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Maybe in TeX, but my experience with LaTeX had been a little different because the packages and interdependencies between them changes with the time. I mean, i
by alexitosrv 17y ago
Maybe in TeX, but my experience with LaTeX had been a little different because the packages and interdependencies between them changes with the time.
I mean, if you take a non-trivial document using several packages from several years ago, and try to compile now, a likely result is the compilation fails with some obscure error or the original result can be different in unexpected ways.
Usually that can be fixed with the use of a new option or calling a different command or little things like that, however the point of compatibility through many revisions of many packages (and its interactions) in LaTeX is something to be warned about.
- gnosis 17y agoThis is why you should archive the packages along with the source for your document. This way you'll maximize the chances of being able to regenerate it at some point in the future.
- nailer 17y agoCouldn't you also archive the binary for OpenOffice and MS Word? In seems appearing consistent between versions is an issue on all platforms.
- gnosis 17y agoYou'll probably also need to archive Windows and all the DLLs along with those.
- nailer 17y agoWhy wouldn't LaTeX also require the OS to be archived for equivalent results? Although LaTeX often uses it's own bitmap based font system it does require X and supporting infrastructure.
- gnosis 17y agoBecause unlike Word, LaTeX can easily be rebuilt from source. And it should work on future versions of the OS. Though, of course, there's no guarantee of that either. So might be best to archive the OS too, just in case.