The LaTeX Team submitted an update to the
LaTeX Kernel
consisting of the following packages:
latex-base
latex-doc
cyrillic
graphics
and tools .
Version: 2015-01-01
License: lppl1.3
Announcement text:
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LaTeX2e Release 2015/01/01
==========================
This release of the LaTeX kernel and associated core tools
features a number of improvements. A short summary is given
below: full details of this release are given in the latest
edition of LaTeX2e News (Issue 22).
New approach to kernel modifications
------------------------------------
This release features a new method for incorporating changes
into the kernel, balancing the need to provide stability with a
requirement to fix issues and address changes taking place in
the LaTeX landscape. The new `latexrelease` package mechanism
means that fixes are now added directly to the kernel, with the
possibly for the user to deactivate them
\RequirePackage[2014/05/01]{latexrelease}
This mechanism is also available to package authors, who should
consult the news for more details.
To facilitate ease-of-use of this new approach, the release
date for the kernel has been set to a suitable memorable value.
Extended allocation routine and additional float storage
--------------------------------------------------------
The register allocation system has been modified to recognise
the existence of e-TeX, XeTeX and LuaTeX and make more registers
available _via_ `\newcount`, _etc._, without the user needing to
load the `etex package.
With e-TeX available (the case for all TeX system releases for
some years) a new method is made available to extend the pool
used for float storage. This can be activated using the new
`\extrafloats` command, which requires an argument to specify
how many additional float slots to provide.
Unicode engine support
----------------------
The engines XeTeX and LuaTeX both natively work with Unicode
input and have some (subtle) functionality differences from
pdfTeX. This has led to the additional of a range of patches
being applied in the process of building the LaTeX2e format with
these engines. In this release, the kernel sources are updated
such that these patches should no longer be required.
Most notably, the new file `unicode-letters.def` now provides a
full set of Unicode-based assignments for `\catcode`, `\uccode`
and so on. This means that with with Unicode engines the assumed
font encoding is Unicode rather than `T1`.
TeX system builders have already been appraised of these changes
and suggested `.ini` files have been circulated by the team. To
aid in the use of this work as widely as possible,
`unicode-letters.def` is designed to be usable with formats
other than LaTeX2e and act as a drop-in replacement for
`unicode-letters.tex` for both XeTeX and LuaTeX.
Building for release
--------------------
The team have moved to a new script system for creating
releases, [l3build](
http://ctan.org/pkg/l3build). For users, the
two key benefits of this move are that we now provide
hyperlinked PDF documentation and TDS-style zip files for the
entire release.
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These packages are located at
http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/base/
http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/doc/
http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/required/cyrillic/
http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/required/graphics/
http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/required/tools/
More information is at
http://www.ctan.org/pkg/latex-base
http://www.ctan.org/pkg/latex-doc
http://www.ctan.org/pkg/cyrillic
http://www.ctan.org/pkg/graphics
http://www.ctan.org/pkg/tools
We are supported by the TeX Users Group
http://www.tug.org .
Please join a users group; see
http://www.tug.org/usergroups.html .
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Thanks for the upload.
For the CTAN Team
Petra Rübe-Pugliese