[tex-live] paper size (ubuntu)

[Robin Fairbairns]

Zdenek Wagner <zdenek.wagner at gmail.com> wrote:

> BTW: I have always thought whether zwpagelayout could get the default
> paper size from the global TL configuration. I have just an idea:
> LaTeX defines dimensions \paperheight and \paperwidth. Some file may
> contain these assignments and my package would read it by
> \InputIfFileExists. The package internals do not care about the names
> of the paper formats, only the dimensions matter. Such a file could be
> reusable with other LaTeX packages.

the \paperheight and \paperwidth variables are set from the paper size
declaration in the class options (letterpaper is the default, and the
other common one is a4paper, but there are several others).

that value is surely a more reliable indication of what the user wants,
than what has been configured into some other part of the distribution.

note that latex itself doesn't touch \pdfpageheight or \pdfpagewidth --
this maintains the model that latex is still what it always was.

(which may or may not be a debatable attitude, but it's the one that's
taken.)

robin