[OS X TeX] TeXniscope problems after LaTeX upgrade

[Gerben Wierda]

On May 4, 2006, at 18:24, Morten Høgholm wrote:

> On Thu, 04 May 2006 14:53:32 +0200, Bruno Voisin <bvoisin at mac.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> Regarding dvipdfm
>> =================
>>
>> Looking for dvipdfm.def, there seem to be two of them:
>>
>> - One in the teTeX tree at 
>> /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.tetex/tex/latex/dvipdfm/dvipdfm.def, 
>> with time stamp:
>>
>> \ProvidesFile{dvipdfm.def}
>>          [1999/9/6 vx.x Driver-dependant file]
>>
>> - One in the latest LaTeX graphics package at 
>> /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.local/tex/latex/graphics/dvipdfm.def, 
>> with time stamp:
>>
>> \ProvidesFile{dvipdfm.def}
>>          [1998/11/24 vx.x Driver-dependant file]
>>
>> The one in texmf.local is of course the one used, but it seems older 
>> than the other which is the same as in the dvipdfm distro (in the 
>> latex-support directory) at <http://gaspra.kettering.edu/dvipdfm/>. 
>> There are indeed significant differences in the code between the two. 
>> Which one should we use?
>
> The newer one (of course! :-). As I said elsewhere, the 
> TeX-distributors have been made responsible for including the drivers 
> they support. We merely provide a version of some of the drivers 
> (emphasis on the "a") but we do not ensure it's the latest or greatest 
> since we do not maintain them.
>
> Gerben, a candidate for a change in the LaTeX updater?

Hmm, that would make *me* responsible for keeping that up to date. The 
only way I can keep up with what I do is pass trouble upstream and not 
`fix' it myself unless really unavoidable. The LaTeX updater 
redistributes what the LaTeX team has released. I'd rather not become 
editor of something based on what the LaTeX team distributes and become 
burdened with fixing their release strategy.

I think the best solution is that the LaTeX distribution contains a 
dvipdfmx.def and at least the latest of the drivers when you release. 
To release outdated stuff is worse than not releasing it at all, imo. 
This way, the LaTeX team are creating more trouble doownstream than 
solutions. And I am not in favour of becoming the person who has to 
work with that because that would quickly balloon into situations I 
would have to give up on. I must keep my actions limited to be able to 
keep them up.

G
------------------------- Info --------------------------
Mac-TeX Website: http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/
          & FAQ: http://latex.yauh.de/faq/
TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
List Archive: http://tug.org/pipermail/macostex-archives/