On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 01:01:20PM +0100, Gavin Smith wrote: > On Fri, Jul 24, 2026 at 12:15:38PM +0200, Patrice Dumas wrote: > > Hello, > > > > Following up on the discussion on supporting tagging for LaTeX output, I > > think that it could be good if we decided something on the LaTeX versions > > we support. > > > > I think that we need to support the most recent LaTeX releases. My > > proposal would be that requirement to be the only one for texi2any generated > > LaTeX. In most cases, the output would also be compatible with older > > releases, but it may depend. Then, if we know, we could put in the NEWS > > the characteristics of the LaTeX version we depend on. > > > > Thoughts? > > I'm opposed to a strict policy. I think if we want to use a feature of > newer LaTeX releases, we should consider it on its own merits: what are > the benefits it adds, compared with what is likely to break for older > LaTeX releases.
My point is not that we have to use recent features of LaTeX. What I mean is that we should make sure that a LaTeX document generated by texi2any can be converted to PDF by recent LaTeX, but we do not make promises that a not recent LaTeX can convert the LaTeX to PDF. To me, this is a lax policy, as it gives us the possibility to generate LaTeX that breaks old packages/old LaTeX. The main reason is that it would be a pain for us to verify if it works on old LaTeX, while it should be easier to have testing on recent LaTeX, by us or others. That being said, I agree with what you said above: "if we want to use a feature of newer LaTeX releases, we should consider it on its own merits: what are the benefits it adds, compared with what is likely to break for older LaTeX releases." > I don't think LaTeX (just like HTML) should be considered a moving target that > we have to keep up with. It is an old, mature and stable language. LaTeX may be, but to cater with the need of Texinfo formatting, we use lots of packages, some that are moving targets, and sometime need recent features. > One thing to consider is that LaTeX installations tend to be quite massive and > it is not straightforward for users just to install a newer version. Indeed, but we need to weight that against our need to generate LaTeX that expresses the Texinfo language. Also, by the same argument, it is not easy to install an older version to test on. I have a debian testing with a relatively recent LaTeX, I do not want to have to test on old LaTeX. If we want to support old LaTeX, we must be sure that we have testers on such platform. -- Pat
