Re: Maintenance or successors? (was Re: Buffer overflow in the StringQuotedWord() function)

Yannig Robert via "Users of the Lout document typesetting system." <[email protected]> Fri, 18 Dec 2020 16:17:34 +0100
Newsgroups gmane.comp.type-setting.lout
Message-ID <[email protected]>
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Hello all,


Even if I just started using it a year ago (a bit late to the party!), I=20
am really glad that Lout is living on as unlike Latex I seem to be able=20
to use it without loosing my sanity!

There were talks earlier that Debian was dropping Lout. Does this means=20
that those of us who use a Debian based OS soon will need to compile it=20
? Are there instructions somewhere for those like me who aren't experts?

Regards

Yannig


On 18/12/2020 06:01, William Bader wrote:
> I have a version of lout with the CVEs fixed at=20
> https://github.com/william8000/lout <https://github.com/william8000/lou=
t>
> The repository has commits for all of the lout 3.xx releases that I=20
> could find and then a final commit that fixes the CVEs and updates the=20
> release to 3.41.
> I can try to fix future bugs and CVEs as they are reported.
> Regards, William
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------=
-
> *From:* Lout-users=20
> <[email protected]> on behalf of=
=20
> Ludovic Court=E8s <[email protected]>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, December 16, 2020 5:59 AM
> *To:* Mark Carroll <[email protected]>
> *Cc:* [email protected] <[email protected]>
> *Subject:* Re: Maintenance or successors? (was Re: Buffer overflow in=20
> the StringQuotedWord() function)
> Hi,
>
> Mark Carroll <[email protected]> skribis:
>
> > Thank you very much indeed for all the work already done on Lout, it'=
s a
> > real gem, both in software and documentation. Unfortunately, I have n=
ot
> > used C (or C++) much since the nineties so I rather doubt that I am
> > suited to attempt to safely address outstanding CVEs; my recent histo=
ry
> > is in fixing Java ones instead! Might somebody else be up for the
> > catchup and ongoing maintenance work? Otherwise, I hope that this is =
not
> > badly off-topic: If Basser Lout is no longer maintained then I suppos=
e
> > it raises the question of if anyone here has migrated to anything tha=
t
> > does not pale in comparison, is there any agreeable successor? Maybe
> > there is some other mailing list worth following about the wider stat=
e
> > of document formatters?
> >
> > I've used Lout for my own documents but, in using things like XeTeX w=
ith
> > TikZ in the day job and such, I've yet to find a match for Lout's she=
er
> > cleanliness, it is positively a pleasure to use; I guess the function=
al
> > approach really works, a worthwhile research experiment indeed. At le=
ast
> > after I have employed tips from others about getting it to recognize
> > various kinds of fonts, Basser Lout is one of the few pieces of softw=
are
> > I use where the surprises tend to be more pleasant than not. "I wonde=
r
> > if this would work? Yes, it does!"
>
> I=92m late to the discussion but I agree with everything you wrote: hav=
ing
> used LaTeX (+ Beamer, etc.) for some time now, it always feels clunky
> and brittle compared to Lout.=A0 The functional approach of Lout makes =
it
> much more pleasant to work with, and more predictable too.
>
> I=92m not aware of any other functional document formatting tool.
>
> > I wonder if I'll end up seeing how far I can get with Haskell's bindi=
ngs
> > to Cairo and if useful guidance would come from the text about Nonpar=
eil
> > which, admittedly, it's a long time since I looked at. Some combinati=
on
> > of Lout's Expert's Guide and other "lessons learned" could be valuabl=
e
> > inspiration; as you've previously observed, "Text handling is a maze
> > where many have lost their way," so it would be great to at least
> > continue to benefit from how Lout advances the field.
>
> That=92s probably the way to go even though, like you write, this may b=
e
> an endless quest.=A0 :-)
>
> Thanks,
> Ludo=92.
>

