[tex-live] Should .tds.zip be encouraged? (was: characters > 127 in .dtx and .sty files)

[T T]

2009/12/23 Karl Berry <karl at freefriends.org>:
>
>    > 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.

Then perhaps such a "quick explanation" could be clarified where more
in-depth knowledge is needed. For simple packages it ought to be
enough, though.

> So, my wish is that you do not try to promulgate .tds.zip among authors
> at large.

Which submission format is the least troublesome then? I thought that
.tds.zip is the one. I even went out of my way and packaged my stuff
like that.

Perhaps there should be a clearer message for package authors, which
packaging formats are admissible and in what order of preference. TDS
certainly makes little sense at the development stage, at least for
small packages, so preparing .tds.zip only means extra work for the
author.

Cheers,

Tomek