more additions and some spell checking

.gitignore

@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ build/
 *.aux
 *.zip
 *.log
+*.out
+*.toc
 *.synctex.gz
 
 base/*.pdf

doc/ltnews29.tex

@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@
      \mbox{\small\itshape\url(#1)}\par}
 
 \let\cls\pkg
+\newcommand\env[1]{\texttt{#1}}
 
 
 \publicationmonth{December}
@@ -66,9 +67,16 @@
 
 \setlength\rightskip{0pt plus 3em}
 
-\section{Intro}
+\bigskip
 
-\emph{to fill}
+\section{Introduction}
+
+The December 2018 release of \LaTeX{} is essentially a maintenance
+release where we fixed a few (rather obscure) older and newer bugs in
+the software. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is going to be a
+better support for key value option lists, but its full potential will
+only appear once the existing key value handlers starting using the
+new functionality.
 
 \section[Bug reports for core \LaTeXe{} and packages]
         {Bug reports for core \LaTeXe{} and packages maintained by the Project Team}
@@ -94,6 +102,12 @@ \section{Intro}
 
 \section{Changes to the \LaTeX{} kernel}
 
+\subsection{Preparation for improving key value support on option lists}
+
+\emph{explain depending on implementation}
+%
+\githubissue{85}
+
 
 \subsection{UTF-8:\ updates to the default input encoding}
 
@@ -130,8 +144,7 @@ \subsection{UTF-8:\ updates to the default input encoding}
 
 
 \subsection{Fixed \cs{verb*} and friends in \XeTeX{} and \LuaTeX{}}
-%[Fixed \cs{verb*} and friends in \XeTeX{} and \LuaTeX{}]
-%           {Fixed \cs{verb*} and friends in \XeTeX{} and \LuaTeX{}\githubissue[s]{69 and 70}}
+
 
 The original \cs{verb*} and \texttt{verbatim*} in \LaTeX{} was coded
 under the assumption that the position of the space character (i.e.,
@@ -157,15 +170,15 @@ \subsection{Fixed \cs{verb*} and friends in \XeTeX{} and \LuaTeX{}}
 i.e., the visible space from Computer Modern Typewriter regardless of
 the current typewriter font is chosen.  Internally it is ensured that
 the character has exactly the same width as the other characters in
-the current monspaced font, so that code displays line up properly.
+the current monospaced font, so that code displays line up properly.
 
 It is possible to redefine this command to select your own character,
 for example
 \begin{verbatim}
  \DeclareRobustCommand\verbvisiblespace
     {\textvisiblespace}
 \end{verbatim}
-would select the the ``offical'' visible space character of the
+would select the the ``official'' visible space character of the
 current font. This may look like the natural default but it wasn't
 chosen as default because many fonts just don't have that unicode
 character, or if they have one with a strange shape.
@@ -190,11 +203,11 @@ \subsection{Avoid page breaks caused by invisible commands}
 Commands like \cs{label} or \cs{index} could generate a page break
 possibility in places where a page break was otherwise prohibited,
 e.g., if use between two consecutive headings. This has now been
-corrected. If for some reason you really want a break andd you relied
+corrected. If for some reason you really want a break and you relied
 on this faulty behavior, you can always add it using \cs{pagebreak}
 with or with optional argument.
 %
-\githubissue{41}
+\githubissue{81}
 
 
 
@@ -279,7 +292,7 @@ \subsection{Guarding \cs{pfill} in \pkg{doc}}
 inside the index. If necessarily it would automatically split over two
 lines. That worked well enough for a quarter century, but we
 discovered recently that it is broken inside of the \cls{ltugboat}
-class where it sometimes broduced ugly spaced out continuation lines.
+class where it sometimes produced ugly spaced out continuation lines.
 
 The reason turned out to be a redefinition of the \LaTeX{} command
 \cs{nobreakspace} (\verb=~=) inside that class which removed any
@@ -296,60 +309,70 @@ \subsection{Guarding \cs{pfill} in \pkg{doc}}
 
 \section{Changes to packages in the tools category}
 
-\subsection{}
+\subsection{Sometimes the \pkg{trace} package turned off too much}
 
+The \pkg{trace} package is a useful little tool for tracing macro
+execution as it hides certain lengthly and typically uninteresting
+expansions resulting from font loading and similar
+activities. However, it had the problem that it did also reset other
+tracing settings like \cs{showoutput} in such situations so that you
+couldn't use \cs{showoutput} in the preamble and get a symbolic output
+of all your pages in the document. This has now been corrected.
 
