[tex-live] characters > 127 in .dtx and .sty files

[Karl Berry]

    er> But it will break again on next CTAN update right?

No (that would have been a pointless change to make).  I changed the
script (ctan2tds) to build the package differently; specifically, using
latex -translate-file=empty.tcx to process the dtx.  This was already
necessary in one other case (extpfeil).

    > Would another solution be to tell the package maintainters to provide
    > a .tds.zip on CTAN with the files in the good format? 

I don't like to disagree with Robin, but I have a different view (as he
knows).

In theory, yes, that would be a solution.  But in practice, my
experience is that correct .tds.zip files are hugely difficult to
produce and keep consistent, and hugely time-consuming for me to explain
to the authors (or complain to Robin about -- I've done a lot of both).
I have spent more time dealing with broken .tds.zip archives than I care
to think about.  Way more than whatever time they have saved.  And just
ignoring them isn't easy either, since if authors produce them, they
want them to be used, and would not like it if I "arbitrarily" put their
files in different places, which would nearly always happen.

    > Is there a page describing quickly what is a .tds.zip archive? I could
    > send the link to package maintainers.

Anyone who merely uses such a "quick explanation" is highly unlikely to
produce a usable archiv, which will make more work for everyone.  You
have to be intimately familiar with what is needed to get it right.
This is a big part of the problem.

So, my wish is that you do not try to promulgate .tds.zip among authors
at large.
    
    rf> an awful lot of people are stuck with a non-update-able
    distribution that came with their linux install.

If they're capable of installing a .tds.zip, it seems to me they're
capable of installing their own TL in their own directory and ignoring
the system tex.

k