CHANGELOG.md

Changelog

All notable changes to the l3build bundle since the start of 2018 will be documented in this file.

The format is based on Keep a Changelog, this project uses date-based 'snapshot' version identifiers.

Unreleased

Fixed

• Skip LuaTeX-specific log normalization for \SHOWPDFTAGS output (issue #443)

Changed

• Align \SHOWPDFTAGS markers (may require .tlg update)

2025-12-24

Changed

• Normalize line ends in show-pdf-tags xml
• Update \SHOWPDFTAGS doc

2025-12-19

Added

• \SHOWPDFTAGS inserts the show-pdf-tags XML tree into the log file.

Changed

• Clarify doc for tdslocations and tdsdirs
• Clarify nature of ISO date format

2025-09-03

Fixed

• Minor formatting issue in normalization

2025-09-02

Changed

• Extend normalization of Lua function lines
• Normalize luacall lines

2025-07-03

Fixed

• Support use of \TIMO with updated ConTeXt

2025-07-02

Fixed

• For tests created by unpack, exludetests was inverted

Changed

• Support test file extensions with multiple dot separated components
• Support updated ConTeXt log formatting

2025-05-08

Fixed

• Missing os_concat required on Windows

2025-05-07

Added

• halferrorline and errorline vars (issue #258)

Changed

• Support recordstatus in a platform-neutral way (issue #383)
• Use [nl] no ^^M when marking linebreaks in \SHOWFILE (issue #409): may require .tlg rebuilds

Fixed

• Interaction between options --dev and --show-saves/-S (issue #411)

2025-02-23

Changed

• Initialize all boolean config variables
• Normalize at lines ... statements for overfull and underfull boxes (may require .tlg update)

Fixed

• Skip README rename when this has no extension (issue #388)

2024-10-16

Added

• --dev switch to run tests using development format

2024-10-08

Fixed

• Test for uncompleted conditionals in tests (may require .tlg update)
• Global typesetopts no longer ignored for luatex and lualatex (issue #351)
• Handling of spaces in options

2024-05-27

Changed

• Respect --rerun in doc target (issue #112)

Fixed

• Skip unknown engines correctly in l3build save
• Handling of environment settings in some cases (issue #353)

2024-02-08

Changed

• Extend normalization of line numbers to include those wrapped by LaTeX in text on line ...
• Suppress l3msg message wrapping

2024-01-18

Added

• Switch -s|--stdengine to run a set of tests only with the standard engine even where this varies between configs (issue #343)

Removed

• Switch --force|-f

2024-01-09

Fixed

• Type of return value of runtest_tasks() in doc
• Print failures correctly when these occur in multiple configurations including the core (build) one

2024-01-04

Changed

• Throw warnings on unknown doc name(s)
• Always execute runtest_tasks() if set (issue #327)
• Print failures correctly when these occur in multiple configurations

2023-12-15

Fixed

• Test for blank runtest_tasks() (issue #327)

2023-12-13-2

• Correct setup for script running in TeX Live

2023-12-13

Fixed

• Syntax warning on Windows with some test setups

2023-12-12

Changed

• Document default value of ctanpkg as a valid lua expression
• Improve log for failed checks with no diff files
• Document full syntaxes of \SHOWFILE and \ASSERT(STR)

Fixed

• Short-circuit check --rerun if testdir doesn't exist
• Retain errorlevel on Windows during check target

2023-11-01

Changed

• Drop duplicate backslashes in doc

Fixed

• Support non-ASCII filenames that fall within the system codepage on Windows (see #122)

2023-09-13

Added

• Document ConTeXt as supported checkformat

Changed

• Extend version string normalization during checks (see issue #96)

• Extend excludefiles to cover build.lua (see #286)

Fixed

• Return passing errorlevel if BibTeX issues warnings (see #260)
• Respect excludefiles when doing (local) installation

2023-09-07

Changed

• Refine -utc support
• Apply checkopts in addition to engine-specific options

2023-09-05

Changed

• Initialize the random seed with the current time so --shuffle produces different orders each run.
• Normalize more luaotfload cache lines
• Apply -utc switch for LuaTeX when using a fixed epoch value

2023-07-20

• Set -kanji-internal=euc when building pLaTeX

2023-07-17

Changed

• Improve stdout "Running l3build with target ..."
• Quote configuration name used in stdout
• Update one leftover outdated doc for unpackexe: defaults to pdftex
• Building pLaTeX format now uses e-upTeX engine
• Normalize more luaotfload path data (see issue #301)
• Update ConTeXt settings to allow for LuaTeX and LuaMetaTeX runs
• Improve doc for default stdengine

Fixed

• Avoid setting TEMXFCNF for ConTeXt (issue #232)

2023-03-27

Fixed

• All LuaTeX .tlg files were wrongly considered not engine-specific. Introduced in #292 which tried to fix #291.

