[OS X TeX] Building new LaTeX formats w/ OS X Textures

[Bruno Voisin]

Le 30 juin 06 à 11:44, Frank STENGEL a écrit :

> I don' know whether they read this list, but they seem quite  
> reactive these days when one reports problems/crashes with the  
> alpha version of 2.2.0 (every mail was answered within 24 hours)

Thanks for that info, it's interesting to know that Textures is  
evolving rapidly now.

Motivated by your answer, I've attempted to use Textures for  
typesetting a very basic LaTeX document (a CD-R label):

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[normalem]{ulem}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt}
\pagestyle{empty}
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
\begin{document}
\centering
\fbox{\parbox[c][120mm][c]{120mm}{\LARGE\centering
   \uline{\textbf{\MakeUppercase{%
     COMMUNICATION EFMC 6}}} \\[3\bigskipamount]
     27/06/2006}}
\end{document}

Result:

- Textures does not save choices such as Format=LaTeX and Flash  
Mode=Off when the file is saved. Similarly, the Typeset window does  
not seem to be saved.

- Probably related: when using as a basis a Classic Textures file,  
the Typeset window for this original file is always displayed when  
the file is opened, even after modifying and re-typesetting the file  
in OS X Textures. Opening the modified file in ResEdit show that  
Textures has apparently problems dealing with the corresponding  
resources: the DVI2 resource (containing the DVI output) contains an  
ID=0 resource with the string "TeX output 2006.07.03:1557", showing  
it has been updated, but apparently the rest of the resource hasn't  
been updated. When a new file is created from within OS X Textures,  
with the same input text, then typeset and saved, the resources of  
the saved file are different in name, structure and content compared  
with the original Classic Texture file: resources icns and usro  
instead of resources *FMT, *PM, DVI2, PREC and rTEX.

- The relatively standard ulem.sty being not part of the LaTeX  
Textures tree, I had to copy it manually from gwTeX. I realized what  
you said about the various TeX gwTeX tress requiring flattening  
before being usable by Textures:

> One can already do that with classic Textures. However this is  
> *very* slow (typeset times multiplied by 10). AFAIK Textures  
> (clasic or OSX) does not use the ls-r mechanism kpsathsea uses, so  
> search is *very* slow. That's why one had to flatten/prune the  
> (teTeX) tex directories so as to accelerate search (or use the  
> version given on the CD).

But for me this is a major showstopper: after years of using gwTeX, I  
have come to consider it practically as the current incarnation of  
TeX (ie it defines TeX for me), and things would get really annoying  
if anytime a package is used I had to check first whether this  
package is indeed also present in the Textures TeX tree, and  
otherwise copy it.

- The file was originally a XeLaTeX file, using the Trebuchet MS font  
through:

> \defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text}
> \setromanfont{Trebuchet MS}
>
> %\DeclareFontFamily{U}{trebuchet}{}
> %\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{m}{n}
> %  {<-> "Trebuchet\space MS:mapping=tex-text"}{}
> %\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{m}{it}
> %  {<-> "Trebuchet\space MS\space Italic:mapping=tex-text"}{}
> %\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{b}{n}
> %  {<-> "Trebuchet\space MS\space Bold:mapping=tex-text"}{}
> %\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{b}{it}
> %  {<-> "Trebuchet\space MS\space Bold\space Italic:mapping=tex- 
> text"}{}
> %\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{bx}{n}
> %  {<-> ssub * trebuchet/b/n}{}
> %\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{bx}{it}
> %  {<-> ssub * trebuchet/b/it}{}
>
> %\renewcommand{\encodingdefault}{U}
> %\renewcommand{\sfdefault}{trebuchet}
> %\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}

The first (uncommented) version was based on the fontspec package,  
and the second (commented) version dated back to before I started  
using fontspec. The interface for OS X fonts in OS X Textures being  
not documented for now, I attempted to use the Classic Textures  
interface, which should be, if I'm not mistaken (I haven't used it  
for years):

\DeclareFontFamily{U}{trebuchet}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{m}{n}
   {<-> Trebuchet…MS}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{m}{it}
   {<-> Trebuchet…MS[italic]}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{b}{n}
   {<-> Trebuchet…MS[bold]}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{b}{it}
   {<-> Trebuchet…MS[bold,italic]}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{bx}{n}
   {<-> ssub * trebuchet/b/n}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{trebuchet}{bx}{it}
   {<-> ssub * trebuchet/b/it}{}
\renewcommand{\encodingdefault}{U}
\renewcommand{\sfdefault}{trebuchet}
\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}

Alas, that doesn't work: the font is not found.

All in all, though I originally wplanned to act as a beta-tester for  
Textures, I have now changed my mind: OS X Textures seems too alpha  
for now for being used on a day-to-day basis, even by somebody  
willing to experiment and report. That simply would take far too much  
time.

I look forward to being back to the elegance, simplicity and "bare- 
bones-ness" (or minimalism, if your prefer) of Textures. Alas, that  
will have to wait.

Bruno Voisin------------------------- Info --------------------------
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