Message-Id: <9311082336.AA08865@sc.ZIB-Berlin.DE>
Reply-To: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de>
Date:         Tue, 9 Nov 93 10:34:03 +1100
From: Richard Walker <Richard.Walker@CS.ANU.EDU.AU>
Sender: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project <LATEX-L@vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de>
To: Multiple Recipients of <LATEX-L@vm.urz.Uni-Heidelberg.de>
Subject:      Administrator's nightmare
Status: R


Hi all.  My five cents (we got rid of our one and two cent coins
a while back :-) )

As TeX expert for my department, I have to cope with an attitude
of resistance towards all upgrades.  So much so, that I now
give two weeks notice of an upgrade (during which
time the new software is available for trial), and
the old version is provided for another two weeks after
that.

It would be quite impossible to force my users to start
using LaTeX2e, or even just NFSS2, right away.  They
demand that critical software (such as LaTeX) must
not be `interfered' with.

But the issue for me is:  how can I provide the functionality
of 2.09 for those who don't want to move, and 2e for those
that are willing?  (And then there's the problem that if I
provide both, no one will move to 2e.)
There are files e.g. amsart.sty that are different for
2.09 and 2.09+NFSS2 (and 2e).  As I see it, a solution would be to put
the 2e-specific files in a separate directory (outside
the normal TEXINPUTS hierarchy), and to make latex2e
a shell script which sets TEXINPUTS such that the
2e-specific directory is searched before the normal
inputs area.

I am a bit concerned about the nf prefix too.  Despite
attempts to re-invent the meaning of the `nf' acronym,
it seems like a hack (which it is).  My users will
not be impressed.  I am trying to sell them the future
of LaTeX, and they have to stick `nf' on the front of
all their style options.  Why?  (My suggestion in the
previous paragraph makes all this unnecessary, even
in a multiple-LaTeX environment.)

As an aside, in the light of the completely different
structure of NFSS2, I am extremely relieved that I did
not force NFSS1 on my users.  I made it available (for
AmS-LaTeX) but I kept it basically a secret.

Richard.

PS When will we see `The LaTeX companion'?