[OS X TeX] question about the geometry package

[Morten Høgholm]

On Tue, 18 Oct 2005 09:28:42 -0500, Herbert Schulz  
<herbs at wideopenwest.com> wrote:

> Include the driver in the optional argument: e.g.,
>
> \usepackage[dvips,a5paper]{geometry}
>
> and it seems to work. I wonder if the geometry package is using the  
> correct test for pdf or dvi production.

It isn't but that's not the reason for why this isn't working.

Geometry actually doesn't set the dvips driver itself even though it could  
easily do so. One has to either edit the geometry.cfg file so that it  
executes the dvips option or do it in the package options as you did. When  
looking at the package I noticed two places where it uses the presence of  
a pdftex primitive to determine pdfmode. One is this one:

\def\Gm at checkdrivers{%
   \ifx\pdfpagewidth\@undefined\else
     \ifnum\pdfoutput=\@ne
       \Gm at setdriver{pdftex}%
     \fi
   \fi
   ...}

So this isn't the best way to check for pdftex but at least it's not  
entirely wrong since it also tests for the value of \pdfoutput. Similarly  
later in the package:

   \Gm at checkdrivers
   \ifx\Gm at driver\Gm at pdftex
     \ifx\pdfpagewidth\@undefined
       \Gm at warning{`pdftex' option is invalid in this environment}%
     \else
       \setlength\pdfpagewidth{\Gm at orgw}%
       \setlength\pdfpageheight{\Gm at orgh}%
       ...

I'll contact the author to a) encourage him to use ifpdf and b) make  
geometry choose dvips if not running pdftex in pdf mode:

\def\Gm at checkdrivers{%
   \ifpdf
     \Gm at setdriver{pdftex}%
   \else
     \Gm at setdriver{dvips}%
   \fi
% other drivers detected here.
   ...}
-- 
Morten
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