Proposal for texsrc command

[Boris Veytsman]

NP> Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2020 21:47:01 +0900
NP> From: Norbert Preining <norbert at preining.info>

NP> Hi Niranjan,


NP> Not really. You are assuming that
NP> 	package name == style file name for LaTeX
NP> Unfortunately this breaks for a large set of packages.

NP> Example where it works:

NP> package 12many
NP> 	file .../texmf-dist/tex/latex/12many/12many.sty

NP> example where it does not work:
NP> package IEEEconf
NP> 	file .../texmf-dist/tex/latex/IEEEconf/IEEEconf.cls
NP> (because it ships a class file and not a style file)

NP> another example
NP> package adfsymbols
NP> 	file .../texmf-dist/tex/latex/adfsymbols/adfarrows.sty
NP> (style file is named different from package name)

NP> And there are many many more differences. So there is no easy way to
NP> find **THE** source file.

I would think that for LaTeX packages the best choice for source is
the commented dtx file.  So I'd like texsrc to return

texsrc 12many
/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/source/latex/12many/12many.dtx

texsrc IEEEconf
/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/source/latex/IEEEconf/IEEEconf.dtx

Only if the file is absent, we need to use .sty or .cls, as for
adfarrows.sty.

I think the algorithm for searching sources is complex enough to make
a texsrc command implementing it useful.

-- 
Good luck

-Boris

Yinkel, n.:
	A person who combs his hair over his bald spot, hoping no one
	will notice.
		-- Rich Hall, "Sniglets"