[tex-k] dvips Z option and Zandt's alt-rule.pro revisited

[Karl Berry]

    I would like to know why Zandt's algorithm never became
    the standard way dvips does things - it seems superior,
    especially when producing PDF from PS.

If Tom/Tomas do not object to the change, we could install it for the
next teTeX/TeX Live.

Looking at http://faculty.insead.edu/vanzandt/tex2pdf.html, I see TVZ's
version is:

  % Patch by TVZ
  % Makes dvips files draw rules with stroke rather than fill.
  % Makes narrow rules more predictable at low resolutions
  % after distilling to PDF.
  % May have unknown consequences for very thick rules.
  % Tested only with dvips 5.85(k).
  TeXDict begin
  /QV {
    gsave newpath /ruleY X /ruleX X
    Rx Ry gt
    { ruleX ruleY Ry 2 div sub moveto Rx 0 rlineto Ry }
    { ruleX Rx 2 div add ruleY moveto 0 Ry neg rlineto Rx }
    ifelse
    setlinewidth 0 setlinecap stroke grestore
  } bind def
  end

Whereas the code that is checked in now
(source.development/TeX/texk/dvipsk/tex.lpro) is:

  %   We use this if the resolution doesn't match.
  %
  /QV {
     gsave
        newpath transform round exch round exch itransform moveto
        Rx 0 rlineto 0 Ry neg rlineto
        Rx neg 0 rlineto fill
     grestore
  } B


T&T?  Wdyt?


    Barring making Zandt's algorithm the default, is there
    a way to tell dvips to always include alt-rule.pro after
    the tex(c).pro files regardless if the user specifies
    -Z or not? If not, there should be.

While I don't disagree in principle, specifying ordering of config files
in general seems *much* more complex than just fixing the code in the
first place.

Thanks,
k