[pdftex] supp-pdf.tex being called incorrectly?

[Thanh Han The]

it's normal that supp-pdf.tex is loaded by graphicx.sty when
pdftex is being used.

I got the same error with your test file on my system
(texlive08). Moving the line \begin{document} to the top
seems to help:

,--------
| \usepackage{graphicx}
| \begin{document}
| ...
`--------

HTH,
Thanh



On Thu, Jan 08, 2009 at 06:33:48PM -0700, James Haefner wrote:
> If this is not sufficiently pdftex related, I would appreciate a reference to possible documentation.
> I use "txt2tex" to format Gutenberg public domain books. txt2tex attempts to convert "arbitrary" text files to
> a tex file with minimum or no human intervention.  It accomodates special tex characters (e.g. ampersand) by
> redefining catcodes in the preamble, as shown in the test file below.  On one texlive installation this works
> fine. On a second installation that I installed from linux Ubuntu 8.10, this method of dealing with special
> characters fails with this error message:
>
> ...
> (/usr/share/texmf/tex/context/base/supp-pdf.tex
> [Loading MPS to PDF converter (version 2006.09.02).]
> ! Missing = inserted for \ifnum.
> <to be read again>
> ...
>
> pdflatex version: 3.141592-1.40.3
>
> I am posing my problem to you because of the implication of supp-pdf.tex.  The error from supp-pdf.tex arises
> because characters like "<", ">" have been redefined.  Interestingly, if I insert the catcode changes below
> \begin{document}, the error does not arise, but supp-pdf.tex is still called.  On the failing installation,
> supp-pdf.tex is invoked whenever graphicx.sty is used, but not in the first installation.  They are same
> version of graphicx.sty in both installations. On the first installation for  which this problem does not
> arise, supp-pdf.tex is not called at all.
>
> No doubt, this invocation of supp-pdf.tex is caused by some configuration error in my second installation of
> texlive, but I can not determine where it might be. So, the basic question is why is supp-pdf.tex being called
> and how do I prevent it?  I do note that on the working installation pdflatex.fmt is twice the size of
> pdflatex.fmt on the failing installation, and I have not found the second installation to fail on other tex
> files (that do not redefine catcodes).
>
> Thanks for any insights you can provide.
>
> Here is a test file:
> ===================================
> \documentclass[letterpaper,oneside,11pt]{report}
> \usepackage{graphicx}
> %------------------------------
> \let\olddospecials=\dospecials
> \def\dospecials{\samepage \catcode`|=11 \olddospecials}
> %--------------------------------
> %\iffalse
> \let\leftangle=<
> \let\rightangle=>
> \let\doublequote="
> \let\dollar=\$
> \catcode`\_=\active
> \catcode`\<=\active
> \catcode`\>=\active
> \catcode`\|=\active
> \catcode`\"=\active
> \catcode`\$=\active
> \def<{\mbox{\(\leftangle\)}}
> \def>{\mbox{\(\rightangle\)}}
> \def|{\mbox{\(\mid\)}}
> \def"{\mbox{\texttt{\doublequote}}}
> \def${\dollar}
> \catcode`\&=11
> \catcode`\^=11
> \catcode`\~=11
> %\fi
> %------------------------------
> \begin{document}
> %--------------------------------
> % uncomment iffalse/fi to see it work
> \iffalse
> \let\leftangle=<
> \let\rightangle=>
> \let\doublequote="
> \let\dollar=\$
> \catcode`\_=\active
> \catcode`\<=\active
> \catcode`\>=\active
> \catcode`\|=\active
> \catcode`\"=\active
> \catcode`\$=\active
> \def<{\mbox{\(\leftangle\)}}
> \def>{\mbox{\(\rightangle\)}}
> \def|{\mbox{\(\mid\)}}
> \def"{\mbox{\texttt{\doublequote}}}
> \def${\dollar}
> \catcode`\&=11
> \catcode`\^=11
> \catcode`\~=11
> \fi
> %--------------------------------
> \thispagestyle{empty}
> \pagestyle{empty}
> %--------------------------------
> Hello
>
> A text file with "quotes" and other odd symbols by Jack & Jill.
>
> 4 is < 8 but > 3
>
> \end{document}
> ===================================
> --
> James W. Haefner             Email: James.Haefner at usu.edu
> Dept Biology/Ecology Center  Voice: 435-797-3553
> Utah State University        FAX:   435-797-1575
> Logan, UT 84322-5305
>
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