Bug#225833: Letter vs A4 again
Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> wrote:
> argument. If you think the user should always specify a paper size then it
> should be an error not to specify one, not have a default that doesn't work
> properly.
As Frank told you, it may well trigger an error in LaTeX 3. Go submit a
bug to the LaTeX 3 project if you care so much about that and want to be
really, really sure that no specifying a paper size will trigger an
error.
> The status quo is that the Tex tools, like virtually every other program out
> there defaults to one of A4 or Letter unless you specify something else. For
But which one? You don't know. I don't know. Better specify the size in
your document, then.
> most users that default is all they need and works properly on every TeX
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> installation they use and they never bother to specify it specifically in each
^^^^^^^^^^^^
> document unless they're using an unusual size.
Bullshit. Works properly on every TeX installation that is configured as
they expect-but-don't-specify, and silently fails on other
installations. Otherwise, go tell the world you have implemented a DWIM
TeX system that automatically uses the paper size the user wishes (BTW,
what does a buildd wish?).
> You're arguing that nobody should be using this feature and therefore it
> doesn't matter whether it works correctly. But that's bogus. People do use it
Not exactly. "Nobody should be using this feature and therefore it
doesn't matter what the default is."
> and write documents on other systems that work fine only to be flummoxed when
> their Debian system doesn't work as expected.
Bullshit. They shot themselves in the foot and are "flummoxed" (guessing
the meaning, sorry) whenever they work on a system that is configured in
a different way than their home computer.
--
Florent
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