my busy little upload daemon quoth:
The following information was provided by the package's contributor.
Name of contribution: expl3 Author's name: The LaTeX3 Project Author's email: latex-team@latex-project.org Location on CTAN: /macros/latex/contrib/expl3 Summary description: The expl3 bundle: low-level LaTeX3 coding License type: lppl
Announcement text given by the package's contributor:
The expl3 bundle: low-level LaTeX3 coding
The files of the expl3 bundle provide a low-level API for TeX programmers with special syntax conventions, completely separating it from document level syntax. Hence, the commands provided are not intended for use at the document level nor for use in describing design layouts in document class files.
This API provides the foundation on which the LaTeX3 kernel and other advanced extensions are built. Special care has been taken so that they can be used within a LaTeX2e context as regular packages.
The TeX and eTeX primitives are all given a new name according to these conventions. However, in the main direct use of the primitives is not required or encouraged: the expl3 modules define an independent low-level LaTeX3 programming language.
At present, the expl3 modules are designed to be loaded on top of LaTeX2e:
usepackage{expl3}
In time, a LaTeX3 format will be produced based on this code. This allows the code to be used in LaTeX2e packages now while a stand-alone LaTeX3 is developed.
This release (SVN 1407)
While expl3 is still experimental, the bundle is now regarded as broadly stable. The syntax conventions and functions provided are now ready for wider use. There may still be changes to some functions, but these will be minor when compared to the scope of expl3.
This release is a snap-shot taken from the SVN repository which can be found from:
http://www.latex-project.org/code.html
This snap-shot follows an extensive revision process for expl3, which has taken place over the last six months. As a result, code written to work with older versions of expl3 is very likely to fail with this release.
Looking forward
New modules will be added to the distributed version of expl3 as they reach maturity. At the same time, we intend to fix any bugs in expl3 as they arise. We hope to establish a semi-regular release pattern of snap-shots, which can then be propagated using the update features of TeX Live and MiKTeX. The exact schedule will depend on the code changes made! Each release will state which SVN revision number it is based on.
Other parts of LaTeX3
Several higher level experimental packages are also available in the SVN. These xpackages are designed to work with LaTeX2e but to allow us to experiment with ideas for LaTeX3. We are currently working on the next phase of development with these packages.
The xbase package, which provides the basics for interaction between expl3 and the user, is currently released to CTAN as a separate bundle. There will be a separate update concerning this package.
LaTeX3 News
We have established a bi-yearly schedule to publish a LaTeX3 News letter. The second of these will appear at the same time as this release. The news letters can be found at:
http://www.latex-project.org/l3news/
Discussion
Discussion concerning the approach, suggestions for improvements, changes, additions, etc. should be addressed to the list LATEX-L.
You can subscribe to this list by sending mail to
listserv@urz.uni-heidelberg.de
with the body containing
subscribe LATEX-L <Your-First-Name> <Your-Second-Name>
The LaTeX3 Project
Users may view the package catalogue entry at http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/entries/expl3.html or they may browse the package directory at http://www.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/expl3
thanks for the upload; i've installed the files as requested, and updated the catalogue repository. the catalogue page linked above will be updated overnight tonight by computers that don't sleep.
Robin Fairbairns
For the CTAN team