Bug#100107: algorithm.sty and algorithmic.sty
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Peter,
I'm sending this message to both addresses I was able to find for
you from a couple of Google searching in hopes that at least one
of them is active or forwarding to an active address.
I'm part of the group who maintain Debian's teTeX packages. We've
had some bug reports from a new user regarding your algorithm and
algorithmic packages, and I wanted to share his concerns with you
and see whether you were interested in updating the files or would
be willing to grant us permission to do so ourselves.
The first issue is that the documentation for the package is in a
file called algorithms, which doesn't match the name of either of
the packages you actually need to load. That's doubly confusing
because there is no mention in the documentation of how to load
the packages that supply the algorithm and algorithmic
environments.
The easiest fix for this issue would be to write a paragraph or
two explaining the names of the packages and how to load them.
The second issue is that the user has some suggestions for
additional functionality. Specifically, he proposes the addition
of \PROC and \ENDPROC and \FUNC and \ENDFUNC commands that would
function much like some of the other constructs. He would also be
interested in having constructs for describing parallel programs
(cobegin/coend or similar).
My initial reaction is to let him know that he can add support for
those things himself, but I thought I would pass them along to you
in case you were interested in implementing them in a new release
of the algorithmic/algorithm packages. I also wanted to check on
the licensing status of the files -- at the moment, they only
indicate ``Copyright -- 1994 Peter Williams'' (release date is 8
April 1996), with no indication of what, if any, license the files
are being distributed with.
The working assumption with CTAN seems to be that files are
distributed under the LPPL unless those files state otherwise or
the archive maintainers are informed of a conflict or change in
licensing terms. It would be very useful if you could provide
them (or me) with a clearer statement about the license under
which the algorithm/algorithmic packages are distributed.
If you're interested in following up on the bugs filed in the
Debian Bug-Tracking System, please see
<http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=100105>
<http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=100107>
Thanks very much for any assistance you can render.
Claire Connelly
<cmc@debian.org>
Debian Developer
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