[tex-live] TL2005 for Windows: paper size revisited

[Harriet B Borton]

Hi everyone,
I posted earlier about a problem with the config files in the
texmf-var tree being read-only. (Need to change paper size to
letter.) Some history:
------------------------
- Robert Fuster suggested a fix that works great:
> Open a DOS window, go to the base directory of your Texlive (perhaps
> C:\Texlive2005) and enter
>
> attrib -R texmf-var\*.* /S
>
> this change the attributes of all files in the texmf-var branch to writable.

- Staszek Wawrykiewicz wrote that
ftp://ftp.gust.org.pl/pub/Projekty/tlpmgui/tlpmgui-1.10.exe
fixed the problem. However, I tried it and it did not change the
read-only situation for me.
-----------------------

Now I've noticed something related. Perhaps this behavior is to be
expected, but I was surprised. Changing config.ps is sufficient to
ensure that .ps files are created with letter size paper, but
changing pdftexconfig.tex is not sufficient to ensure letter paper
in pdf files made by pdflatex. I found you must also recreate the
formats. If this is correct behavior, it should be added to the
appropriate section in the TeXLive documentation for Windows.
-Harriet

PS All this seems like cruel and unusual punishment for using letter
paper. (Admittedly this is a BAD THING, but most of us have no
choice ;-)

-- 
Harriet B. Borton
Applications Consultant, Academic and Research Computing
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
bortonh at rpi.edu