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    <p>Hello all,</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <p>Even if I just started using it a year ago (a bit late to the
      party!), I am really glad that Lout is living on as unlike Latex I
      seem to be able to use it without loosing my sanity!<br>
    </p>
    <p>There were talks earlier that Debian was dropping Lout. Does this
      means that those of us who use a Debian based OS soon will need to
      compile it ? Are there instructions somewhere for those like me
      who aren't experts?</p>
    <p>Regards</p>
    <p>Yannig</p>
    <p><br>
    </p>
    <div class=3D"moz-cite-prefix">On 18/12/2020 06:01, William Bader
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type=3D"cite"
cite=3D"mid:[email protected]=
rd02.prod.outlook.com">
      <meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html;
        charset=3Dwindows-1252">
      <style type=3D"text/css" style=3D"display:none;"> P {margin-top:0;m=
argin-bottom:0;}</style>
      <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;
        font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
        I have a version of lout with the CVEs fixed at=A0<a
          href=3D"https://github.com/william8000/lout" id=3D"LPlnk"
          moz-do-not-send=3D"true">https://github.com/william8000/lout</a=
></div>
      <div>The repository has commits for all of the lout 3.xx releases
        that I could find and then a final commit that fixes the CVEs
        and updates the release to 3.41.</div>
      <div>I can try to fix future bugs and CVEs as they are reported.</d=
iv>
      <div>Regards, William</div>
      <br>
      <div style=3D"font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;
        font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">
        <br>
      </div>
      <div>
        <hr tabindex=3D"-1" style=3D"display:inline-block; width:98%">
        <div id=3D"divRplyFwdMsg" dir=3D"ltr"><font style=3D"font-size:11=
pt"
            face=3D"Calibri, sans-serif" color=3D"#000000"><b>From:</b>
            Lout-users
            <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href=3D"mailto:lout-users-=
[email protected]">&lt;lout-users-bounces+wil=
[email protected]&gt;</a>
            on behalf of Ludovic Court=E8s <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-rfc23=
96E" href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">&lt;[email protected]&gt;</a><br>
            <b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, December 16, 2020 5:59 AM<br>
            <b>To:</b> Mark Carroll <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" hr=
ef=3D"mailto:[email protected]">&lt;[email protected]&gt;</a><br>
            <b>Cc:</b> <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href=3D"mail=
to:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>
            <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href=3D"mailto:lout-users@=
nongnu.org">&lt;[email protected]&gt;</a><br>
            <b>Subject:</b> Re: Maintenance or successors? (was Re:
            Buffer overflow in the StringQuotedWord() function)</font>
          <div>=A0</div>
        </div>
        <div class=3D"BodyFragment"><font size=3D"2"><span
              style=3D"font-size:11pt">
              <div class=3D"PlainText">Hi,<br>
                <br>
                Mark Carroll <a class=3D"moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href=3D"m=
ailto:[email protected]">&lt;[email protected]&gt;</a> skribis:<br>
                <br>
                &gt; Thank you very much indeed for all the work already
                done on Lout, it's a<br>
                &gt; real gem, both in software and documentation.
                Unfortunately, I have not<br>
                &gt; used C (or C++) much since the nineties so I rather
                doubt that I am<br>
                &gt; suited to attempt to safely address outstanding
                CVEs; my recent history<br>
                &gt; is in fixing Java ones instead! Might somebody else
                be up for the<br>
                &gt; catchup and ongoing maintenance work? Otherwise, I
                hope that this is not<br>
                &gt; badly off-topic: If Basser Lout is no longer
                maintained then I suppose<br>
                &gt; it raises the question of if anyone here has
                migrated to anything that<br>
                &gt; does not pale in comparison, is there any agreeable
                successor? Maybe<br>
                &gt; there is some other mailing list worth following
                about the wider state<br>
                &gt; of document formatters?<br>
                &gt;<br>
                &gt; I've used Lout for my own documents but, in using
                things like XeTeX with<br>
                &gt; TikZ in the day job and such, I've yet to find a
                match for Lout's sheer<br>
                &gt; cleanliness, it is positively a pleasure to use; I
                guess the functional<br>
                &gt; approach really works, a worthwhile research
                experiment indeed. At least<br>
                &gt; after I have employed tips from others about
                getting it to recognize<br>
                &gt; various kinds of fonts, Basser Lout is one of the
                few pieces of software<br>
                &gt; I use where the surprises tend to be more pleasant
                than not. "I wonder<br>
                &gt; if this would work? Yes, it does!"<br>
                <br>
                I=92m late to the discussion but I agree with everything
                you wrote: having<br>
                used LaTeX (+ Beamer, etc.) for some time now, it always
                feels clunky<br>
                and brittle compared to Lout.=A0 The functional approach
                of Lout makes it<br>
                much more pleasant to work with, and more predictable
                too.<br>
                <br>
                I=92m not aware of any other functional document
                formatting tool.<br>
                <br>
                &gt; I wonder if I'll end up seeing how far I can get
                with Haskell's bindings<br>
                &gt; to Cairo and if useful guidance would come from the
                text about Nonpareil<br>
                &gt; which, admittedly, it's a long time since I looked
                at. Some combination<br>
                &gt; of Lout's Expert's Guide and other "lessons
                learned" could be valuable<br>
                &gt; inspiration; as you've previously observed, "Text
                handling is a maze<br>
                &gt; where many have lost their way," so it would be
                great to at least<br>
                &gt; continue to benefit from how Lout advances the
                field.<br>
                <br>
                That=92s probably the way to go even though, like you
                write, this may be<br>
                an endless quest.=A0 :-)<br>
                <br>
                Thanks,<br>
                Ludo=92.<br>
                <br>
              </div>
            </span></font></div>
      </div>
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