[NTG-pdftex] The PdfTeX Reference Manual : too many inconsistent copies ?

[Philip TAYLOR (Webmaster, Ret'd)]

Philip TAYLOR (Webmaster, Ret'd) wrote:

> A supplementary question, if I may ?  The PdfTeX
> reference manual as found at Tug.Org has Chapter
> Eight entitled "Graphics and color"

whereas the version to be found on CTAN at

	ftp://ctan.tug.org/tex-archive/systems/pdftex/pdftex-a.pdf

has Chapter Eight entitled solely "Graphics" and is
apparently of a much more recent vintage

> November 23, 2010
> Rev. 655

compared to

> January 25, 2007
> Rev. 1.675

at http://www.tug.org/texmf-dist/doc/pdftex/manual/pdftex-a.pdf

So : a couple of questions.

1) What is the rationale for the change in version numbering,
    from 1.671 (January 2007) and 1.675 (also January 2007)
    to 655 (November 2010).  It is certainly not easy to compare
    these two numbers, in the absence of the corresponding dates.

2) Is there any obvious reason why the TUG copy is so out-of-date ?
    Although Google search results are not entirely consistent,
    repeated tests have shewn that it has a marked preference for
    displaying the TUG copy well above the CTAN copy, and therefore
    most users could reasonably be expected to fetch their copy
    from TUG rather than from CTAN (as did I, whence my original
    surprise that a Chapter entitled "Graphics and Colour" should
    have nothing to say about colour).

** Phil.
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