To summarize; under bash (linux or cygwin) environment and gcc as a
builder, things are consistent, although seems to be mysterious. To be
on safe side, a star should be quoted. Under windows the behaviour is
environment/compiler dependent. Binaries made by M$ compiler behaves
quite well; the star is not expanded anyhow by shell and is passed to
TeX as is. Consequently, it CAN'T be quoted with backslash, since TeX
reports `Undefined control sequence \*' then. Windows binaries made by
gcc under cyg environment works like those under linux. That is the
whole mystery. -etex commandline option will fix the inconsistency.
diff -Nur web2c-orig/etexdir/etex.ch web2c/etexdir/etex.ch
--- web2c-orig/etexdir/etex.ch Wed Oct 13 06:29:47 2004
+++ web2c/etexdir/etex.ch Sat Jul 23 00:36:24 2005
@@ -3051,10 +3051,11 @@
is a run-time switch.
@=
-@!init if (buffer[loc]="*")and(format_ident=" (INITEX)") then
+@!init if ((buffer[loc]="*")or etex_extension_p)and(format_ident=" (INITEX)") then
begin no_new_control_sequence:=false;
@@;
- incr(loc); eTeX_mode:=1; {enter extended mode}
+ if (buffer[loc]="*") then incr(loc);
+ eTeX_mode:=1; {enter extended mode}
@@;
end;
tini@;@/
@@ -3094,6 +3095,7 @@
@=
@!eTeX_mode: 0..1; {identifies compatibility and extended mode}
+@!etex_extension_p : boolean;
@ @=
eTeX_mode:=0; {initially we are in compatibility mode}
diff -Nur web2c-orig/lib/texmfmp.c web2c/lib/texmfmp.c
--- web2c-orig/lib/texmfmp.c Tue Jul 05 20:16:44 2005
+++ web2c/lib/texmfmp.c Sat Jul 23 00:51:48 2005
@@ -778,6 +778,9 @@
{ "no-shell-escape", 0, &shellenabledp, -1 },
{ "debug-format", 0, &debugformatfile, 1 },
{ "src-specials", 2, 0, 0 },
+#if defined (eTeX) || defined (pdfeTeX)
+ { "etex", 0, &etexextensionp, 1 },
+#endif
#endif /* TeX */
#if defined (TeX) || defined (MF) || defined (MP)
{ "file-line-error-style", 0, &filelineerrorstylep, 1 },
diff -Nur web2c-orig/texmfmp-help.h web2c/texmfmp-help.h
--- web2c-orig/texmfmp-help.h Sun Aug 29 06:29:38 2004
+++ web2c/texmfmp-help.h Sat Jul 23 00:41:45 2005
@@ -93,6 +93,7 @@
" If no arguments or options are specified, prompt for input.",
"",
"-enc enable encTeX extensions such as \\mubyte",
+ "-etex enable e-TeX extensions in INITEX",
"[-no]-file-line-error disable/enable file:line:error style messages",
"-fmt=FMTNAME use FMTNAME instead of program name or a %& line",
"-halt-on-error stop processing at the first error",
@@ -408,6 +409,7 @@
" If no arguments or options are specified, prompt for input.",
"",
"-enc enable encTeX extensions such as \\mubyte",
+ "-etex enable e-TeX extensions in INITEX",
"[-no]-file-line-error disable/enable file:line:error style messages",
"-fmt=FMTNAME use FMTNAME instead of program name or a %& line",
"-halt-on-error stop processing at the first error",