Hello, > > > - writing a makeindex-like script which takes a .idx file and runs > > > it through tex2xindy and xindy. This is fairly easy, except that > > > tex2xindy doesn't seem to be documented at all. > > > > The Perl-script makeindex4 does exactly what you want. It should be > > part of the distribution. > > I have seen it, of course, but as far as I have seen, it does not > offer an option to load additional .xdy files. So, if I want a > makeindex-like utility with French extensions, I can't directly use > makeindex4. I chose to call tex2xindy then xindy with my own .xdy > file. Did I overlook something? That's correct. What prevented me from doing that is the fact that the command DEFINE-LOCATION-CLASS-ORDER is currently not designed to allow incremental specifications. Most of xindy's commands incrementally set up the indexstyle, to allow more and more modifications and extensions as the indexstykle is read. For example, the command DEFINE-LETTER-GROUP allows to place new letter groups into an already existing list of letter groups. What we acutually need it, is the same mechanism for DEFINE-LOCATION-CLASS-ORDER, to be able to define new location classes and add, or insert, them into the order defined earlier. This is not possible at the moment. Notheless, this is something that should be improved. For your last problem, just use xindy -f tex2xindy ... which filters the .idx files with tex2xindy, and you don't need to worry about it, yourself (good issue for the HOWTO file). Even cleanup after an interrupt is implemented. Maybe we should intoduce another flag, '-T' for example (T like TeX), which is an alias for '-f tex2xindy" and which makes it even more easier to use xindy in conjunction with TeX, what do you think? > > > > - writing a .xdy file, which contains pieces of makeindex.xdy plus > > > French-specific commands. This requires reading the documentation > > > and browsing through the 'modules' directory. Not easy for casual > > > users. > > > > I absolutely agree! Wouldn't that be a good job for you? > > Possibly, but I might not have enough time. Bah! Nobody has! But we do it anyhow ;-) Cheers, --Roger -- ====================================================================== Roger Kehr kehr@iti.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de Computer Science Department Darmstadt University of Technology