[OS X TeX] Re: Save date-time, not Print date

[Alain Schremmer]

Victor Ivrii wrote:

> On 1/6/07, Alain Schremmer <Schremmer.Alain at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Victor Ivrii wrote:
>>
>
>> >
>> > I am not sure why one needs to know the date when foo.tex was modified
>> > (and actually this is given by either UNIX ls -l or just Mac OS info)
>> > unless it is a milestone. But if it is a milestone (say draft-3) I
>> > would save it under the name foo-draft-3_2007_01_06.tex and never edit
>> > again.
>>
>> Surely you missed
>>
>> B. Towards the begining of the thread, Kock wrote: "In my opinion, the
>> \date command in latex is not particularly useful: often it is quite
>> uninteresting and confusing to know when the dvi or pdf file was
>> compiled -- the interesting bit of info really is the time the source
>> file was last modified. For example if you find an old tex file on your
>> hard disc and compile it, it will get today's date stamp, even though
>> the file was last modified several years ago" which is exactly the issue
>> as far as I am concerned.
>>
>
>
> As an author I am dealing with .tex file, not with pdf or .ps and
> unless I run on foo.tex touch command I can see from ls -l foo.tex (or
> from MacOS info) when .tex file was modified. 

As an author but one who didn't learn LaTeX at a tender enough age to be 
able to visualize the finished product off the source, I typeset very, 
very frequently. Yes, MacOS info would tell me but, by the same token, I 
could write my magnum opus as I used to do it ante 1980, that is with 
pencil and paper.

> The reader deals with .pdf and it is IMHO my (author) discretion which 
> date should be on it.

Far from me the thought of depriving you of your discretion.

> I can put \today or fix the date ...

But, forgive me from repeating it, as I wrote

    Errare humanum est.

    Specifically, I would forget to put the date in when I thought I was
    done, I would forget to take it out/change it when making a later
    change, etc. It would be a complete mess. That's why I like
    computers. They are dependably dumb.

Authorial  ;-) regards
--schremmer



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