Ignoring pdftex primitives

[Robert Howlett]

Hi all,

I've been contemplating the question of writing some macros which
when input would enable standard TeX to cope with a pdftex tex file,
gracefully ignoring the extra primitives that pdftex has.
(e.g. declaring \pdfpageheight to be a \newdimen, etc.)
Most pdftex primitives are easy enough to deal with, but \pdfimage
requires a bit of work. If the correct syntax were along the
lines of
\pdfimage height 3 cm {imagefile.png}
rather than
\pdfimage height 3 cm imagefile.png
things would be a whole lot easier. (I wouldn't lose any sleep
worrying about people who use file names that include unmatched braces
-- they don't deserve to be catered for. But people whose file
names include spaces maybe should be catered for.)
Incidentally, with the syntax as it is, I notice that I can't
include an image file with a name like depthcharge.png.

I guess pdftex syntax is by now too settled for it to be changed, is it?
If not, is there any support out there for changing the syntax?

Bob Howlett