[OS X TeX] OT: Tool for Comparing PDF files ?

Mon Apr 9 15:50:58 EDT 2007

Hi Axel,

thank you for your additional explanations! It works like a charm. Wonderful. Thank you very much Michael!
Just one question: there is probably no alternative for Preview -- no way to explain e.g. TeXniscope or TeXShop how to show the resulting files?

Steffen

On Sun, 8 Apr 2007 22:50:32 -0500, Axel E. Retif wrote:
> On Apr 5, 2007, at 09:49, Steffen Wolfrum wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
>> 
>> I have to admit that I am still not familiar with command_line/UNIX stuff.
>> That's the reason why I didn't try Michael's script up-to now.
>> 
>> But Axel's enthusiastic comment made me curious and so I am 
>> considering to dive into it.
>> I just don't know where to start: Which package 
>> (pnmarith/pnmarith???) do I need now, and where do I get it?
> 
> I'm so sorry I hadn't seen your message. I was out of town and 
> careless with my email.
> 
> First, you need to install the ``Netpbm Tools and Library'' i-Package.
> 
> Then, you have to have a directory in your path where you place the 
> script below. You can use /usr/local/bin or make a bin directory for 
> yourself: in your HOME directory create a bin directory; if you have 
> .bash_profile or .profile add these lines to it (if you don't have 
> any of these, you have to create one):
> 
> PATH="$PATH:~/bin"
> export PATH
> 
> After you have copied the script below, make it executable: navigate 
> in Terminal.app to the directory where you placed it and, if it is in 
> /usr/local/bin, execute this command in Terminal.app:
> 
> sudo chmod a+x diffps
> 
> if it is in your own ~/bin directory, just
> 
> chmod a+x diffps
> 
> I would recommend BBEdit or TextWrangler ( http://www.barebones.com/ 
> ) for making the script, but you can use also TextEdit in text mode 
> (not RTF mode).
> 
> In BBEdit, TextWrangler or TextEdit copy Michael Sternberg's script 
> that follows (to which I just changed pamarith instead of pnmarith), 
> save it in the directory you have chosen as diffps and execute the 
> chmod command above.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Axel
> --------------------------
> 
> #!/bin/bash
> # compare pages in two similar ps-files by highlighting their differences
> # (uses grayscale pixmaps for comparing)
> #
> # Usage:  (see -h)
> #
> # Created by Michael Sternberg, 2001-2007. Use at your own risk.
> 
> PROGRAM=`basename $0`
> 
> CACHE=.diffps
> PAGES="*"
> RES=72
> VIEWER="xv -nolimit -24"
> PAIR_FILE=pairs
> VIEWS=1
> HIST_THRESHOLD=1
> 
> case `uname` in
>   Darwin)	VIEWER="open -a Preview" ;;
> esac
> 
> Usage () {
>     cat << EOT
> Compare postscript/pdf files visually.
> Usage: $PROGRAM [options] file1 [file2 | dir]
> 
>   If file2 is not given, the latest  version from CVS is used.
> 
> Options:
>   Page rendering:
>       -d directory
>       		directory for page cache (default: "$CACHE")
> 
>       -p pages
>       		view only the given pages (quoted shell glob pattern)
> 		(default: "$PAGES")
> 
>       -t threshold
>       		minimum number of pixels to differ (default: $HIST_THRESHOLD)
> 
>       -r res	Resolution for pixmap rendering (default: $RES)
> 
>       -f	re-do comparison (force; discard cache)
> 
>   Viewing:
>       -0	report only
>       -1	view differing pages in diff-mode (red = recent; default)
>       -2	view differing pages pairwise
>       -3	both of the above
>       -x viewer	specify image viewer for above (default: xv)
> 
>   General:
>       -h	This help.
>       -c	clean cache
> 
> Created by Michael Sternberg, 2001-2007. Use at your own risk.
> EOT
>     exit
> }
> 
> Clean_Cache () {
>     case $CACHE in
>       */*)	echo $CACHE: not a subdirectory -- please clean manually. 1>&2
