[tex-k] Problem with dvips

[Karl Berry]

    /util/TeX/bin/dvips -o test.ps test.dvi  usually does not produce
                                             a ps file but send a stream
                                             of characters to the screen.

That is quite peculiar.  All I can think of is that there is a config.ps
or other config.* file which is causing output to go to stdout.  That's
presumably why your /util/TeX3.14/bin/dvips test.dvi output produces
test.ps, because there's a config.ps that says `o'.

However, the -o option should override anything in a config file. 
Does reversing the order, dvips test.dvi -o test.ps, make any difference
by some wild chance?

What version of dvips is this (run dvips --version)?
If you run dvips -d -1 test.dvi -o test.ps, you should get a *lot* of
debugging output (to stdout/stderr).  That might be enough to track
down the problem.

    Sometimes, a ps file is produced, as it should.

Sometimes?  When does it work, and when doesn't it work?  That makes it
even more peculiar.  I'm probably missing something obvious.

    We have been told to use the TeX3.14 version.  However, the other is
    the latest version and we thought that we should use it. But, we can
    not be sure that it will work.

If it gets you the right output, any version will do :).  The changes in
TeX from 3.14 onward are obscure and not likely to affect real-life
documents.  Differences are almost certainly due to the configuration of
the different TeX trees at your site, not anything in the TeX program
itself.


Hope this helps,
karl