LaTeX and new cross-referencing method

[matteofg]

Hi gusbrs,
I wanted to know what you think about the new cross-referencing method implemented in LaTeX (ltnews38) and how this will affect the development of your 'zref-based' packages.

Thank you

[gusbrs]

Hi @matteo339 , I've seen it, and it's pretty cool. It is functionally equivalent to zref and conceptually very similar to it (and explicitly so, as you've probably seen). Indeed, it was made by Ulrike Fischer for the purposes of the tagging project, and she is (as far as I can tell) the main responsible for maintaining zref. It has actually existed for some time, but was now made public.

But the most impactful recent kernel change (for zref-clever and Co., that is) was the new label hook, made available in the previous release, and which zref-clever promptly seized. With it label setting has much improved, since now people can use the standard \label and the package has much less trouble with handling special cases.

how this will affect the development of your 'zref-based' packages

Not much really. As I said, they are functionally equivalent, and zref is doing it's job well. There's no reason to change. Also, it'd be weird having some packages called zref-something not using zref ;-). If I was starting with the packages now, it'd be another matter, but the ship has sailed.

[matteofg]

Thank you for sharing your considerations.