Bug#539482: texlive-base-bin: bibtex should use the alternatives system

[Jakub Wilk <ubanus@users.sf.net>]

* Vincent Danjean <vdanjean.ml@free.fr>, 2009-08-02, 01:11:
> > There are currently at least 2 working bibtex implementations in Debian,
> > i.e. nbibtex and TeX Live's one, and there's going to be more (see bugs
> > #412085, #535116).
> >
> > Therefore, I believe it would be a good idea for TeX Live's bibtex to
> > start using the Debian alternatives system, so that other
> > implementations could be made available under the /usr/bin/bibtex and
> > /usr/share/man/man1/bibtex.1.gz names.
>
> Does all the bibtex implementations have the same interface (ie the same
> command-line options) ?
> It is required if want to be able to use alternatives.

All the implementations accept the most basic syntax, i.e.:

    bibtex AUXFILE[.aux]

nbibtex supports the -min-crossref=N, -help and -version, but not -terse.
Unfortunately, other implementations support none of these options. 
However, if you believe that it is essential to have all of them 
implemented (I don't think it's necessary), I am willing to contribute
patches for pybtex and (possibly) pybliographer.

--
Jakub Wilk