[texhax] using latex from an external plotting package

[Karl Berry]

Hi Darren,

    Is there a way to use latex in a kind of server mode 

Running TeX as a daemon brings up all kinds of ancillary issues.  My
advice is, don't go there.
    
    to provide the layout information needed to render the glyphs on
    screen, and in a postscript, eps or pdf document?

You want (La)TeX to do the layout but not the final rendering?  That
sounds like exactly what DVI format is all about -- it has all the
positioning information and character information, but no rendering.
If you read the DVI, you could then translate to screen, *ps, or pdf
yourself, if that's what you're after.  (I'm not entirely clear.)

    to render text, could it be possible to use latex in coordination
    with freetype? 

If you can make the fonts which LaTeX uses available to freetype on the
fly (they certainly won't be installed in the "right" place on the
system).  You can find the fonts by calling kpsewhich, among other ways.

    (I'm sorry if this is a repeat post, but it doesnt look like my original 
    message was delivered.)

It had to sit in mailman's hold queue until I approved it yesterday ...

Best,
Karl