Re: Use of LaTeX for the specification

["Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2025 at 07:22:52PM +0100, Alex Bennée wrote:
> Parav Pandit <parav@nvidia.com> writes:
> 
> >> From: Alex Bennée <alex.bennee@linaro.org>
> >> Sent: 29 September 2025 08:11 PM
> >> 
> >> 
> >> Hi,
> >> 
> >> I recently updated my distro to Trixie and found that HTML generation is
> >> broken. 


Alex pls note HTML generation is using htlatex not xetex


> > I test html and pdf generation regularly on merging patches.
> > And it seems to work for me with below version.
> > Which one are you using that fails?
> >
> > XeTeX 3.141592653-2.6-0.999993 (TeX Live 2022/dev/Debian)
> > kpathsea version 6.3.4/dev
> > Copyright 2021 SIL International, Jonathan Kew and Khaled Hosny.
> > There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
> > covered by the terms of both the XeTeX copyright and
> > the Lesser GNU General Public License.
> > For more information about these matters, see the file
> > named COPYING and the XeTeX source.
> > Primary author of XeTeX: Jonathan Kew.
> > Compiled with ICU version 70.1; using 70.1
> > Compiled with zlib version 1.2.11; using 1.2.11
> > Compiled with FreeType2 version 2.11.1; using 2.11.1
> > Compiled with Graphite2 version 1.3.14; using 1.3.14
> > Compiled with HarfBuzz version 2.7.4; using 2.7.4
> > Compiled with libpng version 1.6.37; using 1.6.37
> > Compiled with pplib version v2.05 less toxic i hope
> > Compiled with fontconfig version 2.13.1; using 2.13.1
> 
> ➜  xetex --version
> XeTeX 3.141592653-2.6-0.999996 (TeX Live 2025/dev/Debian)
> kpathsea version 6.4.0/dev
> Copyright 2024 SIL International, Jonathan Kew and Khaled Hosny.
> There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
> covered by the terms of both the XeTeX copyright and
> the Lesser GNU General Public License.
> For more information about these matters, see the file
> named COPYING and the XeTeX source.
> Primary author of XeTeX: Jonathan Kew.
> Compiled with ICU version 76.1; using 76.1
> Compiled with zlib version 1.3.1; using 1.3.1
> Compiled with FreeType2 version 2.13.3; using 2.13.3
> Compiled with Graphite2 version 1.3.14; using 1.3.14
> Compiled with HarfBuzz version 10.2.0; using 10.2.0
> Compiled with libpng version 1.6.47; using 1.6.48
> Compiled with pplib version v2.2
> Compiled with fontconfig version 2.15.0; using 2.15.0
> 
> It also fails run with the texlive distro:
> 
> 📦[alex@texlive virtio-spec.git]> xetex --version
> XeTeX 3.141592653-2.6-0.999997 (TeX Live 2025)
> kpathsea version 6.4.1
> Copyright 2025 SIL International, Jonathan Kew and Khaled Hosny.
> There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
> covered by the terms of both the XeTeX copyright and
> the Lesser GNU General Public License.
> For more information about these matters, see the file
> named COPYING and the XeTeX source.
> Primary author of XeTeX: Jonathan Kew.
> Compiled with ICU version 76.1; using 76.1
> Compiled with zlib version 1.3.1; using 1.3.1
> Compiled with FreeType2 version 2.13.3; using 2.13.3
> Compiled with Graphite2 version 1.3.14; using 1.3.14
> Compiled with HarfBuzz version 10.2.0; using 10.2.0
> Compiled with libpng version 1.6.46; using 1.6.46
> Compiled with pplib version v2.2
> Compiled with fontconfig version 2.13.1; using 2.15.0
> 
> >
> >
> >> As far as I can tell this comes down to the use of \cline as shown in this
> >> minimal example:
> >> 
> >>   \documentclass{article}
> >>   \usepackage{hhline}
> >>   \begin{document}
> >>   \begin{tabular}{ |l||l|l| }
> >>   \hline
> >>   Bits & Device Specific & Purpose \\
> >>   \cline{1-2}
> >>   Read / Write & Device Specific & \\
> >>   \cline{1-2}
> >>   Purpose & Device Specific & \\
> >>   \hline
> >>   \end{tabular}
> >>   \end{document}
> >> 
> >> which results in TeX ending early:
> >> 
> >>   ! Undefined control sequence.
> >>   \f:HBorder ...border-top:1px solid \#\hline:color
> >>                                                     ;"></td>
> >>   l.8 R
> >>        ead / Write & Device Specific & \\
> >>   ?
> >>   ! Emergency stop.


What is the command line you are using for this example?

> >> I'm liaising with Debian and the TexLive authors to try and figure out whats
> >> going on. However it does raise a bigger question for the specification - why do
> >> we use LaTeX?
> >> 
> >> I don't doubt that is a powerful typesetting system but its arcane syntax is a
> >> bit of a barrier to entry especially for casual contributors. With the recent
> >> breakage I wonder if I'm the canary in the coal mine and this will potentially be
> >> a problem for everyone else once their TeX setups upgrade.
> >> 
> >> I'd like to augment the repo with some GitHub actions so we can keep an upto
> >> date rendered draft available as well as some lint checks so we can avoid
> >> introducing dodgy markup. But firstly I want to ask is LaTeX the right source
> >> format for the spec going forward? Is this something mandated by OASIS or
> >> just an accident of history?
> >> 
> >> Thanks,
> >> 
> >> --
> >> Alex Bennée
> >> Virtualisation Tech Lead @ Linaro
> 
> -- 
> Alex Bennée
> Virtualisation Tech Lead @ Linaro