[texhax] help

[James Diamond]

On Wed, Nov 21, 2018 at 16:10 (-0600), Axel E. Retif wrote:

> On 11/21/18 7:32 AM, Lars Madsen wrote:

>>> Does anyone know why sam2p is not provided in texlive for Linux?

>> that was already mentioned,

I missed that somewhere.  (Mea culpa?) 

>> it already comes separately for Linux as it is useful for everyone,
>> not just TeXLive users.  So there is no need to provide it twice.

Well, aside from what Axel says, it probably requires Linux users to go
out, hunt it down, compile it, yada yada yada (I'm guessing it isn't
part of the base installation of many/most Linux distros).  While many
Linux users are capable of doing those tasks,
(a) some might not be,
(b) on Linux distros that don't include development tools in the base
    installation, that could be a big job, and
(c) an inquisitive texlive user might peruse the programs available in
    texlive and discover sam2p, but otherwise might never know of its
    existence. 


> I can't find it in Ubuntu (Debian) repositories, and from

> https://tanguy.ortolo.eu/blog/article143/removing-sam2p-from-debian

> -----
> 		Issues with sam2p and removal

> I have been maintaining the Debian package of sam2p for some time.
> Unfortunately, the upstream development of that program is no longer active,
> and it is using an old custom build chain that no longer works with recent
> version of GCC.

> This package is currently failing to build from source, and while I have
> been able to patch some issues in the past, and it may still be possible to
> fix it again, this is not really sustainable.

<snip>

I d/l'ed the most recent sources today and compiled it without a
hitch.  It is being maintained.  I'm not sure what the quoted blogger
is going on about.  (Caveat: I just compiled it on Slackware.  Perhaps
trying to make a .deb on a debian system is far more difficult and
error-prone than what I did.)

Cheers

                                Jim