E - TEX and NIS : A Status Report

The N T S project was created under the zgis of D m during a meeting held at Hamburg in 1992; its brief was to investigate the possibility of perpetuating all that is best in T@ whilst being free from the constraints which TEX'S author, Prof. Knuth, has placed on its evolution. The group is now investigating both conservative and radical evolutionary paths for TEX-derived typesetting systems, these being respectively E-TEX (extended TEX) and N T S (a New Typesetting System). The group is also concerned that whilst TEX itself is completely stable and uniform across all platforms, the adjuncts whch accompany it vary from implementation to implementation and from site to site, and has therefore proposed that a 'canonical TEX kit' be specified, which once adopted could safely be assumed to form a part of every TEX installation. Work is now well advanced on the E-TEX project, whilst the group are concurrently involved in identifying the key components of a complete portable TEX system and in investigating sources of funding which will allow the N T S project to become a reality. Background to whch I had agreed, and therefore with effect from the 1993 Chemnitz meeting of DANTE the origThe N T S project first saw the light of day at the inal NTs group was stood and a new group Hamburg meeting of DANTE during 1992; prior to formed. t h s meeting, Joachm Larnmarsch had sent e-mail messages askmg those interested in the future of TEX to register their interest with h m , and invitations to attend the DANTE meeting were sent to those who had registered their interest. At the meeting, Joachlm proposed the formation of a working group, under the technical direction of Rainer Schopf and with membershp drawn from DANTE and UK-TUG, whose brief would encompass investigating, and possibly implementing, a successor or successors t o TEX: that is, typesetting systems which would embody all that was best in TEX whilst being free from the constraints whch had been placed on the evolution of TEX itself. These constraints had been imposed when Knuth announced that his work on TEX was complete, and that he now desired it to remain unchanged, apart from any essential bug fmes, in perpetuity. Because of Rainer's very heavy commitments on other projects (and in particular on the L#TEX~ project), not a lot was accomplished during the first year, and at the meeting of DANTE one year later Rainer announced that he was standing down as technical director; he and Joachim had already asked if I would be prepared to undertake that r6le, The Group Meets The initial membership of the re-formed group was just Rainer, Joachim and myself, and the first task was to identify others who would be willing to devote quite considerable amounts of time to ensuring the success of the N T S project. In the end Peter Breitenlohner, Boguskaw Jackowski, Mariusz Olko, Bernd Raichle, Marek Ryi-ko, Joachirn Schrod, Friedhelm Sowa and Chris Thompson were identified as likely candidates and invited to an inaugural meeting to be held in Kaiserslautern. (Barbara Beeton was also invited to join the group, but indicated in her acceptance that she would prefer to be a 'corresponding member', participating by e-mad but not in person.) Not all of those invited could attend, and the inaugural meeting was eventually attended by Peter B., Mariusz O., Bernd R., Joachim L., Joachm S., Friedhelm S. and myself, with Marion Neubauer acting as minutes secretary. The meeting was opened by Joachim L., who explained how N T S had come into existence, and the discussion was then opened for suggestions from those present. TLIGboat, Volume 15 (1994), No. 3 -Proceedings of the 1994 Annual Meeting