the upload daemon got this one to me while i was processing the previous one:
The following information was provided by the package's contributor.
Name of contribution: expl3 Author's name: LaTeX3 Project Location on CTAN: /macros/latex/contrib/expl3/ Summary description: Packages supporting LaTeX3 programming conventions License type: lppl
Announcement text given by the package's contributor:
The expl3 bundle: Low-level LaTeX3 programming conventions
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 1981)
The first stage of creating a fixed-point arithmetic system for LaTeX3 is included in this release. The new module (l3fp) is loaded as part of expl3, and currently offers basic arithmetic only (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division). Trigonometric and logarithmic functions will be added to this module in the coming weeks, as will the necessary machinery to use Lua for mathematics, when available.
This release also increases the coverage of the category code stack implemented by ExplSyntaxOn/ExplSyntaxOff, with the intention that 'problem' category codes will not cause issues within code blocks.
The LaTeX3 Project
thanks for the upload; i've installed the new version and updated the catalogue repository.
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/
and the web catalogue entry will change in two characters, overnight (apart from the date of creation, of course...).
Robin Fairbairns
For the CTAN team