[Wikipedia-l] Re: [Wikitech-l] Tex update status

[Toby Bartels]

Brion Vibber wrote in part:

>Shall I install [texvc] wikipedia-wide? Is there any objection other than
>Toby's? See: http://meta.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texvc

Since Tomasz responded yes when everybody knew that he thought so,
then I won't feel bad about responding no when everybody knows
that I think that.  In any case, get Axel's answer first.

My essay on the above page left out an important point:
Why we shouldn't install texvc now and then fix it later
(assuming that the essay is persuasive on other points).
Basically, the reason is that supporting LaTeX directly
(as Axel and I want) won't be backwards compatible with current texvc;
fixing it later will break some things.

I realise that I now need to get to work on writing
an alternative to texvc that we can install soon.
(Saying that texvc isn't good enough
is unhelpful if there's nothing that is!)
I hope that Axel agrees with my opinions on TeX support and will help.
I don't expect that Tomasz will want to help,
but of course I'd welcome anybody.
(How such an alternative would work is already outlined in the essay.)


-- Toby