call for advice: auctex 11.8x as a xemacs pkg (was: XEmacs and ZUCTeX Problems)

David> Seems like a waste of time, given that we have changed the version David> string mechanism in 11.81 to not rely on CVS keywords. Instead of David> trying to fix up the problems with the old 11.55, it would seem to David> make more sense to sync with upstream. Ok, may be this is the right moment to come up with a question, I was thinking to post anyway. That question is mainly addressed to the people in Xemacs-beta, but since it concerns auctex, I will cc it to the devel list and would be happy for any suggestions. Situation: up to version 11.55 auctex consisted of a (huge) bunch of lisp file which made editing latex files easier. Now since version 11.80, preview-latex (mostly a brainchild of David Kastrup) has been included into auctex, such that preview-latex no longer is a stand-alone package. Preview-latex basically runs Latex on a file in question generates `pictures' based on the dvi file and `inserts' them into the latex source file. The crucial point is that preview-latex needs certain latex style files, which are not part of a standard (La)TeX distribution. Since it contains such files there is a problem for the xemacs-pkg version. Basically I see the following possibilities - I generate a xemacs pgk which is preview-latex free. This is possible though discouraged by the auctex team. Moreover the problem with this is that if a user wants to have the preview latex functionality she/he cannot any longer install it as a add-on (since it does not exist as a stand-alone pkg). So he must install auctex with preview-latex enabled. I think such a approach would not enhance the popularity of the xemacs auctex pkg. - I generate a a xemacs pgk which contains preview-latex. Now the problem with this is that I don't know where to put the preview latex style files. In the standard installation auctex comes with sophisticated make and configure files which are able to find the latex distribution installed and runs during the installation process texhash in order to update the latex databae. So the most obvious thing would be to install those files in the etc/ directory of the xemacs auctex pkg. However then either - a link must be set to a relevant directory in the latex tree (and the user must run texhash). I don't know whether MS windows system have the concept of a link. - or an appropriate tex path variables must be set and the user must run texhash. However that again would depend on the latex distribution used, which I cannot know before hand. If I decide follow the philosophy of the second possibility I have then to add in the documentation of the xemacs pkg, information of how to set up the latex distribution appropriately. The only similar case (of using non lisp files) I know is x-symbol, written by Christoph Wedler. This package allows to present latex math constructs by `real symbols'. It does it by using special non standard fonts. Such fonts are shipped with x-symbol and in earlier version of x-symbol one had to install such fonts globally and restart the xserver. In recent version that is not necessary any longer. I try to find out how Christoph achieved that but I am afraid that the x-symbol case might be to different to be helpful. The problem is connected to the fact that the xemacs pkg system wants to serve a huge variety of platforms and try to avoid platform dependent stuff, while auctex depends on sophisticated configure/Makefile which can provide such information. In any case I would strongly appreciate any comments on that subject. Uwe Brauer