[OS X TeX] typesetting engines in TeXShop

[Herb Schulz]

On 11/9/04 2:32 AM, "Tom Koornwinder" <thk at science.uva.nl> wrote:

> This is nice, but writing such a script requires advanced knowledge of
> Unix programming. For instance, I added a file pdfetex.engine
> with the lines
> 
> #!/bin/sh
> test -f "`kpsewhich pdfetex.fmt`" || fmtutil --byfmt pdfetex
> exec pdfetex -fmt=pdfetex -progname=pdfetex "$@"
> 
> which I copied from a posting by Ros Moore.
> 
> Here are a few suggestions to the makers of TeXShop (who have done such
> a great job):
> 
> 1. Add in Advanced Help some demos of engine files.
> 
> 2. Arrange TeXShop in such a way that whenever some program is called in
> /usr/local/teTeX/bin/powerpc-apple-darwin-current
> then it is automatically checked if
> /usr/local/teTeX/share/texmf.local/web2c
> contains a format (.fmt) file for that program, and if so, then this format
> is used.
> 
> 3. If 2. is too radical, then make it possible in Preferences that
> the user can choose for 2.
> 
>                      Tom Koornwinder

Howdy,

Assuming you're careful enough to only use valid commands (i.e., commands
that work directly from the terminal and substituting "$1" for the file name
passed on to the engine (only that is passed by TeXShop) you don't have to
do the check.

Take a look at the xetex.engine and xelatex.engine files as examples. If you
have Gerben's i-Installer version of TeX you may not even need to set the
path.
 
Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)

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