[tex-live] dvipdfmx and dvips(k): different special psfile output

Ramón Casares papa at ramoncasares.com
Tue Mar 1 13:27:49 CET 2016


Dear Akira,

> Yes, in the case of MP inclusion, by assuming the use
> of dvipdfmx.def or xetex.def, the origin is translated
> suitably because the new dvipdfmx.def and xetex.def
> requires llx = lly = 0. That works fine with dvipdfmx.def
> and xetex.def. But apparently it is bad in the present case.
> In r39897 in TeX Live SVN, a new option --fixorigin is
> introduced, which disables the translation of the origin.
> By using the new dvipdfmx:
> dvipdfmx --fixorigin test.dvi
> the same output as that by dvips is obtained.

Thank you very much for your quick fix.
I have not yet test it,
but I am sure it will solve my problem.

But, I'm afraid there are other problems not solved.
Please think on two packages that use
 \special{psfile=filename.eps},
one suited for dvips, and the other suited for dvipdfmx.
Using both packages in the same document,
it would be impossible to get the intended results of both,
so they will always be incompatible.

Another problem is that, after changing the semantics of
 \special{psfile=filename.eps},
dvipdfmx is no longer a proper replacement for dvipdfm.

I guess you could find some other compatibility problems
caused by changing the semantics of the primitive.
In my opinion,
the cleanest way to solve all these problems would be:
1) to keep the semantics of
   \special{psfile=filename.eps}, and
2) to define a new
   \special{pdf: psfile filename.eps}
   with the new semantics, in case it is really needed.

Best regards,
   Ramon


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