[XeTeX] longer ConTeXt+XeTeX compile time than before

[Mojca Miklavec]

On 2/1/07, Jeong Dalyoung wrote:
> Dear all,
>
> Recently I updated TeXlive and ConTeXt. After that the compiling time of a
> file under ConTeXt+XeTeX  became longer than before. However, there is no
> change when I compiled the files using ConTeXt.
>
> I tested the same file using the previous ConTeXt version in the another Mac
> and found that there was no delay. The big difference between them as
> follows:
>
> 1. part of log file under new version
> .....
> (/usr/local/gwTeX/texmf.pkgs/tex/context/base/cont-err.tex
> systems         : no file 'cont-sys.tex', using 'cont-sys.rme' instead
> ) )
> <at here, it paused for long time>
> stdin -> speedtest.pdf
> [1]
> 8949 bytes written
> Output written on speedtest.pdf (1 page).
> Transcript written on speedtest.log.
> TeXUtil | parsing file speedtest.tui
> TeXUtil | shortcuts : 169
> TeXUtil | expansions: 308
> TeXUtil | reductions: 0
> TeXUtil | divisions : 0
> TeXUtil | loaded files: 1
> TeXUtil | temporary files: 0
> TeXUtil | commands: 25
> TeXUtil | programs: 0
> TeXUtil | tuo file saved
> TeXExec | runtime: 47.741367
>
> In another Mac installed the previous version,  "speedtest.xdv ->
> speedtest.pdf" instead "stdin -> speedtest.pdf"    I don't know why two
> machines made pdf files in different ways, but I assume that "stdin ->
> speedtest.pdf" is the cause of the delay.
> My powerbook is 1.33GHz PowerPC G4.

If you have someone to blame, please blame me. I asked Hans if he
could add an additional switch -output-driver="xdvipdfmx" when running
XeTeX. This means that the files are now converted to pdf with
xdvipdfmx instead of xdv2pdf. Without that switch one cannot use otf
fonts that reside in the texmf tree.

That change has happened in the middle of January, so any older
ConTeXt probably still runs with xdv2pdf. People on the XeTeX mailing
list often ask how to run xelatex with -output-driver="xdvipdfmx"
switch from emacs etc.

I hope that ConTeXt will soon use OpenType LM as the default font, so
particularly for that reason, I doubt that switching back to xdv2pdf
makes sense. How long is the time delay if you compare the two?

If you want to change it on your own computer, find this line in
tex.rb and remove the option which sets a different output driver:
    @@runoptions['xetex']   = [...,'-output-driver="xdvipdfmx ..."']

Mojca