mptopdf on MikteX

[Ulrike Fischer <list@nililand.de>]

Hello,

there have been some complaints about mptopdf not working on miktex
and I think I found the source of the problems: it's a name clash.

- In the miktex bin folder there is a mptopdf.exe which is mainly a
shortcut for "pdftex with format mptopdf". This mptopdf.exe currently
doesn't work on a lot of systems as some context files are missing in
miktex and so the format "mptopdf" can't be made. The missing files
can be downloaded from <CTAN:>/tex-archive/macros/pdftex/graphics/.
After their successfull installation the mptopdf format can be
generated throught the formats tab of miktex->settings.

This doesn't get you a mptopdf that works as expected but I think that
a working format is needed for the real mptopdf, so you should get
this to work first.

- on CTAN there is a perl script mptopdf.pl. This script calls metapost,
make a lot of auxiliary files, calls pdftex on this auxiliary files,
and at the end assembles the whole things to get a pdf.

I downloaded this perl script and put it in a local root and wrote a
small batch file ufmptopdf.bat with the content
perl "C:\UFlocaltexmf\scripts\context\mptopdf.pl" %1 %2 %3 %4 %5
and put this batch file somewhere in the PATH.

Now
ufmptopdf test1.mp
works like a charm.

You naturally need a working perl!

-- 
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Ulrike Fischer
mailto:list@nililand.de


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