Roadmap

Here is a very rough outline of our schedule. This list is just an indication and will be updated on a regular basis. We have a few more intermediate stages in mind.

Merging engines

Merge the Aleph and pdfTeX codebase so that LuaTeX in DVI mode behaves like Aleph, and in PDF mode like pdf(e)TeX. Also allow lua callbacks for file searching. This stage is mostly finished.

OpenType fonts

Make the Aleph functionality available in PDF mode and add support for OpenType fonts. Allow Lua scripts to control all aspects of font loading, font definition and manipulation. Most of this is finished.

Tokenizing and node lists

Use lua callbacks for various internals, complete access to tokenizer and provide access to node lists at moments that make sense. This stage is completed.

Paragraph building

Provide control over various aspects of paragraph building (hyphenation, kerning, ligature building), dynamic loading loading of hyphenation patterns. Apart from some small details these objectives are met.

Metapost (mplib)

Turn metapost into a library. The first stage of this project is finished with the first public beta and integration in LuaTeX. In a next stage the library will be enhanced. This subproject is on schedule and the next stage will be finished by the end of 2008. Advanced usage in LuaTeX, like for instance runtime font generation and manipulation is scheduled for 2009.

Image handling

Image identification and loading in Lua including scaling and object management. Nicely on schedule, the first version of the img library showed up in the 0.22 beta and some more features are planned.

Special features

Cleaning up of HZ optimization and protruding and getting rid of remaining global font properties. This includes some cleanup of the backend. Most of this stage is finished.

Page building

Control over page building and access to internals that matter. Access to inserts. This is on the agenda for late 2008.

TeX primitives

Access to and control over most TeX primitives (and related mechanisms) as well as registers will be provided. This is an ongoing effort.

PDF Backend

Most backend related features will be opened up. Think of annotations and object management. The first code will show up later in 2008.

Future stage

The idea is to convert the TeX Pascal source into C (CWEB) and start using lua as glue language for components. This will be tested on MPLIB first. This is on the longterm agenda, so maybe around 2010 you will see the first signs.

In addition to the mentioned functionality we have a couple of ideas that we will implement along the road. The first formal beta has been released at TUG 2007 in San Diego (USA). The first formal release will be at TUG 2008 in Cork (Ireland). The production version will be released at EuroTeX in Amsterdam (2009). We report progress on a regular basis at usergroup meetings and in usergroup journals.

For testing we use an experimental version of ConTeXt tagged MKiV. Support is provided on the wiki and mailing list. Users are advised to keep their LuaTeX binary in sync with the latest ConTeXt MKiV.