=...your path without the 2009 dir...
export PATH
unset TEXINPUTS  # if you've set it per the above
exec pdflatex "$@"

    I ask this because my old XeLaTeX files make extensive use of the old
    version of bidi.sty, and many need to be revised in order to work with
    the newer version.

Perhaps you could copy the older bidi.sty into the project directories
where you need it.

I don't know if it's feasible for the new bidi.sty to be compatible with
the old bidi.sty, but that might be something to discuss with Vafa.  If
it is so incompatible, a different name would have been nice.  But I
guess it might be too late now.

Hope this helps,
karl