[XeTeX] XeTeX version 0.6 available

[Ross Moore]

Hi Bruno,

On 10/05/2004, at 5:02 AM, Bruno Voisin wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I have just installed Ross' driver file and examples for XeTeX 0.6.
>
> I noticed that now, compiling PicFileLSample3.ltx and 
> PicFileLSamplePDF.ltx I get exactly what Ross reported regarding 
> previous versions of XeTeX: English text is turned into undecipherable 
> gibberish:
>
> <Image 5.pdf>
>
> and:
>
> <Image 6.pdf>
>
> I was about to report this as a bug, when I thought about taking my 
> Textures CM fonts out of /System Folder/Fonts/ and restarting. Now the 
> bug is gone, and compilation produces the same output with either 
> pdfLaTeX or XeLaTeX, but I can no longer visualize my old Textures 
> document.

That's truly wierd, as CM fonts are not required by those documents.
XeTeX is supposed to use "Lucida Grande".

My thoughts are that something has changed in the email,
or when unpacking the files from the .tar archive.

Would you please try checking the following:

    a.  your are opening the .ltx documents with UTF8 encoding
        when using XeTeX;

    b.  try changing the [12pt] option in the \documentclass
        to 10pt.  Does this have any effect ?

    c.  look for the \font commands in the preamble;
         are the quote characters `straight' (")
         or curly (“ and ”) ?

If something has changed the intended `straight' to `curly'
then XeTeX might not parse the \font command correctly, so fall
back on looking for the TeX default of CM, and thus find the
Textures fonts before the .otf versions.

If this is indeed what has happened, then Jonathan, can you
make all 3 double-quote characters equivalent, when processing
\font commands ?

    d.  are there any unusual Font-related messages in the .log ?
        Look in the .log file, rather than the Console window,
        as the file can contain stuff that isn't written to stdout .



>
> Due to lack of time I didn't follow the email conversations between 
> Jonathan and Ross, regarding how XeTeX look for fonts, how enclosing 
> font names between quotes means now something different for XeTeX, 
> thus I'm not sure what's happening and I cannot really tell anything 
> relevant. I just would like to point out that, despite its 
> limitations, I really liked the original XeTeX, which was clearly 
> optimized for plain TeX and OS X, and I would regret that, in looking 
> for compatibility with LaTeX and other TeX engines (pdfTeX etc.), it 
> would lose OS X functionality and become less straightforward to use.

There shouldn't be any loss of functionality,
just an unexpected `bug' that needs to be identified
and squashed.



BTW, I have a slightly improved driver which

   a.  implements the  HSB  color model

   b.  ensures only one \special{x:backgroundcolor=...}
       can go on a page.

Jonathan, did you implement the 'backgroundcolor' yet?
It hasn't worked for me.



Hope this helps,

	Ross



>
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Ross Moore                                         ross at maths.mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                             office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                               tel: +61 +2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia                                  fax: +61 +2 9850 8114
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