[OS X TeX] psfrag troubles/PostScript in 10.4.4

Thomas Schröder hydrochlorix at gmx.net
Thu Jan 12 21:07:18 CET 2006


Am 12.01.2006 um 16:57 schrieb Bruno Voisin:

> Le 12 janv. 06 à 14:50, Thomas Schröder a écrit :
>
>> Recently, I switched writing to my iMac G5 which is a lot nicer,  
>> but somehow, my psfrag enhancements stopped working on it. Taking  
>> a closer look, I realized that on the iMac those PostScript files  
>> differ from those created on the G4. On the G4 they sport this  
>> comment:
>>
>>  %%Creator: (KaleidaGraph: pictwpstops filter 1.0)
>>
>> On the iMac it's this one:
>>
>> %%Creator: (KaleidaGraph: cgpdftops CUPS filter)
>>
>> The PostScript files that are created on the G4 contain all the  
>> labels of the graphs which I'd like to change in plain form,  
>> whilst those created on the iMac don't which is the reason that  
>> psfrag doesn't work on them anymore. The major difference between  
>> the G4 and the iMac is that the G4 runs OS X 10.4.2 and the iMac  
>> 10.4.4. The problem already existed when the iMac was still  
>> running 10.4.3, but actually I'm not really sure whether this is  
>> an issue of 10.4.3/10.4.4 or something in my setup.
>
> On second thought, I got puzzled by this and investigated a bit  
> further. On my PowerBook G4 with 10.4.4 and KaleidaGraph 4.0.2, I'm  
> getting pictwpstops when printing to PS.

Lucky you :-)

> Looking further, it appears pictwpstops and cgpdftops are CUPS  
> filters living in /usr/libexec/cups/filter/.

Yup, that's what I figured, too.

> I couldn't find any trace of them inside the CUPS documentation, in  
> the ADC Reference Library or at Apple's Knowledge Base.

Me neither.

> From this message <http://www.linuxprinting.org/pipermail/macosx- 
> list/2003q2/000489.html>, I get the impression the two are CUPS  
> filters developed specifically by or for Apple, and from the names  
> I imagine these do:
>
> - pictwpstops (PICT With embedded PS TO PS?): default PICT -> PS OS  
> X converter
>
> - cgpdftops (Core Graphic PDF TO PS): default PDF -> PS OS X converter

That's what I figured, too. Apparently, many printers and print  
server running on Unix had trouble with Apple PostScript files that  
still contained some parts in the PICT format, so this filter gets  
rid of that. At least that's the impression I got after doing some  
googleing.

> How your printer driver has switched from one to the other remains  
> a mystery.

Tell me about it. Since your 10.4.4 does it right it rather seems to  
a problem with my setup. Or something. Oh, well....

Bye, Thomas------------------------- Info --------------------------
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