Re: [2.96.1] problem: latex generates pdf rather than dvi
Reinhard Kotucha <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.tex.tetex.beta |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
>>>>> "Frank" == Frank Küster <[email protected]> writes: >> 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 Assume that someone writes a package described by David. If then someone really does not want to fix the bugs in his documents, he is free to write a little sh-script (called dvilatex) like this: -------------------- #!/bin/sh latex "\AtEndOfClass{\usepackage{dvi}\input{$1}" -------------------- Beware, this is not tested! I strictly recommend not to distribute such a file. Just checking whether \pdfoutput exists and ignoring its value has been as long as pdfTeX exists. If such a program exists, people will use it for writing new (buggy) documents. I hate programs that are error tolerant. So I do not think that it's a good idea to provide a macro package like dvi.sty. > 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. Packages should not be fixed by users. Users usually do not have their document sources on read-only file sytems. People who are doing tricky things are familiar with tools like grep. There is no need to open each file in an editor. What you describe is a "worst case scenario". Why should anyone put tex sources on a read-only file system? And why should they then want to recreate the pdf or dvi files again? If you talk about buggy macro packages, they must be fixed anyway. And there had been no official teTeX release in the past which contained packages with known bugs. Regards, Reinhard -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reinhard Kotucha Phone: +49-511-4592165 Marschnerstr. 25 D-30167 Hannover mailto:[email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------