[texhax] Question

[Tom Schneider]

Herbert:

> TeXShop doesn't scan the file to see what packages are loaded. That
> would be a real mess since packages can require other packages, etc.

I see.

> (Yes, I know that MikTeX does do something like this but it has
> modified binaries and MacTeX has the complete TeX Live 2009. In any
> case even MikTeX won't switch in the middle of processing.)
>
> The best thing to do is to place the line
>
> %%!TEX TS-program = latex

That seems rather specific to do in every file and of course it wasn't
put into the example.

> at the top of files that need latex->dvips->ps2pdf processing

The interesting idea is to use %% lines to control what programs
are needed for processing.  This corresponds nicely to the %% lines
in PostScript.  Perhaps a universal set could be developed?
Then it would make sense to put the right line in every file.

But if the above line means to do "latex->dvips->ps2pdf" then I would
suggest it be stated on the line explicitly:

%%!TEX latex->dvips->ps2pdf

> (actually, TeXShop runs a script called simpdftex to do the
> processing). To force pdflatex processing replace `latex' by
> `pdflatex' and similarly for xelatex processing. You can also build
> custom engines for doing special things. There is a set of engines
> for using latexmk for doing automatic bibliography and/or index
> processing and reruns of the processing of choice to resolve
> cross-references, generate a toc, etc. (See the files, activation
> instructions and documentation in
> ~/Library/TeXShop/Engines/Inactive/Latexmk/.)

I have my own scripts for such things.

> What OS are you using? Is there a reason you are still using TeXShop
> 2.18 instead of updating to 2.29?

It's sitting on my desk and I haven't gotten around to installing it!

Tom