[Xy-pic] problem after 3.7 -> 3.8.1 upgrade

[balducci at univ.trieste.it]

Hello all,

I am by no means an xy-pic expert, so: apologies if am missing some
blatant point.

I am a chemist and have been using xy-pic for years, mainly for
chemical formulas: and found it really great!

Now the problem.

Consider the following code:


     \documentclass{article}
     \usepackage{xy}
     \begin{document}

     \begin{displaymath}
     \begin{xy}
     (0,0);
     p+/u5cm/**\dir{-};
     p+/va(30)5cm/**\dir{-};
     p+/va(-30)5cm/**\dir{-};
     p+/d5cm/**\dir{-};
     p+/va(-150)5cm/**\dir{-};
     p+/va(150)5cm/**\dir{-};
     \end{xy}
     \end{displaymath}

     \end{document}

which draws an hexagon (quite a popular polygon in chemistry!). I guess
that xy-pic offers much smarter ways for achieving the same goal, but,
as I said, I am a chemist...

The above code has produced zillions of wonderful hexagons for me in the past,
but, after 3.7 --> 3.8.1 upgrade, both the postscript and pdf
converted outputs show a row of q's and M's (I mean: a row of lowercase
"q" letters and a row of uppercase "M" letters) in place of the
slanted sides of the hexagon! (Here is the pdf version:
http://www.dsch.univ.trieste.it/~balducci/xy.d/xytest.pdf).

On the other hand, the dvi file is perfect, as usual.

If I downgrade 3.8.1 --> 3.7, all works perfectly, as has always been
the case.

I can add that the problem might be related to the xydash10.pfb file,
which is used during the dvi->ps conversion:

   dschsun3:124> dvips -N0 xytest.dvi
   This is dvips(k) 5.98 Copyright 2009 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
   ' TeX output 2010.06.16:1717' -> xytest.ps
   </usr/local/share/texmf/dvips/base/tex.pro>
   </usr/local/share/texmf/dvips/base/texps.pro>. 
   </usr/local/share/texmf.local/texmf/fonts/type1/bluesky/cmr10.pfb>
   </usr/local/share/texmf.local/texmf/fonts/type1/public/xypic/xydash10.pfb>[1] 
                                                                ^^^^^^^^^^^^

With 3.7 installed, I get the correct result, as I said. However, if I
replace the single xydash10.pfb file of 3.7 with the one taken from 3.8.1
(all the rest unchanged), then I get again the funny plot.

I am sorry not being able to give more useful insights: I am lost with
fonts and the like...

If that can be of any use, here are the commands I run to produce
dvi/postscript/pdf output:

    latex xytest.tex
    dvips -N0 xytest.dvi
    ps2pdf xytest.ps


I would very much appreciate if somebody could try the above code and just
see what happens:
=> if the funny hexagon is reproducible, then there might be some real
   problem with 3.8.1
=> otherwise it is evident that I have botched something with the
   installation (I seem to have followed the installation instructions
   quite closely...)

Of course, I will be happy to send any other detail which might be
helpful.


Thank you very much in advance for any help

ciao
gabriele

-- 
Gabriele Balducci - Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche - Via L. Giorgieri 1
I-34127 TRIESTE tel: I-040-5583957 fax: I-040-5583903 e-mail: balducci at units.it
Please, if possible, don't send me MS Word or PowerPoint attachments
Why? See: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html