Re: [2.96.1] problem: latex generates pdf rather than dvi

Reinhard Kotucha <[email protected]> wrote:

[broken documents]
>     > Here, adding a simple \usepackage{dvi} is a possible work-around
>     > that David Kastrup has suggested.
>
> Yes, but I suppose that most problems come from macro packages.  They
> have to be fixed anyway.  As far as the documents are cocerned, it is
> not much more work to fix the bugs than to add \usepackage{dvi}.

Oh yes, it is. It's even easier to say "dvilatex" or "latex
--dvionly". But for sure "latex '\input{dvi.sty}\input{broken.tex}' is
easier than making a copy of the document on a rw filesystem, opening it
in an editor, and searching for _all_ places where packages or the
author himself did things wrong. Even more funny when the document uses
some \input or \include calls.

>     > Of course, the real fix is to change broken code to
>     > \usepackage{ifpdf} or something similar. Non-broken documents do
>     > not need this and they don't even need \usepackage{dvi}.
>
> What I'm not happy about is that ifpdf.sty uses plain TeX syntax, i.e.

That's a good thing, I'd say - there may be also buggy TeX documents
around. 

Regards, Frank
-- 
Frank Küster, Biozentrum der Univ. Basel
Abt. Biophysikalische Chemie