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PtC-TeX: Another implementation of TeX in C for POSIX systems

I have constructed a new implementation of TeX for POSIX systems using
PtC, a Pascal-to-C translator originally written by Per Bergsten from
Sweden, and posted to USENET back in 1987.  I have made some
improvements to the translator, for instance lazy I/O.

I say POSIX because I want to stress that it isn't specifically for
Berkeley UNIX (which the comments in traditional UNIX TeX change files
keep referring to), neither for System V.

PtC is in my opinion a better way to generate C code from WEB than
web2c.

This implementation is intended for modern fast machines.  I have left
out questionable or nonportable optimizations traditionally used by
UNIX TeX implementations.

The generated TeX and METAFONT programs pass the TRIP and TRAP tests
on the machine/compiler combinations I have tested it on: HP9000
Series 800 running HP-UX 3.1 and 7.0, HP9000 Series 300 running HP-UX
6.5 and 7.0 with both cc and gcc, 386 running Interactive 386/ix, and
VAX running Ultrix 3.1 with gcc 1.37.  I hope that the generated C
code is portable and assume that they pass the tests on most machines.

Note that cc on VAX Ultrix 3.1 seems to be too buggy to compile
ptc-generated code.  Some programs work when compiled with cc, others
fail.  When compiled with gcc or vcc, or with any compiler on
HP90000s, the same programs work.  For example, the handling of
unsigned char values cast to int is bogus, and ptc produces lots of
this.

The change files are based on the ones Knuth use from
labrea.stanford.edu, with unnecessary stuff removed.

PtC-TeX is available for anonymous ftp from tik.vtt.fi in the
directory pub/tex.

Please don't ask me to send out copies by mail.  If I get enough
requests, I could post it.

Please send comments and patches to me.

The versions supported are from September 90, i.e: TeX 3.1, METAFONT
2.7 etc.

To compile PtC-TeX you need PtC, which is also available from here, in
pub/ptc.
