[tex-live] programs without --version

Justin C. Walker justin at mac.com
Tue Apr 17 20:24:02 CEST 2012


On Apr 17, 2012, at 02:27 , Mojca Miklavec wrote:

> Dear TL team,
> 
> Many programs in TL don't understand --version which is one of the
> basic functionality that probably every program should have.
> 
> Do you have support for --version somewhere in the long term plan, or
> is that simply too much work? That is: does it make sense to collect
> list of programs that don't know this command, or would it only make
> sense if patches are provided alongside?

My understanding of TeX-Live is that it provides a convenient distribution of a disparate bunch of programs and files needed to use TeX in its various guises.  The project has nothing to do with individual programs, and less to do with imposing convention on the developers, or in changing those developers' work.

Moreover, "--version" is just one of several ways to ask a program for its version.  I doubt it makes sense to force all programs to use this (think "tip of the iceberg", like the one that sank the Titanic).

One guy's opinion...

Regards,

Justin

--
Justin C. Walker
Curmudgeon-at-large
--
Network, n., Difference between work
charged for and work done





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