Update of siunitx went wrong (probably)

Norbert Preining norbert at preining.info
Thu Nov 9 00:19:14 CET 2023


Hi all,

since there seems to be sooo much confusion about version numbers and
TeX Live packages, let me walk you through the nasty details.

The usual process is:
(1) author uploads package to CTAN
(2) CTAN team updates package in CTAN
(3) CTAN team updates Catalogue information
(4) TeX Live team imports package and catalogue version
(5) TeX Live system updates package version information from Catalogue

Now, the point is that (2) and (3) is not always in sync

That means, when (4) happens, (3) might not have been done.
Now, if (3) happens later on, it would not trigger an update
of the TeX Live package, and thus the ctan-version information
shown by tlmgr would be lagging behind 1 version forever.

Thus, we have introduced (5) that once a week (afair) checks all
packages for stale catalogue versions.

Now, in the very very rare case that Karl is not doing updates over the
weekend, the current situation can happen, namely:
- (1)-(3) happened
- (4) did NOT happen
- (5) did happen
In this case the tlmgr ctan-version info is *ahead* of the actual files
in TeX Live.

Now, solutions solutions solutions is everyone crying. Let me offer you
a few pills, red green blue whatever:
- we drop catalogue info since it might be stale
	easy for us, but many will complain
- we don't do (5)
	easy for us, but we will get even more complaints because
	many tlmgr ctan-version will be lagging behind
- only import packages into TeX Live when (2) AND (3) has happened
	possible, not so easy
	but many will complain "it is already 3 (THREE!!) days that
	the upload is on CTAN but not in TeX Live" ...
- leave it as is
	and live with the very rare case that Karl is not doing daily
	updates

Which pill do you take?

Norbert

--
PREINING Norbert                              https://www.preining.info
Mercari Inc.     +     IFMGA Guide     +     TU Wien     +     TeX Live
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