[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Encoding the name in the file contents (was Re: Towards a new LPPL draft)



Scripsit Mark Rafn <dagon@dagon.net>

> Yes.  This seems to be a flaw in LaTeX - it doesn't interactively identify
> itself when run.

Huh? The LaTeX I run identifies itself quite plainly in the third line
of the output:

pc-043:~/foo$ latex radio.tex
This is TeX, Version 3.14159 (Web2C 7.3.1)
(radio.tex
LaTeX2e <1999/12/01> patch level 1
Babel <v3.6Z> and hyphenation patterns for american, british, danish, nohyphena
tion, loaded.
(/usr/local/stow/share/texmf/tex/latex/base/article.cls
Document Class: article 1999/09/10 v1.4a Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/stow/share/texmf/tex/latex/base/size12.clo))
(/usr/local/stow/share/texmf/tex/latex/psnfss/avantgar.sty) (radio.aux)
(/usr/local/stow/share/texmf/tex/latex/psnfss/ot1pag.fd) [1] (radio.aux) )
Output written on radio.dvi (1 page, 1152 bytes).
Transcript written on radio.log.
pc-043:~/foo$ 

If there is any problem it would be that TeX has a tendency to write
so much routine stuff to stdout that most users - novices and experts
alike - don't bother to read *any* of it unless the run happens to
stop with an error. (I understand that this is precisely why the LaTeX
people are not happy with relying on human-readable diagnostics output
to prevent hacked files from erroneourly ending up in places where
pristine files are expected, without anybody noticing).

However, the verbosity certainly isn't a fault that LaTeX can be
blamed for. Only four of the lines above are ones that LaTeX (in a
broad sense, but excluding the TeX engine) could, technically, have
chosen not to emit.

-- 
Henning Makholm                     "However, the fact that the utterance by
                           Epimenides of that false sentence could imply the
           existence of some Cretan who is not a liar is rather unsettling."


-- 
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-legal-request@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org



Reply to: