# pwebmac – Consolidated WEB macros for DVI and PDF output

The original [WEB](https://ctan.org/pkg/web) system by Donald Knuth has the
macros `webmac.tex` that produce DVI output only; for historic reasons, it
will never be modified (apart from catastrophic errors).
Hàn Thế Thành has modified these macros in his (outdated?) `pdfwebmac.tex` for
PDF output (only) with [pdfTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/pdftex).
Jonathan Kew's [XeTeX](https://ctan.org/pkg/xetex) has similar macros
`xewebmac.tex` by Khaled Hosny that _modify_ `webmac.tex` for PDF output;
these macros can only be used with a specific “TeX engine” each.

The present `pwebmac` package integrates these three WEB macro files similar
to `cwebmac.tex` in Silvio Levy's and Don Knuth's
[CWEB](https://ctan.org/pkg/cweb) system, so `pwebmac.tex` can be used with
“plain TeX,” “pdfTeX,” and “XeTeX” alike.

Its initial application is the production of PDF files for all major WEB
programs for “TeX and friends” as distributed in
[TeX Live](https://www.tug.org/texlive).  For this purpose, the shell script
`makeall` was whipped together; it provides various commandline options and
works around several “quirks” in the WEB sources.  The resulting ``PDF
library'' can be browsed in the `knuth-pdf` package.

WEB programmers who want to use `pwebmac.tex` instead of the default
`webmac.tex` in their programs have to change the first line in the TeX file
created by `weave`.  From there, all depends on the “TeX engine” you use:
“plain TeX” by default creates DVI output, “plain TeX” with the invocation
`tex "\let\pdf+\input…"`, `pdftex`, and `xetex` create PDF output with
clickable links and bookmarks (depending on your PDF viewer).

The `pwebmac` package is free software and may be used without constraints.

This is version “4.6.2” of the `pwebmac` package — 2021-03-17, Andreas Scherer.