 
-\begin{verbatim}
-2018-10-13  Frank Mittelbach  <Frank.Mittelbach@latex-project.org>
 
-	* trace.dtx (section{Implementation}):
-	Only reset \tracingoutput if not set by \showoutput earlier
+\subsection{\pkg{xr}}
+
+\emph{explain}  Update to handle \cs{if} tests in the aux file.
+%
+\sxissue{https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/452321}
+
 
-2018-10-01  David Carlisle  <David.Carlisle@latex-project.org>
+\subsection{Column data for \env{multicols*} sometimes vanished}
 
-	* xr.dtx: Update to handle \if tests in the aux file.
-	  https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/452321
+In certain situations involving \env{multicols*} together with more
+explicit \cs{columnbreak} requests than columns on current page, data
+could vanish due to losing an internal penalty marking the end of the
+environment. This has been corrected by explicitly reinserting that
+penalty if necessary.
+%
+\githubissue{53}
 
-2018-09-13  Frank Mittelbach  <Frank.Mittelbach@latex-project.org>
 
-	* array.dtx (section{The macros \@classz):
-	Add group to prevent color leak (gh/72)
 
-2018-06-26  Frank Mittelbach  <Frank.Mittelbach@latex-project.org>
+\subsection{Prevent color leak in \pkg{array}}
+
+In some cases using color inside a \env{tabular} cell could leak out
+into the surrounding text.
+%
+\githubissue{72}
+
 
-	* multicol.dtx (subsection{Not balancing the columns}):
-	Re-add end penalty for multicols* environment to guard
-	against leftovers (git/53)
-\end{verbatim}
 
 \section{Changes to packages in the amsmath category}
 
-\begin{em}
-With this release of \LaTeX{} a few minor issues with \pkg{amsmath}
-have been corrected.
-\end{em}
+The changes in the kernel made for \cs{thinspace}, \cs{smash},
+etc.\ had to be reflected in the \pkg{amsmath} package code so that
+loading that package wouldn't revert them.
+%
+\githubissue[s]{49 and 50}
+
+
+
 
-\begin{verbatim}
-	* amsmath.dtx
-	Don't drop \frozen@everymath
-	Start LR-mode for \thinspace and friends if necessary (github/49)
-	Start LR-mode for \bigl and friends if necessary (github/49)
-	Start LR-mode for \smash if necessary (github/49)
-\end{verbatim}
 
 \section{Website updates}
 
 \subsection{Publications area reorganized and extended}
 
-To help readers to find relevent information in more convenient and
+To help readers to find relevant information in more convenient and
 easy way the website area on publications by the \LaTeX{} Project Team
 was reorganized and extended (many more abstracts added). We now
 provide the articles, talks and supplementary data structured both by
 year as well as by major topics~\cite{site-pub}. Feel free to take a
 look.
 
-\subsection{Japanense translations of the user's guide}
+\subsection{Japanese translations of the user's guide}
 
 Yukitoshi FUJIMURA kindly translated two documents that are
 distributed with standard \LaTeX{} to the Japanese language. These are
@@ -372,14 +395,14 @@ \subsection{Japanense translations of the user's guide}
 \bibitem{Mittelbach:TB39-1} Frank Mittelbach:
   \emph{New rules for reporting bugs in the \LaTeX{} core software}.  
   In: TUGboat, 39\#1, 2018.
-  \url{https://www.latex-project.org/publications/}
+  \url{https://latex-project.org/publications/}
 
 \bibitem{site-doc} 
   \emph{\LaTeX{} documentation on the \LaTeX{} Project Website}.\\  
   \url{https://latex-project.org/documentation/}
 
 \bibitem{site-pub} 
-  \emph{\LaTeX{} Project Team publications on the \LaTeX{} Project Website}.\\  
+  \emph{\LaTeX{} Project publications on the \LaTeX{} Project Website}.\\
   \url{https://latex-project.org/publications/}
 
 \bibitem{amsldoc} American Mathematical Society and The \LaTeX3 Project: