Javier Bezos submitted an update to the

babel-beta

package.

Summary description: Multilingual support for Plain TeX or LaTeX License type: lppl

Announcement text: ----------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the second beta release of babel 3.9. The main aims of this version are to fix bugs (there were lots) and to add basic support for xetex and luatex.

Here is a list of most of the new and extended macros: -- usershorthands* is like useshorthands but it makes sure shorthands are always activated. -- defineshorthands can be used to (re)define system and language shorthands, and a new level for language-dependent user shorthands is added, which takes precedence over normal user shorthands. -- shorthandoff* restores the original catcode or definition (useful with ~ and ^). -- AfterBabelLanguage sets code to be executed at the end of the corresponding ldf file. -- abelhyphen inserts a hyphen (soft, hard, nobreak...). -- abelhyphenation is like hyphenation but for all languages or specific ones (lccode changes are taken into account). -- AddBabelHook sets code to be executed at some events (EnableBabelHook and DisableBabelHook control them). -- StartBabelCommands, SetString, and a few more, may be used to define encoding dependent captions (eg, utf8 for xetex and luatex)

New package options: -- shorthands sets which language/system shorthands are allowed. -- safe sets if bib and/or ref macros are redefined. -- config sets a different config file. -- main sets the main language. -- headfoot sets the language in heads and foots. -- noconfigs: .cfg files are not loaded. -- showlanguages prints to the log file the languages preloaded -- math sets the behaviour of shorthands in math mode in the format.

I hope the final version will be available by March/April.

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This package is located at http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/exptl/babel-beta . More information is at http://www.ctan.org/pkg/babel-beta (if the package is new it may take a day for that information to appear). We are supported by the TeX Users Group http://www.tug.org . Please join a users group; see http://www.tug.org/usergroups.html .

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Thanks for the upload.

For the CTAN Team Rainer Schöpf