2023-03-22

Changed

• Default value of maxprintline is now 9999 (may require .tlg updates: see docs)

Fixed

• Apply needed luatex-specific log normalization, even when --rerun is used (issue #291)

2023-03-08

Changed

• Generalize normalization of ghostscript version in PDF-based tests
• Include UNIX timestamps in generated ZIP files
• Normalize pdfTeX .enc file loading

Fixed

• Ensure when used, value of ps2pdfopts is surrounded by a space on both sides

2023-02-26

Changed

• Run engine sanity check per config

Fixed

• Restore epoch settings for dvitopdf()
• Use plural form of variable ps2pdfopts consistently in code and doc, and retain compatibility with singular form ps2pdfopt (issue #275)
• Remove the last trace of dropped variable stdconfig

2023-02-20

Changed

• Unify testdir by dropping possibly trailing .lua passed to --config

Fixed

• Ensure directories testdir and resultdir exist when --dirty is set
• epoch settings with xetex

2023-02-16

Changed

• Drop a redundant setup line for upTeX
• Normalize more Lua stack trace data (may require .tlg rebuild)

Fixed

• Ensure texmf.cnf work correctly for dvips

2022-11-10

Changed

• Suppress (new) LaTeX version data at end of .log

Fixed

• Allow for local override of ctanupload variable

2022-09-15

Fixed

• Copying of nested directories

2022-04-19

Changed

• Normalize GhostScript version in PDF-based tests
• Sort list of names of difference files for failing tests.

2022-04-12

Added

• Basic support for make4ht

Changed

• Support bidi version string in \special lines (closes #226)

2022-03-15

Changed

• When \pdfmeta_set_regression_data: is defined it is used to set metadata
• Support multiple configurations in bundles

Fixed

• Correctly normalize luaotfload font cache path

2022-02-24

Fixed

• Creation of subdirectories in TDS structures on Unix-like systems

• use form-string rather than form for all curl fields to avoid misinterpreting leading @ or < eg a description starting <p>

• Check the boolean value returned by executing shell commands in l3build-upload and throw an error if this is false. This fixes the issue that previously "validation successful" was reported if curl failed.

Changed

• Documentation of how to validate an upload

2021-12-14

Fixed

• Use correct name for options table in multi configuration management code

2021-12-09

Added

• Support for pre-constructed TDS-style sources (variable tdsdirs)
• Support for injection of tokens using specialformats

Changed

• If multiple configurations are present, let l3build clean run on all of them by default. (issue #214)

2021-12-06

Fixed

• Place PDF files inside docfiledir in all cases

2021-11-29

Changed

• Documentation improvements
• Use checkengines[1] as the default for stdengine
• Add sanity check for TEXMFHOME value
• Double \ when writing the curl options, so that
  does not need to be doubled in note and announcement texts.

Fixed

• Installation of files when using MiKTeX (see #125)
• Incorrect line in manifest target (see #195)
• Placement of PDF files in subdirectory locations (issue #209)
• Detection of engine-specific tlg files for non-standard LuaTeX based engines (issues #214)

2021-11-24

• Always typeset in typesetdir (fixes #210)

2021-11-12

Changed

• Documentation improvements

Fixed

• Allow config names ending with 'lua', as long as they don't end with '.lua'
• All documentation files are build in a consistent environment with support files visible.

2021-08-28

Fixed

• Creation of zip files on Windows
• Only match filename and not full path for exefiles

2021-08-27

Added

• Add the --show-saves flag for l3build check to generate a list of l3build save commands to regenerate all failing tests

Changed

• No longer call an external program to generate zip files and generate them directly instead. This disables the options zipexe and zipopts.
• Copy TDS-style zip files to main dir

2021-05-06

Fixed

• Issue when running PDF-based tests

2021-05-05

Changed

• Normalize Lua function calls (issue #127) - may require .tlg update
• LuaTeX from TL'21 is no longer 'off by one' in log files - may require .tlg update

Fixed

• Installation now supports deeper directory levels (issue #182)
• The texmfhome directory is now created before use if required
• Crash caused by yyyy-mm-dd epoch format

Removed

• Support for use as texlua build.lua <target>

2020-06-04

Added

• Store 'raw' PDF files when testing using PDFs, to allow further checks with e.g. PDF validators

2020-03-25

Changed

• Exclude sourcefiles entries from file clean-up
• Adjust defaults for TeX Live 2020 LuaHBTeX usage

2020-03-16

Changed

• Suppress PDF compression in DVI route
• Suppress PDF ID data in DVI route
• Default to dvips for (p)TeX
• Refinement of /ID line suppression

2020-03-13

Changed

• Refinement of PDF test normalization

2020-03-12

Added

• Option ps2pdfopt

Changed

• Normalize /ID lines in PDF comparisons
• Normalize %% lines in PDF comparisons

Fixed

• Enable cleandir() recursively
• Install files after all directory cleaning/creation

2020-02-21

Changed

• Avoid temporary file when unpacking

Deprecated

• os_yes: use io.popen(...,w) instead

2020-02-17

Added

• Variable textfiledir
• Table specialtypesetting and support data

Changed

• Documentation improvements

Fixed

• When checkruns > 1 and recordstatus=true, testing code would crash (issue #90)

2020-02-03

Changed

• Normalize out DVI header lines

Fixed

• Allow announcement field to be empty (with a warning this suppresses the CTAN announcement)

2020-01-14

Fixed

• Allow for more extracted files from DocStrip

2019-11-27

Changed

• \ASSERTSTR no longer needs e-TeX

Fixed

• Installation of files using the --full switch

2019-11-01

Added

• New \ASSERT and \ASSERTSTR functions (issue #102)

Changed

• Avoid normalization of (u)pTeX data when this is standard engine (fixes #103)
• Normalize Lua data references (#107)
• Extend runtest_task() to pass run number
• Allow regression-test to load when e-TeX is unavailable (fixes #105)

Fixed

• Location of testsuppdir when multiple configurations are used

2019-10-02

Added

• docinit_hook()

Changed

• Normalize out file paths in all cases

2019-09-30

Added

• New flattentds variable for controlling complex TDS structures
• Additional notes on texmfdir

Fixed

• Copy TDS files inside subdirectories (fixes #100)

2019-09-29

Fixed

• Path searching if texmfdir is set but does not exist

2019-09-28

Fixed

• Typesetting when using an isolated system (use of texmfdir)

2019-09-25

Added

• New texmfdir variable for more complex local additions

Fixed

• Clean out all configuration test dirs (see #98)

2019-09-18

Added

• checkinit_hook()

2019-09-14

Changed

• Use three typesetting runs as-standard
• Use pdftex not tex for unpacking

2019-08-24

Changed

• Include LUAINPUTS when setting TEXINPUTS for checksearch = false, etc.

Fixed

• Remove .log file before each check run: prevent inter-engine confusion

2019-07-31

Fixed

• Interaction between secondary files in some tests

2019-07-30

Added

• Support for non-standard file layouts via tdslocations table

Changed

• Only write (x)dvipdfmx specials for XeTeX and (u)pTeX (see #94)

2019-06-27

Changed

• Back out change for normalization of LuaTeX v1.10 stack information (timing issue: will reintroduce later)

Fixed

• Correct test for LuaTeX (see #93)

2019-06-26

Added

• Support for HarfTeX (see #92)

Changed

• Support for normalization of LuaTeX v1.10 stack information (may require new .tlg files)

Fixed

• Support for spaces in paths when typesetting (see #91)

2019-06-18

Added

• Switch --show-log-on-error for use with --halt-on-error. Results in the .log file being show in full on the console to aid in non-interactive debugging.

Changed

• Moved LuaTeX-specific font cache normalization

2019-02-10

Fixed

• Handling of ASCII engines
• Execution of all tests by ctan target (see #85)

2019-02-06

Added

• Table-based control of binary/format combinations: specialformats (see #84)
• Switch --debug for chasing problems with the upload target

Changed

• The uploadconfig.update field by default now automatically detects whether it needs to be true or false
• The tag target now allows no tag name to allow for setting this programmatically within a build.lua script
• Better support for multiple LuaTeX-like engines

Fixed

• Uploading via Windows should now work

2018-12-23

Added

• Switch --email for providing upload email address
• Switch -F|--file for providing upload announcement from file
• Switch -m|--message for providing upload announcement from command line

Changed

• Enable --dry-run option for upload target
• Enable tag/version to be passed as optional argument to upload target

Fixed

• Packaging of some team-specific files
• Handling of upload data containing newlines (Windows only)

2018-12-18

Changed

• Add new upload target which uses curl with the CTAN API to send a package for release (see #1)

2018-11-08

Changed

• Strip leading spaces from file loading/page number lines (see #78)

Fixed

• Print test failures correctly per-config (see #77)

2018-10-30

Fixed

• Substitution of spaces in Unix paths (see #76)

2018-10-25

Added

• \SHOWFILE command

Changed

• Better support for multiple LuaTeX engines (see #75)

Fixed

• Support for spaces in directory names (fixes #76)
• Support relative directories as argument to --texmfhome

2018-09-23

Changed

• Entries in scriptfiles are excluded from installfiles
• Use a per-config directory for running tests
• Enable use of local texmf.cnf file in tests and documentation
• New ctanreadme variable

2018-09-21

Changed

• Normalize date lines to contain "...-..-.." rather than removing (including normalizing version data in such lines): note that .tlg file updates may be required after this change
• Explicitly exclude .fd file lines

2018-08-07

Changed

• Suppress file name info in PDF output for included images, etc.

Fixed

• Issue with creation of CTAN releases for bundles

2018-08-04

Added

• ctanzip variable
• --full option

Changed

• Run PDF-based tests for all engines
• Tweaks to PDF-based normalization: new .tpf files will be required
• The --halt-on-error|-H setting now applies to multiple configs

Fixed

• Testing using .lve files
• Tagging with new approach to top-level targets

2018-08-02

Added

• CHANGELOG.md
• --dirty option
• includetests and excludetests variables for controlling which tests run
• target_list table to allow control of targets without redefining main()

Changed

• PDF-based testing now uses 'digested' PDF file for comparison, working from dedicated .pvt input files

Removed

• --pdf|-p command line switch

2018-05-10

Changed

• Revert appearance of date lines in .tlg files: this is on balance problematic

2018-05-06

Added

• Variable dynamicfiles to be cleaned between each test run

Changed

• Normalize dates to placeholder "YYYY-MM-DD": may require .tlg updates

Fixed

• Include dot files in tree() (fixes #30)

2018-03-26

Changed

• Omit ISO date lines in .tlg files

2018-03-24

Changed

• Allow 'short cut' of check runs
• Support for upcoming LaTeX kernel release functions

2018-03-10

Changed

• Add #! line for POSIX users
• Set POSIX u+x on l3build.lua

Fixed

• Handling of script name with or without extension

2018-03-09

Fixed

• Pass through script name correctly with new set up

2018-03-08

Added

• Target tag, variable tagfiles and function update_tag()
• Variables scriptfiles and scriptmanfiles to support installation of scripts

Changed

• l3build can now be run as a top-level script rather than using texlua build.lua ...
• Normalization of LuaTeX-derived tlg files, in preparation for TeX Live 2018

Deprecated

• Use of wrapper build.lua script to call l3build: the new top-level script approach is preferred

Removed

• Target setversion and variable versionfiles

2018-02-20

Changed

• Allow for checkopts adding code/files

Fixed

• Creation of 'structured' CTAN releases
• Quote test names correctly

2018-01-27

Added

• Target uninstall
• Options --first and --last

Changed

• Normalization for upcoming LuaTeX 1.07 release

Fixed

• Behavior of check on Windows when using standard fc tool

2018-01-10

Added

• Target manifest for construction of file manifests automatically
• Variable auxfiles
• Option --dry-run for installation/cleaning
• Option --texmfhome to allow customization of installation
• Option --shuffle to run tests in a random order

Changed

• Sort list of tests to avoid system-dependent ordering
• Split l3build into multiple files for improved maintenance

Fixed

• Issue with recordstatus

Removed

• Rationalize short option names: removed -d, -E, -r
• Target cmdcheck: specific to LaTeX kernel work