[tex-k] dvips question or problem not sure which

[Karl Berry]

    I had to quote the =1 to not get a directory
    stack error message

That sounds like a function of the shell you're using, nothing about dvips.

    dvips -p "=1" -n 50 -o e emacs.dvi
    This is dvips(k) 5.92b Copyright 2002 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
    ' TeX output 2003.05.06:1137' -> e
    <texc.pro><f7b6d320.enc><bbad153f.enc><09fbbfac.enc><74afc74c.enc><texps.pro>
    . <cmr8.pfb><cmsy9.pfb><cmti10.pfb><cmtt9.pfb><cmsl9.pfb><cmbx12.pfb>
    <cmb10.pfb><cmsl10.pfb><cmtt10.pfb><cmsy10.pfb><cmr10.pfb>[1] [2] [3] [4] [1] 
    [2] [3] [4]  ...  [46] 

It's doing what it's being told to do ...  It is starting at the first
physical page, and ending 50 pages later.  The confusion is that there
are two pages numbered `1', two pages numbered `2', and so on.  This is
due to various infelicities in texinfo.tex.

If you really want to end at the page numbered 50, you can use -l 50.

Also, you may wish to create emacs.dvi like this:

texi2dvi -t @setcontentsaftertitlepage -t @setshortcontentsaftertitlepage\
 emacs.texi

That way, the short and full contents will be printed after the title
page (where they should be), instead of at the very end of the document.

Happy printing,
karl