Prepare a package for upload to ctan
ctanify [--pkgname=string] [--[no]auto] [--tdsonly=filespec ...] [--[no]unixify] [--[no]skip] filespec[=dirname] ...
ctanify [--help]
ctanify [--version]
ctanify is intended for developers who have a LaTeX package that they want to distribute via the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (\s-1CTAN\s0). Given a list of filenames, ctanify creates a tarball (a .tar.gz file) with the files laid out in \s-1CTAN\s0's preferred structure. The tarball additionally contains a \s-1ZIP\s0 (.zip) file with copies of all files laid out in the standard TeX Directory Structure (\s-1TDS\s0), which facilitates inclusion of the package in the TeX Live distribution.
ctanify accepts the following command-line options:
Output basic usage information and exit.
Output ctanify's version number and exit.
Specify explicitly a package name. Normally, ctanify uses the base name of the first .ins or .sty file listed as the package name. The package name forms the base name of the tarball that ctanify produces.
Do not automatically add files to the tarball. Normally, ctanify automatically includes all files mentioned in a .ins file.
Specify a subset of the files named on the command line to include only in the \s-1TDS\s0 \s-1ZIP\s0 file, not in the \s-1CTAN\s0 package directory. Wildcards are allowed (quoted if necessary), and --tdsonly can be used multiple times on the same command line.
At least one filename must be specified on the command line. ctanify automatically places files in the \s-1TDS\s0 tree based on their extension, but this can be overridden by specifying explicitly a target \s-1TDS\s0 directory using the form filespec=dirname. Wildcards are allowed for the filespec (quoted if necessary).
The following options are unlikely to be necessary in ordinary usage. They are provided for special circumstances that may arise.
Instead of creating a tarball for \s-1CTAN\s0, merely create the package \s-1TDS\s0 tree rooted in directory dirname.
Store text files unmodified instead of converting their end-of-line character to Unix format (a single linefeed character with no carriage-return character), even though \s-1CTAN\s0 prefers receiving all files with Unix-format end-of-line characters.
Force ctanify to include files such as Unix hidden files, Emacs backup files, and version-control metadata files, all of which \s-1CTAN\s0 dislikes receiving.
Rename directories containing a single file to \*(C`misc\*(C'. (For example, rename \*(C`tex/latex/mypackage/mypackage.sty\*(C' to \*(C`tex/latex/misc/mypackage.sty\*(C'.) This was common practice in the past but is now strongly discouraged.
This message is typically caused by a .ins file that generates filename but that has not already been run through tex or latex to actually produce filename. ctanify does not automatically run tex or latex; this needs to be done manually by the user. See \*(L"\s-1CAVEATS\s0\*(R" for more information. For consistency, \s-1CTAN\s0 stores all text files with Unix-style line endings (a single linefeed character with no carriage-return character). To help in this effort, ctanify automatically replaces non-Unix-style line endings. The preceding merely message notifies the user that he should not be alarmed to see a different size for filename in the tarball versus the original filename on disk (which ctanify never modifies). If there's a good reason to preserve the original line endings (and there rarely is), the --no-unixify option can be used to prevent ctanify from altering any files when storing them in the tarball. ctanify normally ignores files\*(--even when specified explicitly on the command line\*(--that \s-1CTAN\s0 prefers not receiving. These include files whose names start with ".\*(L" (Unix hidden files), end in \*(R"~" (Emacs automatic backups), or that come from a \s-1CVS\s0 or .svn directory (version-control metadata files). If there's a good reason to submit such files to \s-1CTAN\s0 (and there rarely is), the --no-skip option can be used to prevent ctanify from ignoring them. Because of the popularity of the \s-1PDF\s0 format, \s-1CTAN\s0 wants to have as much documentation as possible distributed in \s-1PDF\s0. The preceding message asks the user to replace any PostScript or \s-1DVI\s0 documentation with \s-1PDF\s0 if possible. (ctanify will still include PostScript and \s-1DVI\s0 documentation in the tarball; the preceding message is merely a polite request.) ctanify places files in the \s-1TDS\s0 tree based on a table of file extensions. For example, all .sty files are placed in tex/latex/package-name. If ctanify does not know where to put a file it does not put it anywhere. See the last paragraph of \*(L"\s-1OPTIONS\s0\*(R" for an explanation of how to specify explicitly a file's target location in the \s-1TDS\s0 tree. For common file extensions that happen to be absent from ctanify's table, consider also notifying ctanify's author at the address shown below under \*(L"\s-1AUTHOR\s0\*(R".
Normally, all that's needed is to tell ctanify the name of the .ins file (or .sty if the package does not use DocStrip) and the prebuilt documentation, if any:
$ ctanify mypackage.ins mypackage.pdf README
490347 mypackage.tar.gz
1771 mypackage/README
15453 mypackage/mypackage.dtx
1957 mypackage/mypackage.ins
277683 mypackage/mypackage.pdf
246935 mypackage.tds.zip
1771 doc/latex/mypackage/README
277683 doc/latex/mypackage/mypackage.pdf
15453 source/latex/mypackage/mypackage.dtx
1957 source/latex/mypackage/mypackage.ins
1725 tex/latex/mypackage/mypackage.sty
ctanify outputs the size in bytes of the resulting tarball, each file within it, and each file within the contained \s-1ZIP\s0 file. In the preceding example, notice how ctanify automatically performed all of the following operations:
including mypackage.dtx (found by parsing mypackage.ins) in both the mypackage directory and the \s-1ZIP\s0 file,
including mypackage.sty (found by parsing mypackage.ins) in the \s-1ZIP\s0 file but, because it's a generated file, not in the mypackage directory, and
placing all files into appropriate \s-1TDS\s0 directories (documentation, source, main package) within the \s-1ZIP\s0 file.
Consider what it would take to manually produce an equivalent mypackage.tar.gz file. ctanify is definitely a simpler, quicker alternative.
ctanify assumes that PostScript files are documentation and therefore stores them under doc/latex/package-name/ in the \s-1TDS\s0 tree within the \s-1ZIP\s0 File. Suppose, however, that a LaTeX package uses a set of PostScript files to control dvips's output. In this case, ctanify must be told to include those PostScript files in the package directory, not the documentation directory.
$ ctanify mypackage.ins "mypackage*.ps=tex/latex/mypackage"
ctanify is written in Perl and needs a Perl installation to run.
ctanify requires the \s-1GNU\s0 tar and gzip programs to create a compressed tarball (.tar.gz).
ctanify uses a zip program to archive the \s-1TDS\s0 tree within the main tarball.
ctanify does not invoke tex or latex on its own, e.g., to process a .ins file. The reason is that ctanify does not know in the general case how to produce all of a package's generated files. It was deemed better to do nothing than to risk overwriting existing .sty (or other) files or to include outdated generated files in the tarball. In short, before running ctanify you should manually process any .ins files and otherwise generate any files that should be sent to \s-1CTAN\s0.
ctanify has been tested only on Linux. It may work on \s-1OS\s0 X. It probably does not work on Windows. Volunteers willing to help port ctanify to other platforms are extremely welcome.
tar\|(1), zip\|(1), latex\|(1), Guidelines for uploading TDS-Packaged materials to \s-1CTAN\s0 (http://www.ctan.org/TDS-guidelines.html <http://www.ctan.org/TDS-guidelines.html>), A Directory Structure for TeX Files (<http://tug.org/tds/>),
Scott Pakin, [email protected]
Copyright 2013 Scott Pakin
This work may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c of this license or (at your option) any later version. The latest version of this license is in
http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt <http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt>
and version 1.3c or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX version 2008/05/04 or later.