texexec is very coy

texexec is very coy

[Sanjoy Mahajan]

When texexec doesn't find a program or a file, it doesn't complain
loudly.  In this output from a recent run

         extra program : dvipos z 

        total run time : 3 seconds

texexec went looking for 'dvipos'.  I didn't suspect any problem since I
didn't know that it wasn't installed (and hadn't heard of it until a few
hours ago).  An error message like this would be useful::

         extra program : dvipos z 
ERROR: Could not run 'dvipos'
        total run time : 3 seconds

Perhaps at the end of the run repeat all those error msgs (otherwise
they gets buried in all the output).

A similar message would be useful when the tex file itself doesn't exist:

$ texexec nosuchfile.tex

 TeXExec 5.4.3 - ConTeXt / PRAGMA ADE 1997-2005

fixing engine variable : pdfetex

        total run time : 1 seconds

Eventually I learnt that a run time of 1 second meant I'd mistyped the
file name, but a message would be useful (and more helpful than
prompting for the correct filename: I like Unix programs to not ask
questions).

-Sanjoy

`A society of sheep must in time beget a government of wolves.'
   - Bertrand de Jouvenal

Re: texexec is very coy

[Hans Hagen]

Sanjoy Mahajan wrote:
> When texexec doesn't find a program or a file, it doesn't complain
> loudly.  In this output from a recent run
>
>          extra program : dvipos z 
>
>         total run time : 3 seconds
>
> texexec went looking for 'dvipos'.  I didn't suspect any problem since I
> didn't know that it wasn't installed (and hadn't heard of it until a few
> hours ago).  An error message like this would be useful::
>
>          extra program : dvipos z 
> ERROR: Could not run 'dvipos'
>         total run time : 3 seconds
>
> Perhaps at the end of the run repeat all those error msgs (otherwise
> they gets buried in all the output).
>
> A similar message would be useful when the tex file itself doesn't exist:
>
> $ texexec nosuchfile.tex
>
>  TeXExec 5.4.3 - ConTeXt / PRAGMA ADE 1997-2005
>
> fixing engine variable : pdfetex
>
>         total run time : 1 seconds
>
> Eventually I learnt that a run time of 1 second meant I'd mistyped the
> file name, but a message would be useful (and more helpful than
> prompting for the correct filename: I like Unix programs to not ask
> questions).
>   
i'm not going to spend much more time on oldtexexec; i've added a message to newtexexec: 

TeXExec | processing document 'x'
TeXExec | no ctx file found
TeXExec | nothing to process
TeXExec | runtime: 0.01

Hans 

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