[frabjous]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Nope, as long as you're trying to pushn the rigidity and inflexability of print books onto e-readers, people are going to keep telling you that it's not what they want. The one-size-fits-all view is, as you note, nonsense.

No one, except maybe ahi, is pushing for that.

frabjous - The problem is not with using TeX to create the book, it's with including a TeX rendering engine. The problem related to it being "conditional public domain", which legally is problematical (because, and only because, of the American 35-year rule. Let's not go there...).

I just don't see the problem. Machines are now being sold with Linux OSes that come with a TeX system preinstalled; I don't see why readers are any more problematic. It just needs to be made plain that you're paying for the hardware, not the software. And if approached, I'm sure Knuth would clarify matters. Surely the fact that they don't have to pay anyone for the software isn't going to be a turn-off for reader makers, it's going to be an attraction.

And the sort of embedding being talked about was /code/ defining additional tags. Allowing book-embedded code...yea.

You can define new tags in a normal tex document, and most style files, which is what we're talking about, just pre-package more tex code that could be used in the document but is convenient to have simpler if you want it to apply to multiple documents. In that way, it's precisely the same as embedding a CSS file in an ePub, which is routine. CSS in effect allows you to define new tags in HTML too -- none of that poses a security risk. If you want TeX to output to alter any file other than a PDF, DVI or the auxiliary files it uses to create the ToC and bibliography, you need to use special settings when you run, which obviously, wouldn't be allowed on the reader. As most readers run on a linux system, and obviously don't run as root, protecting the core system is trivial. There just is no risk (at least not anything greater than with ePub).

cmdahler - I know what TeX is. It's a markup language aimed at the print book market, especially technical books. I'd rather get away from the restrictions of print books than impose them on ebooks.

But you don't seem to have much experience with it. The code is very similar to HTML; it doesn't have to be geared towards creation of the print book market any more than HTML can only be used to produce webpages for viewing on a full sized monitor. Changing the font and page size and recompiling takes seconds. A reader page is more similar to a paper page than it is to a full size website display, and so using TeX is no odder a choice than HTML is.