dvi output in TeXShop (was:Re: [OS X TeX] texdoc, manuals and TeX distributions)

[Bruno Voisin]

Le 4 nov. 06 à 20:15, Alex Hamann a écrit :

> I wanted to get a dvi file instead of the usual pdf output. I  
> thought that switching in TexShop from PdfTex to Tex & Ghostscript  
> (and maybe additionally  checking the "save as ps" box in the  
> preferences) would get me there. It did not and also invoking LaTex  
> (actually XeLaTex in this case) from command line did not help. Am  
> I missing the obvious?

First, as regards standard LaTeX, typesetting in TeX & Ghostscript  
mode in TeXShop should produce both a dvi file and a pdf file. In  
that case, TeX produces a dvi file, from which dvips produces a ps  
file, from which Ghostscript (called through the ps2pdf script)  
produces a pdf file. At the end of the process the ps file is erased  
(unless "Save Posctscript File" is checked in TeXShop's Engine pref),  
while the dvi and pdf files are kept.

Secondly, as regards XeLaTeX, the situation is entirely different:  
XeLaTeX, by default, creates a file in xdv (= extended dvi) format,  
then silently invokes the xdv2pdf converter to convert the xdv file  
to pdf format, then silently erases the xdv file. You can affect this  
in two ways:

- Invoke xelatex from the command line with the -no-pdf option: this  
will stop xetex after the generation of the xdv file, prior to the  
conversion to pdf. You can then run xdv2pdf manually from the command  
line.

- Invoke xelatex with the option -output-driver="xdvipdfmx -q -E":  
this will use xdvipdfmx instead of xdv2pdf as the xdv to pdf  
converter. That won't change, though, the silent creation then  
erasure of the intermediary xdv file. The advantage of xdvipdfmx is  
that it is more compatible, namely multi-platform (Mac, Linux,  
Windows); a disadvantage is that you lose the Mac-specific niceties  
(use of AAT/ATSUI fonts, recognition of all the graphical formats  
recognized by Quartz, such as TIFF).

Bruno Voisin------------------------- Info --------------------------
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