From: rws@expo.lcs.mit.EDU (Bob Scheifler)
Subject: Release of X Consortium standard PEXlib specification
Organization: The Internet
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:28:01 GMT


Release of Final PEXlib Document
Jeff Stevenson
November 5, 1992


    The Final PEXlib, Version 5.1, document is available.

    The files are available via anonymous ftp on export.lcs.mit.edu in the

	/pub/DOCS/PEXlib

    directory.  There are two files:

	PEXlib.doc.tar.Z	- the troff source files
	PEXlib.ps.tar.Z		- the PostScript output files

    I recommend that you get the PostScript files for hardcopy output.
    There is a known problem with creating the index in some environments.
    The PostScript tar includes two files: PEXlib.PS which is the main
    document and table of contents, and PEXlib.ndx.PS which is the index.

    The source tar contains all macros and sources files for building the
    document, table of contents and index.  The source tar also includes the
    standard header files.  Having the source makes searching for things in
    the document easier too.

    One note about building the document: there is a number register used to
    control the font used for code excerpts (a uniform courier font).  The
    default is to use the font name "C" (e.g. .ft C) which is believed to be
    correct for most ditroff and psroff implementations.  However, there is
    at least one known troff implementation that has the courier loaded in
    font position 8 and is not named "C".  So, to override the default, use
    the command line option "-rC8" to effect the correct font change (e.g.
    .ft 8).  If you have problems with getting the code excerpts to look
    correct, try overriding the default as shown above.  You can do this by
    modifying the troff command in the Imakefile.


    Finally, the following is included in this README as a reference to work
    still in progress.


    Locales and Internationalized Text
    ----------------------------------

    PEXlib provides functions for supporting international text and
    multibyte fonts, but this support is basic and difficult to use.  An
    effort to introduce more appropriate support for localization is in
    progress, but was too late for inclusion in this first release of PEXlib
    5.1.  A second release of PEXlib 5.1 is being considered in order to
    incorporate this support for internationalization.

    The proposal being worked on introduces locale management and
    internationalized text functions into PEXlib that are very similar to
    Xlib.

    A donation of sample code for these functions is expected, and is
    expected to be made public if donated.


    Additional PEXlib Utilities
    ---------------------------

    In addition to the internationalization work, there is also work in
    progress on additional utilities for PEXlib.  Most of these utilities
    are expected to be made available as contributed code from the X
    Consortium.  Once available, contributed code can be accessed via ftp to
    export.lcs.mit.edu.  Look in the /contrib/PEXlib/ directory.

    The work in progress includes utilities for double-buffering, visual
    selection and colormap initialization.  There will be a README file in
    the ftp directory, /contrib/PEXlib/, with more information.