[XeTeX] Adobe PDF, Adobe Acrobat/Reader, Microsoft Word, XeTeX, and (x)dvipdfm(x).

[mskala at ansuz.sooke.bc.ca]

On Thu, 27 May 2021, Philip Taylor wrote:
> the course of so doing, I have realised that MS Word can instruct Adobe
> Acrobat (and probably Adobe Reader) to close the PDF and then re-open it
> once the changes have been made.  Is there any reason why the (x)dvipdfm(x)
> back-end to XeTeX cannot [be enhanced to] do the same ?

Is this a function of the PDF writer "instructing" the reader to reload,
or is it something the PDF reader does independently?  On my Linux
system, the "okular" PDF reader automatically reloads when a file is
changed, regardless of what software wrote the file.  It works with
xdvipdfmx and everything else, because the notification comes from a
general operating system feature invoked by the reader without the writer
being involved.

-- 
Matthew Skala
mskala at ansuz.sooke.bc.ca                 People before tribes.
https://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/