> 		exit ;;
>     esac
>     rm -rf $CACHE		# better know what you're doing
> }
> 
> 
>     # parse options
> while :
> do
>     case "$1" in
>       -d)   CACHE=$2; shift 2 ;;
>       -p)   PAGES=$2; shift 2 ;;
>       -r)   RES=$2; shift 2 ;;
>       -f)   FORCE=1; shift ;;
>       -t)   HIST_THRESHOLD=$2; shift 2 ;;
> 
>       -0)   VIEWS=0; shift ;;
>       -1)   VIEWS=1; shift ;;
>       -2)   VIEWS=2; shift ;;
>       -3)   VIEWS=3; shift ;;
>       -x)   VIEWER=$2; shift 2 ;;
> 
>       -c)   CLEAN=1; shift ;;
>       -h)   Usage ;;
> 
>       -*)   echo $0: unknown option 1>&2
> 	    Usage
> 	    exit 1 ;;
>       *)    break ;;
>     esac
> done
> 
>     # clean cache.  Exit if this is the only task.
> if [ -n "$CLEAN" ]; then
>     Clean_Cache
>     case $# in
>       0)	exit ;;
>     esac
> fi
> 
>     # attempt to create cache dir
> mkdir $CACHE 2> /dev/null
> 
> A_PS="$1"
> B_PS="${2-$CACHE}"
> [ -d "$B_PS" ] && B_PS="$B_PS/$A_PS"
> 
> case $# in
>   2)	;;
>   1)	# get older copy from CVS
>   	cvs up -p "$A_PS" > "$B_PS" || exit
> 	# swap A and B to have named file as B, i.e., newer copy
> 	X="$B_PS"; B_PS="$A_PS"; A_PS="$X"
> 	;;
>   *)	echo Invalid input. 1>&2
> 	Usage
>   	exit 1
> 	;;
> esac
> 
> A_BASE="${A_PS//\//_}"
> B_BASE="${B_PS//\//_}"
> 
>     # convert to pixmap format; use cache when available and not outdated
> if [ ! -f $CACHE/"$A_BASE"-001.pgm \
>     -o "$A_PS" -nt $CACHE/"$A_BASE"-001.pgm \
>     -o -n "$FORCE" \
>    ]
> then
>     gs -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pgmraw -r$RES 
> -sOutputFile=$CACHE/"$A_BASE"-%03d.pgm \
>     	"$A_PS" quit.ps  || exit
> fi
> 
> if [ ! -f $CACHE/"$B_BASE"-001.pgm \
>     -o "$B_PS" -nt $CACHE/"$B_BASE"-001.pgm \
>     -o -n "$FORCE" \
>    ]
> then
>     gs -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pgmraw -r$RES 
> -sOutputFile=$CACHE/"$B_BASE"-%03d.pgm \
>     	"$B_PS" quit.ps  || exit
> fi
> 
>     # compare pages
> OWD=`pwd`
> cd $CACHE
> rm -f $PAIR_FILE 2> /dev/null
> for A_PGM in "$A_BASE"-${PAGES}.pgm
> do
>     SUFFIX="${A_PGM//*-/}"
>     N=${SUFFIX/.pgm/}
> 
>     B_PGM="$B_BASE-${SUFFIX}"
> 
>     H_DAT="$A_BASE-$B_BASE-${N}-hist.dat"
>     V="$A_BASE-$B_BASE-${N}-view.png"
>     D="$A_BASE-$B_BASE-${N}-diff.png"
> 
>     if [ ! -f "$H_DAT" -o -n "$FORCE" ]; then
> 	# get histogram of diffs
> 	pamarith -diff "$A_PGM" "$B_PGM" | tee "$D".pgm | pgmhist > "$H_DAT"
>     fi
> 
>     ## Sample histogram:
>     # value   count   b%      w%
>     # -----   -----   --      --
>     # 0       484690    100%    100%
>     # 255     14        100%  0.00289%
> 
>     # count non-black pixels
>     H_COUNT=`awk 'NR>3 { sum += $2} END {print 1*sum}' "$H_DAT"`
> 
>     # assemble views of differing pages (only)
>     if [ $H_COUNT -ge $HIST_THRESHOLD ]; then
> 	echo $N differ 1>&2
> 	if [ ! -f "$V" -o -n "$FORCE" ]; then
> 	    rgb3toppm "$A_PGM" "$B_PGM" "$B_PGM" \
> 		| pnmtopng -transparent white -background grey50 > "$V"
> 	    pnmtopng "$D".pgm > "$D"
> 	fi
> 	echo "$V" "$A_PGM" "$B_PGM" >> $PAIR_FILE
>     fi
>     rm -f "$D".pgm 2> /dev/null
> 
>     ## When memory is tight -- This renders options "-2" and "-3" useless.
>     #if [ -z "$VIEWS" ]; then
>     #	rm "$A_PGM" "$B_PGM
>     #fi
> done
> 
> # decide which images to view
> case $VIEWS in
>   1)  COLS=1 ;;		# diff-view only
>   2)  COLS=2-3 ;;	# page pairs only
>   3)  COLS=1-3 ;;	# all
>   *)  exit ;;
> esac
> 
> # see if xargs supports the flag -r --no-run-if-empty
> xargs -r < /dev/null 2> /dev/null && XARGS_ARGS="-r"
> 
> if [ -f $PAIR_FILE ]; then
>     cut -f$COLS -d' ' $PAIR_FILE | xargs $XARGS_ARGS $VIEWER
> fi
> 
> # EOF
> 
> 
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> 

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