[OS X TeX] ps2pdf with(out) texshop

[Herbert Schulz]

On Dec 1, 2009, at 10:10 AM, Alain Matthes wrote:

> Hi
> 
> When I compile with dvi-ps-pdf with ghostscript it's always ps2pdf13
> that is used
> 
> End of a log
> 
> ### ps2pdf13 /tmp/altpdflatex.38942-1259682888/hsv-shading.ps /tmp/altpdflatex.38942-1259682888/hsv-shading.pdf
> ### Copying/moving pdf file /tmp/altpdflatex.38942-1259682888/hsv-shading.pdf to hsv-shading.pdf
> ### Succesfully generated hsv-shading.dvi and hsv-shading.pdf
> 
> How to use ps2pdf14 without create a personal engine ?
> 
> In the help odf simpdftex I read :
> "simpdftex compiles the file with {LA}TeX, processes the DVI file with dvips into
> PostScript and uses gs to produce pdf (with ps2pdf)."
> 
> 
> ps2pdf is not ps2pdf13 ! ps2pdf calls ps2pdf13 or ps2pdf14 
> 
> Then, there are some  strange things in the altpdflatex script ( inside TeXshop) or in
> simpdftex in TeXlive
> 
> In the script, I read
> 
> # Version 1.4:	Moved path changes to just before calling gs so that only
> #		ps2pdf is affected
> 
> then
> 
> # Version 2.6:	Use ps2pdf13 as the default distiller
> 
> then in the code
> 
> # Default distiller is ps2pdf from /usr/local/bin in no filter mode
> # as the direct call to a filtering gs does not work yet for some reason 
> ???
> 
> 
> #distillerpath=""
> #distillerprog="/usr/local/bin/gs -dCompatibility=1.3 -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=- -c save pop"
> #distillerfilter="yes"
> distillerpath="/usr/local/bin"
> distillerprog="ps2pdf13"
> ???
> 
> 
> I don't understand... is it impossible to launch ps2pdf?
> because in ps2pdf of mactex 2009 we have 
> 
> version=14
> 
> ps2pdf="`dirname $0`/ps2pdf$version"
> if test ! -x "$ps2pdf"; then
> 	ps2pdf="ps2pdf$version"
> fi
> exec "$ps2pdf" "$@" 
> 
> and I prefer working with ps2pdf14. 
> 
> It is more easy to change the number 14 with 13 in ps2pdf instead to modify
> altpdflatex or simpdftex with 
> distillerprog="ps2pdf14"
> 
> Best Regards
> 
> Alain Matthes

Howdy,

Set your TeXShop->Preferences->Engine->TeX + dvips + distiller->Latex engine to

simpdftex latex --extradvipsopts "-R0" --extratexopts "-synctex=1" --distiller ps2pdf14 

The `--extradvipsopts "-R0"' is to allow relative paths for files, the `--extratexopts "-synctex=1"' sets up the use of synctex and the `--distiller ps2pdf14' tells simpdftex to use ps2pdf14 as the distiller. Then just latex as usual.

The latexmk engine is also set up to use ps2pdf14 by default.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)