From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Kastrup Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: copyright in .tex files Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:11:33 +0200 Message-ID: <854q9xnap6.fsf@lola.goethe.zz> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1123684475 11281 80.91.229.2 (10 Aug 2005 14:34:35 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 14:34:35 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Aug 10 16:34:26 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1E2rc5-0005B5-9n for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:31:25 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1E2rfC-0008O1-Gz for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:34:38 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1E2rdE-0007wc-HL for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:32:36 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1E2rd3-0007r2-UP for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:32:27 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1E2rd0-0007hE-8n for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:32:23 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1E2rXn-0005Eb-DK for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:26:59 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lola.goethe.zz) by fencepost.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1E2rHR-0003S9-Sv; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 10:10:06 -0400 Original-Received: by lola.goethe.zz (Postfix, from userid 1002) id 6D0FE1C4CE29; Wed, 10 Aug 2005 16:11:34 +0200 (CEST) Original-To: Thien-Thi Nguyen In-Reply-To: (Thien-Thi Nguyen's message of "10 Aug 2005 10:00:12 -0400") User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (gnu/linux) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:41862 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:41862 Thien-Thi Nguyen writes: > a common macro in etc/*.tex defines `year' like so: > > \def\year{2001} > > could a TeXnician confirm that is ok to change this to: > > \def\year{2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005} > > ? if no, why not, and what is the right way? Well, since \year is an internal count register, the _normal_ use would be \year=2001 It would seem that the named files violate that convention, and use \year as a user-defined text macro (you'd have to use \the\year to refer to the counter, whereas with the macro definition, \year alone constitutes the reference). So if any external file would be relying on the _normal_ definition of \year, it would break. It would appear, however, that etc/*.tex are purely stand-alone plain TeX documents. For such documents, the basic rule is "the right way is what happens to work". Apparently, \year will only be referenced in the file itself. If it compiles, and looks ok at all places where \year gets used, it is "the right way". Personally, I'd prefer to use a different name for the macro rather than the predefined "\year" in order to avoid people getting confused, but that consideration has obviously not deterred the previous authors. -- David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum