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(web2c.info)Formats

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Formats
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  TeX "formats" are large collections of macros, possibly dumped into a
`.fmt' file (Note: Memory dumps) by `initex' (Note: initex
invocation).  A number of formats are in reasonably widespread use,
and the Web2c Makefile has targets to make the versions current at the
time of release.  You can change which formats are automatically built
by setting the `fmts' Make variable; by default, only the `plain' and
`latex' formats are made.

  You can get the latest versions of most of these formats from the CTAN
archives in subdirectories of `CTAN:/macros' (for CTAN info, Note:
unixtex.ftp.ftp.).  The archive
<ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/lib.tar.gz> (also available from CTAN) contains
most of these formats (although perhaps not the absolute latest
version), among other things.

latex
     The most widely used format.  The current release is named `LaTeX
     2e'; new versions are released approximately every six months, with
     patches issued as needed.  The old release was called `LaTeX 2.09',
     and is no longer maintained or supported.  LaTeX attempts to
     provide generic markup instructions, such as "emphasize", instead
     of specific typesetting instructions, such as "use the 10pt
     Computer Modern italic font".

amstex
     The official typesetting system of the American Mathematical
     Society, used to produce nearly all of its publications, e.g.,
     `Mathematical Reviews'.  Like LaTeX, it encourages generic markup
     commands.  The AMS also provides a LaTeX package for authors who
     prefer LaTeX (see the `amslatex' item below).

texinfo
     The documentation system developed and maintained by the Free
     Software Foundation for their software manuals.  It can be
     automatically converted into plain text, a machine-readable
     on-line format called `info', HTML, etc.

eplain
     The "expanded plain" format provides various common features (e.g.,
     symbolic cross-referencing, tables of contents, indexing, citations
     using BibTeX), for those authors who prefer to handle their own
     high-level formatting.

lamstex
     Augments AMSTeX with LaTeX-like features.

amslatex
     An LaTeX package (see `latex' item above), that augments LaTeX
     with AMSTeX-like features.

slitex
     An obsolete LaTeX 2.09 format for making slides.  It is replaced by
     the `slides' document class.