Re: IMPORTANT: (possibly) incompatible Change

[Ulf Stegemann <ulf-news@zeitform.de>]

Hi Karsten,

Karsten Heymann <karsten.heymann@blue-cable.net> wrote:

> Hi Ulf,
>
> Ulf Stegemann <ulf-news@zeitform.de> writes:
>> However, I'd strongly oppose to the claim that compatibility to the
>> latex compiler (vs. pdftex) is an academic problem. I know about
>> several LaTeX based systems that have to use the latex compiler simply
>> because pdftex can't handle eps graphics and converting those images
>> isn't feasible. So, while in the current case there's no compatibility
>> issue, I think it's reasonable to support both compilers.
>
> Are there still any systems in the wild that don't use pdftex for
> latex/dvi mode? Don't be fooled by the name, when pdftex is called in
> latex mode, it behaves exactly like the old tex/etex compiler and
> generates the same dvi documents, supports dvips and so on. For example
> on my Ubuntu 9.10 system 'latex -version' says:
>
> kheymann@ara:~$ latex -version
> pdfTeX using libpoppler 3.141592-1.40.3-2.2 (Web2C 7.5.6)
> kpathsea version 3.5.6
> Copyright 2007 Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
> Kpathsea is copyright 2007 Karl Berry and Olaf Weber.
> There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
> covered by the terms of both the pdfTeX using libpoppler copyright and
> the Lesser GNU General Public License.
> For more information about these matters, see the file
> named COPYING and the pdfTeX using libpoppler source.
> Primary author of pdfTeX using libpoppler: Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
> Kpathsea written by Karl Berry, Olaf Weber, and others.
>
> Compiled with libpng 1.2.37; using libpng 1.2.37
> Compiled with zlib 1.2.3.3; using zlib 1.2.3.3
> Compiled with libpoppler version 0.12.0
>
> Or did I misunderstand your remark?

no, we probably just misunderstood each other. I had the impression that
the compatibility question was raised because difficulties would
possibly arise when using latex -> dvi, no matter which actual version
is used. You are right, nowadays nearly everyone uses pdflatex for both
latex -> dvi and latex -> pdf. Nevertheless, the very same program
behaves differently depending on the mode. But if that wasn't your
point, just forget about my remark.

Ulf