[OS X TeX] TeXLive 2004, PDFTeX magnification problem.

[Herb Schulz]

On 12/29/04 12:18 PM, "Bruno Voisin" <bvoisin at mac.com> wrote:

> Le 29 déc. 04, à 18:34, Herb Schulz a écrit :
> 
>> It's amazing how this group discusses things just as they hit me. I
>> was just
>> about to look up the previous discussion, started by Bruno, about the
>> magnification problem with the latest pdftex because I ran into it when
>> trying to use an old TeX style file I wrote too many years ago that
>> formats
>> multi-page outlines. The printing was way off and then I remembered the
>> problem since it used \magnification=\magstephalf at the beginning of
>> the
>> style file. Bruno's solution works great. I wonder how it can be
>> generalized
>> to pick up the page values in the pdftexconfig.tex file and have come
>> up
>> with:
>> 
>> \catcode`@=11
>>  \def\m at g{\mag\count@
>>    \hsize6.5truein\vsize8.9truein\dimen\footins8truein
>>    \ifx\pdfoutput\undefined\else
>> %    \pdfpagewidth8.5truein\pdfpageheight11truein
>>     \input pdftexconfig.tex
>>     \pdfhorigin1truein\pdfvorigin1truein
>>    \fi}
>> \catcode`@=12
>> 
>> I'm not sure if the rest of the values are defaults for all setups.
> 
> Hi Herb,
> 
> In an off-list discussion, Hartmut Henkel suggested to Thomas Esser
> (the te behind teTeX) that the "true" units in pdftexconfig.tex could
> be removed, arguing that it's not likely a normal TeX user would want
> to \input pdftexconfig.tex in normal TeX operation and in the other
> situation when pdftexconfig.tex is read, namely by INITEX when creating
> formats, true units are not taken into account. Hence, if this
> modification is indeed done, the above solution, relying on
> pdftexconfig.tex to use true units, wouldn't work any longer.
> 
> I see another problem with using pdftexconfig.tex in the definition of
> \magnification: pdftexconfig.tex contains either US Letter or A4
> settings, depending on the choice made during installation of teTeX.
> For example, mine contains (since I live in Europe where A4 is the
> standard paper size):
> 
> % Set pdfTeX parameters for pdf mode (replacing pdftex.cfg file).
> % Thomas Esser, 2004. public domain.
> \pdfoutput=1
> \pdfcompresslevel=9
> \pdfdecimaldigits=3
> \pdfpagewidth=594.99 true bp
> \pdfpageheight=841.99 true bp
> \pdfhorigin=1 true in
> \pdfvorigin=1 true in
> \pdfpkresolution=600
> \pdfoptionpdfminorversion=4
> \endinput
> 
> (with A4 being 595 x 842 true bp). On the other hand, the plain TeX
> format and the definition of \magnification inside it are specifically
> for US Letter paper. Hence the above solution, relying on
> pdftexconfig.tex to contain settings for US Letter paper, would only
> work in countries using this paper.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Bruno

Howdy,

Once mag is set should it matter if `true' is used or not? Wouldn't that be
the last scaling? It has been so long since my general use of TeX I don't
remember using scaling except in the ``preamble'' of a document.

The version of pdftexconfig.tex on my system is much simpler that yours;
basically setting \pdfoutput, \pdfpageheight and \pdfpagewidth. Did you set
yours up yourself or did the installer set it up? If you had similar things
in pdftex.cfg wouldn't you want them again?

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)

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