[XeTeX] [tex-implementors] Proposal : that TeX engines generating PDF directly should be able to close the output file without terminating.

Jonathan Kew jfkthame at gmail.com
Fri Jul 3 18:50:05 CEST 2020


On 03/07/2020 16:26, Philip Taylor wrote:
> Jonathan Kew wrote:
>
>> For your example, I was going to suggest that a simpler solution than 
>> "make" ought to work: all it requires is a two-line batch file or 
>> shell script (or similar: tools like Lua or Python or Perl would be 
>> fine) that performs the two xetex runs you need. Then you'd call that 
>> script or batch file as your "engine" in TeXworks, instead of calling 
>> xetex directly.
>>
>> But I see that you have been offered a solution anyway now, basically 
>> using (xe)tex as both the scripting language (to call another 
>> instance of itself) and as the typesetting process. I don't normally 
>> wield tex in that way, as I find other scripting languages easier and 
>> more flexible, but it should indeed work.
>>
>> As for closing the output PDF mid-job, and allowing you to start a 
>> new one: I'm not sure how I feel about that. Is tex the right 
>> language to be using to define and control complex multi-stage 
>> processes? While this *can* be done (as the \write18 solution 
>> demonstrates for a simple case), I tend to think it's the wrong tool 
>> for the job. There are languages that are much more amenable to 
>> manipulating files and managing pipelines of processes; my 
>> inclination would be to use one of those, with (xe)tex being called 
>> as required to perform individual steps, rather than using tex as the 
>> overall control language.
>
> Thank you for your comments, Jonathan, which are much appreciated.  
> While I fully appreciate that [Xe]TeX is not a tool for "manipulating 
> files and managing pipelines of processe", I nonetheless think that 
> the ability to generate two or more distinct PDFs in a single run 
> might be of some benefit.  May I ask if you would agree that that 
> might be the case, without, of course, any committment on your part to 
> implementing such a feature ?

I would agree that it *might* be the case; I am at the moment some way 
from being convinced that it *is* the case.

Many potential use-cases, I think, can be equally well addressed by 
multiple TeX invocations under the control of a higher-level script or 
tool of some kind. Perhaps there are compelling examples where this 
would not be the case, but I'm not aware of them at the moment.

JK



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