[Mac OS X TeX] Dvi and postscript previewers

[Enrico Franconi]

On January 2, Tom Kiffe writes:
> These scripts have to be put someplace and ~/bin is the likeliest
> location.  It is a universal folder and is the place to put any
> shell scripts are binaries that you create. I don't understand your
> reluctance to create a bin folder in your home directory. It is a
> standard unix feature and Apple even includes it in your default
> search path.

Fair enough. Still, you can have a default PATH variable set to at
least, say, /usr/local/bin:/sw/bin:/usr/bin:~/bin to cover most
standard needs, and have a additional *.scripts files to be added in
any of the above directories. It is just a personal idiosyncrasy, but
my home directory should be organised the way I want.

> Choose for your main texmf folder the one that contains all of your
> font files. Only MacDviX needs to load tfm and vf files from your
> texmf tree. 

OK. These are both in /sw/share/texmf and in my local texmf tree in
/usr/local/share/texmf

> Just like tex, dvips, etc, MacDviX reads various configuration files
> when it runs.  The only logical place for these files is in a local
> texmf folder in your Library folder. A local texmf tree in ~/Library
> provides a standard location to store all of the files you add to a
> TeX installation. This is where I keep all of the type 1 fonts I
> have purchased from Adobe and other vendors, like the MathTime and
> Lucida fonts. By putting them in ~/Library/texmf they won't be
> affected whenever I have to update my whole teTeX distribution and
> they will be found by the teTeX binaries.
> 
> Using ~/bin and ~/Library/texmf directories is the easiest way of
> extending you TeX installation without having to change anything
> anywhere else.

No, this is only if you are the only user willing to see the
additional binaries and fonts. I put them in /usr/local/bin and
/usr/local/share/texmf since I want all the users to use them.
Anyway, you could make them customisable as a list of paths each, from
a preference panel within cmactex.

> >3) I'd like to use the default paths of tetex for the generated PK
> >   fonts, not necessarily the /Users/Shared path. And in general:
> >   is it possible to reuse ALL the paths I have set for tetex by
> >   default?
> 
> The pk files you may create for MacDviX probably won't be used by
> dvips or pdftex since they will have a base resolution of 300 dpi
> while the default for all of teTeX is 600 dpi. The /Users/Shared
> folder is writable by anyone and makes as much sense as a location
> for generated pk files as /var/tmp/texfonts (teTeX's default).

Well, I really want to reuse the PK generated fonts, without having
them twice. If another user uses the X11 xdvi or gs with the standard
tetex, then the PK fonts will be duplicated somewhere else. I'd really
like to share the same directories for the PK fonts as the standard
tetex distribution.

> My installation does not require any changes to any files included
> with teTeX. You do not have to be root or even have Admin privileges
> to install this package. It will work even if you update
> teTeX. Using ~/bin and a ~/Library/texmf directories is the natural
> way of extending your system.  The cmactex.script and
> macghostview.script files are only called by my programs, so your
> zsh is not affected if it is run by any other program.

Don't take it as if your work is bad, I really like it! However, I'd
like to see it as general as possible for any possible user. So,
forcing a user to have fonts and binaries installed only under his/her
home is bad, and duplicating PK files is also bad, in my opinion. With
my suggestion of having any path sequence customisable from a
preference panel, things will continue to work when you update tetex
as well, and under a standard tetex distribution will not require any
root/Admin privilege. If I miss something, please tell me!

cheers
-- e.

Enrico Franconi                     - franconi at cs.man.ac.uk
University of Manchester            - http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/~franconi/
Department of Computer Science      - Phone: +44 (161) 275 6170
Manchester M13 9PL, UK              - Fax:   +44 (161) 275 6204

-----------------------------------------------------------------
To UNSUBSCRIBE, send email to <info at email.esm.psu.edu> with
"unsubscribe macosx-tex" (no quotes) in the body.
For additional HELP, send email to <info at email.esm.psu.edu> with
"help" (no quotes) in the body.
This list is not moderated, and I am not responsible for
messages posted by third parties.
-----------------------------------------------------------------