[tex-live] web2c-win32 volunteer?

[Olaf Weber]

Karl Berry writes:

> Bad news everyone -- Fabrice has decided not to continue maintaining
> web2c-win32 (he'll keep on with his xemtex distribution with pdf and
> html output only .. which, for now, unfortunately, won't keep the
> general populace happy).  I know we all appreciate his heroic efforts to
> date in making the distribution work under Windows.  Thank you, Fabrice.

> Looking to this year's TeX Live release ... I guess the first question
> is whether someone (or some group) can volunteer to take over
> maintenance of web2c-win32.  If no one can step forward here, I can ask
> on texhax/c.t.t.

IIRC there is an fptex mailing list.  Has this question been asked
there?

> However, since I asked for volunteers previously merely to *help*
> Fabrice, and got no takers, I confess I don't feel too optimistic.  I'd
> love to be proved wrong, though. :)

> If no one volunteers to take over, the only alternative I can think of
> is to talk with Christian Schenk about distributing miktex.  One
> possibility is that TeX Collection 2004 could be one CD with Unix/Mac,
> one CD with miktex, and one DVD with both plus CTAN. 

> In any case, obviously miktex would not be integrated at all into
> the existing unix/mac stuff as web2c-win32 is.  We would just take
> it as is, with its own installation and packaging.  Perhaps in a
> future year the same texmf tree could be shared, but I can't picture
> that happening this time.

> If anyone has any other ideas, don't be shy :).

As a general rule, I think it would be good (but somewhat longer term,
I fear) to look for ways we can simplify the work of various
maintainers.

-- 
Olaf Weber

               (This space left blank for technical reasons.)