[tex-live] TeXdoc error: attempt to concatenate global 'viewext' (a nil value)

[Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard]

On Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:59:49 +0100, "Dr. Werner Fink" <werner at suse.de>
wrote:
> I've just hacked the texdoc lua script a bit to make it work
> even with support_zipped = true.

Why didn't you say it right from the beginning? I'm sorry, but I don't
endorse support for patched versions. Your patch affects how viewext is
computed 
and the error is precisely that viewext is nil at some point...

Anyway, quoting from texdoc.tlu at 10337:

-- zip/gz support
--
-- optionally, texdoc can support compressed documentation, but this is
-- system-dependant (commands for unzipping, temporary files, etc).
-- Since TeX Live doesn't ship compressed doc, downstream distributors who
-- want to ship zipped should change support_zipped to true *and* make sure
-- everything works for them (look for support_zipped in the code).
-- If you use this feature, please let us know: if nobody uses it,
-- we'll drop it at some point. 

Why didn't you tell me earlier that you were trying to make zip support
work?
I could have answered you directly that it is known (now) that it was
broken in 0.4
(version from TL08), temporarily repaired in 0.43, then borken again at
some point
(I'm afraid the version in TL09 from DVD, namely 0.47 is broken in this
respect).
It is now stable since 0.50 and I will take care not to break it again.

>From your request and your address, I guess you are preparing packages for
Suse?
If so, I would recommend you to package a more up-to-date version of texdoc
than
the one in the official release, if your policy allows you to do so. (I
think Debian
does such updates when it fixes bugs). Otherwise, just ask me and I'll
happily provide
you with a (working) patch against the chosen version of texdoc for zip
support.
(But you'll have to wait a bit, I have no access to my hacking environment
right now.)

Manuel.

PS: btw, there is a texdoc@ mailing list...