[metapost] shipout filenames

[Larry Siebenmann]

Hi Taco

You write:

 > If you are not pleased with <jobname>.<number> nor
 > <jobname>.ps, you are (currently) out of luck as far as the
 > metapost executable is concerned. There is simply no way to
 > name files from within the language.

But that could very easily be changed.

 > I agree these defaults are strange, and I think there is a
 > feature request item for this, but I must admit that it does not
 > have a very high priority on my personal todo list.

You can quote me:) Perhaps easily eliminated misfeatures
should have fairly high priority.

 > I am not very familiar with the Mac, but I assume you can
 > write out some magic text using "special" to print the
 > intended name into the output file, and then use a wrapper
 > script to rename automatically rename it to the included
 > desired name.

OK, but each such a solution has about the same manhour
cost as a universally valid extension of mp.

In this vein, what is the priority you assign to
providing direct PDF output for mp?  It is harder to
accomplish, but the payoff is more substantial.

Beware that mp could easily become a mangrove of
workarounds.

Larry S.