Re: [DISCUSSION]: LaTeX - include the xcolor package in the packages list

[Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net>]

Pedro Andres Aranda Gutierrez <paaguti@gmail.com> writes:

>> I guess that you are referring to
>> 
>>    When using listings, you also need to make use of LaTeX package
>>    "listings".  The "color" LaTeX package is also needed if you
>>    would like color too.  These can simply be added to
>>    org-latex-packages-alist, using customize or something like:
>> 
>>      (require 'ox-latex)
>>      (add-to-list 'org-latex-packages-alist '("" "listings"))
>>      (add-to-list 'org-latex-packages-alist '("" "color"))
>
> A first step would be to use xcolor here. It gives just much more control over colors, if and when you need it. 

I do not see any downside changing our recommendation from using color
to using xcolor in the docstrings.

>> We can indeed include color package, but I do not see why we should do
>> it by default. We may instead include it conditionally, only when
>> listings backend is selected by the user.
>> Just as it is done for engraved.
>
> I would say that we include graphicx by default, even when we are not going to use it in many documents. In my case it is a 50/50 of using graphics vs- pure text documents ;-)

My stance is to minimize the number of loaded packages to the bare
minimum. If something is not strictly necessary, we do not load it.
Loading a bunch of extra LaTeX packages increases export time.

In the future, when we have the new LaTeX preview branch [1] merged, we
will cut the number of loaded LaTeX packages even more, only loading the
packages that are necessary to export the specific document
contents. For example, if the exported Org file does not contain images,
no image-related packages will be used during Latex export.

[1] https://list.orgmode.org/87lek2up0w.fsf@tec.tecosaur.net/

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
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