[OS X TeX] TeX is TeX?

[David Watson]

On Apr 10, 2009, at 12:02 PM, George Gratzer wrote:

> I am writing a joint paper with HL. He uses a standard Linux TeX.
>
> I send him the source, he makes changes, mails back the source and  
> the pdf. I use Adobe Acrobat to compare his pdf with mine, to find  
> out the changes made.
>

While it may be possible for Adobe to tell the difference between one  
document and another, this may not work as intended when different  
versions of pdftex (I assume this is what you are using) produce the  
file.

> Result: everything changed.
>

I would expect this if the metainformation has changed in the pdf.
Others may know better.

> So I typeset his new source and then make the comparison, and I get  
> my answer.
>

Now you have the same metainformation for creator and producer.

> How come his pdf is seen by Acrobat as so different. To my eye, what  
> is marked up as different looks the same.
>
> We both use TeX out of the box, same font (CM), etc.
>

I hope there is a simple solution for you two.
This is one of the areas where I think using a subversion repository  
would provide some benefits.
You could synchronize the source and then use the subversion tools to  
investigate where revisions were made.

> Puzzling.
>
> GG