From a44583a02f63cb079bb50a2ae13da79f7ba4fbee Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Joseph Wright Date: Wed, 27 Nov 2024 16:13:27 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add news for 2025-06-01 PR1 (#25) * Add news entry for 2025-06-01 PR1 * Add an 'etc.' * Add hotfix to news * Correct typos --- _posts/2024-11-27-latex-dev-1.md | 69 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 69 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/2024-11-27-latex-dev-1.md diff --git a/_posts/2024-11-27-latex-dev-1.md b/_posts/2024-11-27-latex-dev-1.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1aedc7ce --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-11-27-latex-dev-1.md @@ -0,0 +1,69 @@ +--- +layout: post +title: "Better multicolumn marks: Pre-release of LaTeX 2025-06-01 is available for testing" +date: 2024-11-27 +description: "We submitted the first pre-release version for the 2025-06-01 LaTeX +kernel to CTAN recently. It is ready for testing, with a particular focus on multicolumn marks." +excerpt: "We submitted the first pre-release version for the 2025-06-01 LaTeX kernel to +CTAN recently. It should have made its way into TeX Live for everyone by now, +so it's ready for users to try. + +As the first pre-release, this contains only some of the ideas we are planning +for the next release. However, there are significant changes in the marks code, +particularly for multicolumn content, which are ready for testing." +categories: news +tags: [latex2e, beta-testing, development formats] +--- + +# Better multicolumn marks: Pre-release of LaTeX 2023-06-01 is available for testing + +We submitted the first pre-release version for the 2025-06-01 LaTeX kernel to +CTAN recently. It should have made its way into TeX Live for everyone by now, +so it's ready for users to try. + +As the first pre-release, this contains only some of the ideas we are planning +for the next release. However, there are significant changes in the marks code, +particularly for multicolumn content, which are ready for testing. + +## Marks and multiple columns + +A few releases ago, we introduced a new marks mechanism into LaTeX: the older +approach knew only a very limited amount of information, and a much more +flexible system was needed. At the time, we retained the old mechanism in +parallel, and this was still used by the `multicol` package. + +We have now updated `multicol` to use the new approach, which means we have +been able to retire the old one fully. The legacy commands `\markboth`, +`\markright`, `\leftmark`, and `\rightmark` are now simple wrappers around +`\InsertMark`, etc., which should work transparently with current document classes. + +We anticipate that everything should work smoothly with the move to a new +approach, but it would be useful for interested users to check this is true in +real-world documents. We are particularly keen to hear of any issues with +`multicol`, which uses the full range of features in the new marks system. + +## Outlook + +Code improvements across the kernel continue: this pre-release sees changes to +case changing and in some aspects of verbatim handling. We are also continuing +to extend automated tagging, handling more mathematics without user +intervention. + +We anticipate that there will be at least a couple of development releases in +the new year as more features are added. So there is plenty of time to get +testing done for the next LaTeX release. + +## Meanwhile, a hotfix kernel release + +As well as getting the first pre-release out for 2025-06-01, we also sent CTAN +a kernel hotfix (2024-11-01 patch level 1) this week. There were two issues +that came up. First, `\DeclareEncodingSubset` couldn't be used in the document +body, which was an issue as we'd encouraged font package authors to use it in +`.fd` files - which can be loaded after `\begin{document}`. Second, there was a +timing issue with defining `\tag_if_active:TF` which showed up with tabulars. +Both of these problems are fixed in the patch level 1 release. Naturally, these +changes are in the 2025-06-01 pre-release too. + +Enjoy --- Joseph + +