[tex-k] Bug report for The TeXbook

[Bertram Scharpf]

Dear TeX maintainers,

I suppose I found a minor bug in The TeXbook.

For the item '\newhelp' the index directs to pages
'346, +347'. In my printed version (I bought it around 2002)
and, as far as I see, in the current version the '\newhelp'
macro only appears on page 347. The definition even comes
before the description.

Thanks in advance for processing this report and eventually
for fixing the bug.

Bertram

[Paul Vojta]

One could argue that it's mentioned in the sentence, "There's a special
counter called \allocationnumber that will be equal to the most recently
allocated number, after every \newcount, \newdimen, ..., \newinsert operation;
macro packages are supposed to refer to \allocationnumber if they want to
find out what number was allocated." (It's hidden in the "...".
It's documenting that \newhelp sets \allocationnumber.)

Paul Vojta

Post by Bertram Scharpf
Dear TeX maintainers,
I suppose I found a minor bug in The TeXbook.
For the item '\newhelp' the index directs to pages
'346, +347'. In my printed version (I bought it around 2002)
and, as far as I see, in the current version the '\newhelp'
macro only appears on page 347. The definition even comes
before the description.
Thanks in advance for processing this report and eventually
for fixing the bug.
Bertram
--
Bertram Scharpf
Bopserstraße 15, D-70180 Stuttgart
Ruf 0711/2599337, Fax [phone] [13*79*2531,prim]
http://www.bertram-scharpf.de

[Reinhard Kotucha]

Post by Paul Vojta
One could argue that it's mentioned in the sentence, "There's a
special counter called \allocationnumber that will be equal to the
most recently allocated number, after every \newcount, \newdimen,
..., \newinsert operation; macro packages are supposed to refer to
\allocationnumber if they want to find out what number was
allocated." (It's hidden in the "...". It's documenting that
\newhelp sets \allocationnumber.)

Dear Paul,
as far as I understand, you want to tell us that Knuth is infallible.

But if an index entry points to the Nirwana, it's definitely a bug,
regardless how "..." can be interpreted.

Regards,
Reinhard

[Paul Vojta]

Post by Reinhard Kotucha

Post by Paul Vojta
One could argue that it's mentioned in the sentence, "There's a
special counter called \allocationnumber that will be equal to the
most recently allocated number, after every \newcount, \newdimen,
..., \newinsert operation; macro packages are supposed to refer to
\allocationnumber if they want to find out what number was
allocated." (It's hidden in the "...". It's documenting that
\newhelp sets \allocationnumber.)

Dear Paul,
as far as I understand, you want to tell us that Knuth is infallible.
But if an index entry points to the Nirwana, it's definitely a bug,
regardless how "..." can be interpreted.

No, I am not trying to tell you that Knuth is infallible. There have been
typos in the TeXbook before, and I'm sure that there are more to be
discovered.

However, this instance is not one of them.

The paragraph begins, "Here now are the macros that provide allocation for
quantities of more permanent value." This is a reference to the code listing
on pages 346--347. The sentence I quoted in my email documents (part of)
the behavior of \newcount, \newdimen, \newskip, \newmuskip, \newbox,
\newhelp, \newtoks, \newread, \newwrite, and \newinsert. These are the
non-internal macros defined between the line beginning \outer\def\newcount
and the line beginning \outer\def\newinsert. And, the index entries for
all of these macros mention page 346.

Paul Vojta

[Reinhard Kotucha]

Post by Bertram Scharpf
Dear TeX maintainers,
I suppose I found a minor bug in The TeXbook.
For the item '\newhelp' the index directs to pages
'346, +347'. In my printed version (I bought it around 2002)
and, as far as I see, in the current version the '\newhelp'
macro only appears on page 347. The definition even comes
before the description.
Thanks in advance for processing this report and eventually
for fixing the bug.

I assume that nobody else but Don Knuth can fix the bug.

But how can this happen? I can't imagine that page numbers in index
entries are hard coded.

If you you are keen to investigate further, you'll find the sources of
The TeXbook and the underlying macro package on CTAN.

http://ctan.org/systems/knuth/dist/tex/texbook.tex
http://ctan.org/macros/plain/base/manmac.tex


I just notice that manmac.tex appears thrice on CTAN.

macros/plain/base/manmac.tex
macros/plain/contrib/samples/manmac.tex
systems/knuth/dist/lib/manmac.tex

Hopefully all these files are identical or are links to one and the
same file, at least.

Regards,
Reinhard

[Karl Berry]

[on CTAN]
macros/plain/base/manmac.tex
macros/plain/contrib/samples/manmac.tex
systems/knuth/dist/lib/manmac.tex

The first is a symlink to the third, which is the canonical source
maintained by Knuth, as one might guess from the directory name.

The second is a separate, and old, copy. That directory is ca.1989, and
is evidently a more or less random collection of files, some Knuth's
(which should become symlinks, I guess), some not (which may be
maintained elsewhere). I don't have the energy to sort it out. I hope
someone else does ... -k

[Andrew Komornicki]

dear Karl,

My TeXbook dates back from 1984.
shows: Second printing October 1984, and Knuth has the same index
entry. This must have been intended.

andrew

Andrew Komornicki
Department of Chemistry
Stanford University

Post by Karl Berry
[on CTAN]
macros/plain/base/manmac.tex
macros/plain/contrib/samples/manmac.tex
systems/knuth/dist/lib/manmac.tex
The first is a symlink to the third, which is the canonical source
maintained by Knuth, as one might guess from the directory name.
The second is a separate, and old, copy. That directory is ca.1989, and
is evidently a more or less random collection of files, some Knuth's
(which should become symlinks, I guess), some not (which may be
maintained elsewhere). I don't have the energy to sort it out. I hope
someone else does ... -k

[Karl Berry]

Bertram, thank you for the report.

Paul: thank you for the analysis. FWIW, I agree. Not a bug.

rk> I can't imagine that page numbers in index entries are hard coded.

In Knuth's books, they are. If you look at the end of texbook.tex or
mfbook.tex, you will see. -k

[Reinhard Kotucha]

Post by Karl Berry
rk> I can't imagine that page numbers in index entries are hard coded.
In Knuth's books, they are. If you look at the end of texbook.tex
or mfbook.tex, you will see. -k

...and it makes sense. I completely forgot that some of TeX's error
messages contain page numbers.

Regards,
Reinhard