GNU bug report logs - #19155
viewer for dvi output on mac os x

Previous Next

To add a comment to this bug, you must first unarchive it, by sending
a message to control AT debbugs.gnu.org, with unarchive 19155 in the body.
You can then email your comments to 19155 AT debbugs.gnu.org in the normal way.

Toggle the display of automated, internal messages from the tracker.

Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: jfbu <jfbu <at> free.fr>
To: bug-auctex <at> gnu.org
Subject: viewer for dvi output on mac os x
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 14:51:24 +0100

Hi,

currently TeX-view-program-selection, when it detects
a mac os x system,
associates output-dvi to viewer "open" which in turn
in TeX-view-program-list-builtin
is mapped to do "open %o"

However the effect of this ultimate system call
(as one can also see doing  "open file.dvi"
directly in a Terminal or via "!" in a dired buffer)
is first to convert the dvi to pdf format and then
open it in a pdf viewer. (tested on mac os x mavericks)

(Note: people with TeXShop installed or similar will
perhaps have another experience of how the system reacts
to "open file.dvi", but of course, I address
here the issue of using emacs+auctex, not TeXShop)

This pretty much defeats the whole purpose of having
chosen dvi as output format!

Perhaps I missed something obvious, but anyway, some
years back I had to deal with this issue, and I describe
here how I went about it:

I defined a "xdvi" entry in TeX-view-program-list,
which is the same as the one I found destined
to Linux systems in TeX-view-program-list-builtin,
with the sole difference of having replaced

"%(o?)xdvi"

with

"open -a XQuartz && %(o?)xdvi"

I then customized TeX-view-program-selection
to let it map output-dvi not to "open" but to this "xdvi" viewer.

I don't know how people go about it, but I
am curious why I had to do these things,
and why this is not the default in AUCTeX, on mac os x.

(I hope only naivety and not arrogance will be seen
in my belief that my private customizations should
be made world-wide default ;-) the point of my message
is to ask if someone has a better way to go about this)

Best wishes,

Jean-Francois

Message #8 received at 19155 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Arash Esbati <arash <at> gnu.org>
To: jfbu <jfbu <at> free.fr>
Cc: 19155 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#19155: viewer for dvi output on mac os x
Date: Mon, 04 Mar 2024 10:12:00 +0100

jfbu <jfbu <at> free.fr> writes:

> Perhaps I missed something obvious, but anyway, some
> years back I had to deal with this issue, and I describe
> here how I went about it:
>
> I defined a "xdvi" entry in TeX-view-program-list,
> which is the same as the one I found destined
> to Linux systems in TeX-view-program-list-builtin,
> with the sole difference of having replaced
>
> "%(o?)xdvi"
>
> with
>
> "open -a XQuartz && %(o?)xdvi"
>
> I then customized TeX-view-program-selection
> to let it map output-dvi not to "open" but to this "xdvi" viewer.
>
> I don't know how people go about it, but I
> am curious why I had to do these things,
> and why this is not the default in AUCTeX, on mac os x.
>
> (I hope only naivety and not arrogance will be seen
> in my belief that my private customizations should
> be made world-wide default ;-) the point of my message
> is to ask if someone has a better way to go about this)

(I'm going through old bug reports that unfortunately weren't resolved
at the time.)

Thanks for the suggestion.  Do you think it is still relevant?  My
concern is that on macOS, you have install XQuartz first before you can
run xdvi, and I'm not sure how many people know and do this.  I suggest
to put this in the FAQ.  WDYT?

Best, Arash

Message #11 received at 19155 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Arash Esbati <arash <at> gnu.org>
To: jfbu <jfbu <at> free.fr>
Cc: 19155 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#19155: viewer for dvi output on mac os x
Date: Fri, 22 Mar 2024 21:40:39 +0100

Arash Esbati <arash <at> gnu.org> writes:

> jfbu <jfbu <at> free.fr> writes:
>
>> Perhaps I missed something obvious, but anyway, some
>> years back I had to deal with this issue, and I describe
>> here how I went about it:
>>
>> I defined a "xdvi" entry in TeX-view-program-list,
>> which is the same as the one I found destined
>> to Linux systems in TeX-view-program-list-builtin,
>> with the sole difference of having replaced
>>
>> "%(o?)xdvi"
>>
>> with
>>
>> "open -a XQuartz && %(o?)xdvi"
>>
>> I then customized TeX-view-program-selection
>> to let it map output-dvi not to "open" but to this "xdvi" viewer.
>>
>> I don't know how people go about it, but I
>> am curious why I had to do these things,
>> and why this is not the default in AUCTeX, on mac os x.
>>
>> (I hope only naivety and not arrogance will be seen
>> in my belief that my private customizations should
>> be made world-wide default ;-) the point of my message
>> is to ask if someone has a better way to go about this)
>
> (I'm going through old bug reports that unfortunately weren't resolved
> at the time.)
>
> Thanks for the suggestion.  Do you think it is still relevant?  My
> concern is that on macOS, you have install XQuartz first before you can
> run xdvi, and I'm not sure how many people know and do this.  I suggest
> to put this in the FAQ.  WDYT?

I had a look and it seems documented that one needs XQuartz in order to
run xdvi on macOS[1].  So people know what they're doing in this case,
and adding this addition to AUCTeX shouldn't be a big deal.

So this report is a "wontfix" and therefore I'm closing it.

Best, Arash

Footnotes:
[1]  https://tug.org/mactex/mactex-download.html

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.