Re: file path problems with pdf output

* Björn Pedersen (2005-01-22) writes:

> Following scenario:
>
> testdir_top:
>  dirtest.tex
[...]
> testdir_top/subdir:
>  subdirtest.tex:
[...]
> In pdf-mode, when trying to view from the subdirtest.tex buffer,
> it prompts for xpdf ../dirtest.pdf, but executes xpdf in testdir_top,
> so xpdf cannot find the pdf file. Manually removing ../ in the minibuffer 
> works. Specifing an absoulte  path for TeX-master works correctly, too. 
[...]
> It thems, the the %o expansion should not use the path part, or expand
> to the absolute path of the master file.

The %o expander calls `TeX-view-output-file' which subsequently calls
`TeX-active-master'.  Your former suggestion can be achieved by
wrapping the call to `TeX-active-master' in `expand-file-name'.  The
latter suggestion by extending the definition of `TeX-active-master'
by a parameter for specifying if the output should include the
directory or not.  That parameter will get passed to `TeX-region-file'
or `TeX-master-file' respectively.

Currently I tend to the latter solution because the shorter file
specifier doesn't clutter the minibuffer as much as a full path.  In
addition it would be in line with what the user gets in the DVI case
(%d expander).  The drawback is that it might look strange to get the
bare file name when the command is invoked in a subdirectory not
containing the output file.

A general problem might be that I haven't really had the time to look
under the hood and understand how the viewer process actually gets
called.  So I don't know if there might be other hidden bugs with
handling of files in subdirectories which are not covered by the
patch.  That means there is a possibility that a change on a deeper
level would be more appropriate and fix the bug with the viewer and
other potential bugs.

-- 
Ralf