Bug#402994: use new libpaper hook to track system paper size

[Frank Küster <frank@kuesterei.ch>]

Ralf Stubner <ralf.stubner@web.de> wrote:

>>  I guess the patch to texconfig that you wrote is
>> the better approach.  
>
> The approach is flawed, however, 

That's what occurred to me too while riding my bike to the
university... 

> since it is very easy to construct
> situations where files in /etc are automatically changed, which we must
> not do. Hence it is probably easier to make all files that can be
> changed via texconfig proper configfiles in /etc, as you already
> suggested. Then we would need the permission to modify these files in
> some aspects. We could get this permission either via a debconf message
> (IMO overkill) or by something like this:
>
> The libpaper hock script reads in, say, /etc/default/tetex which
> contains a variable, say, USE_LIBPAPER. By default this variable is set
> to 'no', which makes the libpaper hock script excit with a suitable
> message. If the variable is set to 'yes', the libpaper hock script will
> adjust the configuration files.

That's a nice approach.  No need to hack texconfig even further.  

We need to

- ship the libpaper hook and the file in /etc/default

- synchronize the available paper sizes in texconfig and libpaper,
  filtering unknown ones out in the hook script (even if currently none
  would be unknown)

- ?

- test everything

Some remarks:

* I think we shouldn't use the filename /etc/default/tetex:  The setting
  will actually also have effect when texlive is installed and used

* It would be good if texconfig could be notified that it doesn't need
  to recreate the formats, since we're doing that anyway a couple of
  lines later.

  I think such an option would even make sense to submit upstream,
  because it is usefull if one wants to change a couple of things at the
  same time, like papersize and hyphenation patterns.

* Generally, we should try to provide the parts that make sense upstream
  as separate patches.  

> Nice thing would be that no patches for texconfig or dvips/dvipdfm would
> be needed.

Except enabling more paper sizes - but that's also something upstream
will probably accept.

Regards, Frank
-- 
Dr. Frank Küster
Single Molecule Spectroscopy, Protein Folding @ Inst. f. Biochemie, Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer (teTeX/TeXLive)