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Message-ID:  <4C9122A1.4060008@morningstar2.co.uk>
Date:         Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:46:41 +0100
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From: Joseph Wright <joseph.wright@MORNINGSTAR2.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Allocation of registers
To: LATEX-L@listserv.uni-heidelberg.de
In-Reply-To:  <19109.1284579373@cl.cam.ac.uk>
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Status: R

On 15/09/2010 20:36, Robin Fairbairns wrote:
>> I guess for the time being that is a good approach
>
> is there an actual reason that inserts can't start working down from
> 64k?
>
> etex.sty can't do this, because the basic set of inserts has been
> allocated by the time it gets to run, and that plainly isn't a
> constraint on latex 3.  but does it matter for expl3?
>
> (i have once spent time on thinking this issue through, but i'm not well
> -- still -- and can't remember what conclusion i came to.)
>
> robin

At a format level we don't currently have any allocation routine for 
inserts at all, as we've not used them :-) On the other hand, expl3 is 
'LaTeX3 on 2e' so has exactly the same requirements as etex. (Indeed, 
the whole reason for simply using etex for allocation in expl3 as a 
package is that it avoided making errors in the interaction with the 
LaTeX2e allocation routine.)
-- 
Joseph Wright