TUGboat, Volume 0 (2001), No. 0

preliminary draft, September 15, 1999 0:04

Default Docstrip Headers
LATEX3 project team
Many LATEX users now distribute packages in documented source form using the docstrip system. Docstrip allows a header to be placed on generated package files, suitable for copyright information or distribution conditions.
If the docstrip install file distributed with apackage does not provide an explicit header, thedocstrip system will add a default header to all generated files. Previously the default header was thefollowing text:
This is file ‘myfile.sty’,generated with the docstrip utility.
The original source files were:
myfile.dtx(with options: ‘package’)

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
For the copyright see the source file.
You are *not* allowed to modify this file.
You are *not* allowed to distribute this file.
For distribution of the original source see the terms
for copying and modification in the file myfile.dtx.

Unfortunately the above conditions make it illegal to distribute the generated file, even if the fullsources are included, thus making it impossible toinclude the package in ‘ready to run’ distributions
such as the TEX Live CD.
Starting with the 1998/06/01 release of LATEX
the default header has been changed to allow suchusage; it is now as follows:This is file ‘myfile.sty’,generated with the docstrip utility.

1001

Note: This change does not affect any distribution that sets an explicit preamble in the docstrip
install file. In particular it does not result in any
changes to the distribution conditions placed on files
generated from the base LATEX distribution.
If you currently distribute a package on a publicarchive which does not specify a docstrip preamble(with the \preamble or \usepreamble commands inthe docstrip install file) then this change will affectyou.
• We hope that you will prefer the new default,
which allows your package to be used in manyof the more popular TEX distributions.
• However, if you prefer the more restrictive distributions conditions in the previous releases
then you will need to update your install fileto specify the command\usepreamble\originaldefault
before the commands generating the affected
package file.
We apologise that this change potentially requires
package authors to update their files on the publicarchives, but the old default text caused great problems for many distributors and there was no way
to change the default behaviour without affecting
existing files using that default.
References[1] Frank Mittelbach, Denys Duchier, Johannes
Braams, Marcin Woliński, and Mark Wooding.
The docstrip program. Part of the LATEX distribution as file docstrip.dtx.
[2] Michel Goossens, Frank Mittelbach and Alexander Samarin. The LATEX Companion, chapter 14.
Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1994.
 LATEX3 project teamThe original source files were:
myfile.dtx(with options: ‘package’)

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
For the copyright see the source file.
Any modified versions of this file must be renamedwith new filenames distinct from myfile.sty.
For distribution of the original source see the terms
for copying and modification in the file myfile.dtx.
This generated file may be distributed as long as theoriginal source files, as listed above, are part ofthe same distribution. (The sources need notnecessarily be in the same archive or directory.)

preliminary draft, September 15, 1999 0:04

preliminary draft, September 15, 1999 0:04