2.99.8: second release candidate

This 2.99.8 *is* the second release candidate of teTeX-3.0. Several
portability bugs have been fixed, so it should now work better on
non-linux systems...

As usual: please, send me feedback, even if it all just works :-)
Feedback on 2.99.7 is a little lower then usual (especially on
"traditional" UNIX systems); I think this is because several active
testers have not been "at work" these days.

teTeX-3.0 has failed the announced "target" of being released in 2004,
but I think that somethin in (early?) January 2005 should be possible.

Files (to appear soon):
  ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/systems/unix/teTeX-beta/tetex-src-2.99.8.20050101-beta.tar.gz
  ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/systems/unix/teTeX-beta/tetex-texmf-2.99.8.20050101-beta.tar.gz
  ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/systems/unix/teTeX-beta/tetex-texmfsrc-2.99.8.20050101-beta.tar.gz
or
  ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/systems/unix/teTeX-beta/tetex-src-2.99.8.20050101-beta.tar.gz
  ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/systems/unix/teTeX-beta/tetex-texmf-2.99.8.20050101-beta.tar.gz
  ftp://ftp.dante.de/tex-archive/systems/unix/teTeX-beta/tetex-texmfsrc-2.99.8.20050101-beta.tar.gz

Changes in the src area:
        * fix a portability bug in mktexlsr
        * update texconfig and fmtutil to make "texconfig formats" much faster
        * fix a bug in parse_ofm.c (patch by Hossein Movahhedian)
        * fmtutil: rename variable verbose to avoid a clash with a shell
          function of the same name (portability fix)
        * new web2c version number (from Olaf): web2c-7.5.4
        * tex.ch: Implement \ifeof18 to test whether \write18 is enabled
        * mp.ch and mf.ch: add check for serial_no counter overflow
        * different implementation of texmfvar feature in mktexnam
        * fix a small bug in dvips.texi
        * fix texconfig-dialog (set missing defaults for DIALOG_TERMINFO
          / DIALOG_TERM)

Changes in the texmf area:
        * fix tx8r.enc -> 8r.enc in Context's map files
        * updated the pdftex manual
        * add trchars.adj and trfonts.map (for groff support in metapost
          support programs)

Happy testing + have fun!

Thomas