[XeTeX] pdfpages?

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 02.11.2007 um 23:54 schrieb Andreas Matthias:

> Actually, I was just talking about the graphics.sty drivers, i.e.
> xetex.def versus dvipdfm.def. And I supposed that dvipdfm.def is
> a subset of xetex.def, but I am not sure of that.

It is not. XeTeX ends at the XDVI file stage. This file contains, as  
in a DVI file, for example the font information and the positioning  
of glyphs on the page (some region), not aiming at a particular  
device. Then you have at least two choices: convert to useful PDF  
with either xdvipdfmx or xdv2pdf (the latter only in Mac OS X). Or  
leave the file as useless as is, or delete it, or rename it, or ...  
Since xdvipdfmx can exist now on every platform it is a new default  
for XeTeX's output driver, even in Mac OS X when the TeX distribution  
is quite recent.

>
> And there is no xdvipdfmx.def or xdv2pdf.def, isn't there?

Yes! For what? The latter might not make much sense because the  
graphics "drivers" do not care about proprietary software that much  
(and might need programmes to utilise Quartz). And the former is an  
extension to the extension of dvipdfm to handle CJK and TTF and OTF.  
There is nothing added to extend the PDF format, so dvipdfm is the  
correct "mode name."

>
> I was not talking about the binaries dvipdfm, xdvipdfmx, and xdv2pdf.

I did understand that, clearly. When I mentioned binaries, then in a  
try to explain that XeTeX can't know for sure whether it's running in  
(for final) xdvipdfmx or xdv2pdf mood. All the specials inserted into  
the XDVI file are handled by either the xdvipdfmx or the xdv2pdf  
binary. XeTeX is therefore nearer to some old  and traditional TeX  
that needs a DVI to whatever convertor.

--
Mit friedvollen Grüßen

   Pete

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