Add BibTool to TeXlive

Christoph Grüninger via tex-live <[email protected]> Tue, 6 Jan 2026 22:39:40 +0100

Newsgroups	gmane.comp.tex.live
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Hello Karl,

I want to pick up on a message from July 2025 regarding the addition of 
BibTool to TeXlive.

https://tug.org/pipermail/tex-live/2025-July/051606.html

> What it doesn't have is Automake support:
> $ tar tf BibTool-2.68.tar.gz | grep Makefile.am
> $
> 
> The whole TL tree is built with Automake.
> 
> I doubt it would be terribly hard to add Automake support to the
> package, but it's nothing that will ever get to the top of my list.
> If someone else wants to take that up, great.

I would like to see BibTool getting part of TeXlive. I don't see why 
adding Automake is a requirement. With or without, it is built running
   ./configure && make
For the project there is no benefit beside getting it in TeXlive. It 
just adds code, complexity, and a new dependency.

Could you reconsider asking for the use of Automake? Or could you share 
the advantages I might miss?

Bye
Christoph