[tex-live] (fwd) Bug#797537: repstopdf: pswrite was removed upstream

[Karl Berry]

[Back on this mail from last year, sigh ...]

    Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2015 22:18:25 +0900
    knaak> the device pswrite was removed from gs. So it should be removed from
    knaak> the filter list in /usr/bin/repstopdf , too.  

I don't think old device names should be removed, because epstopdf can
be used with old versions of ghostscript.  That list of devices are
those which are allowed in restricted name (despite the name of the
variable, which is rather confusing to me).

    Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 17:51:03 +0200
    siep> Also, in recent versions of ghostscript epswrite has been replaced
    siep> with eps2write.

I can add eps2write.  I see a number of other new devices in current gs
that should be added too.

However, I have a bigger question: for the restricted epstopdf, do we
need to allow the --device option at all?  Does anyone actually use
repstopdf to convert EPS to a bitmap?  That's what's being implemented
here and I find myself doubtful.

It would clearly be less ongoing maintenance to just disallow the
--device option completely in restricted mode, so that repstopdf
unconditionally and unchangeably outputs PDF (device pdfwrite).
Would anyone notice?  The non-restricted epstopdf would still accept
--device (with any value).

Reactions?

Thanks,
Karl