Re: texexec

[Aditya Mahajan <adityam@umich.edu>]

On Fri, 5 May 2006, Hans Hagen wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'd like to make the ruby version of texexec the default. Are there any
> strong objections to this?

Is ruby stable with respect to system calls? Is the behaviour 
consistent on Linux and Windows? Are there active Ruby users on the 
list who can comment on this?

I have debugged my recent failure of metapost graphics to using 
one-click installer (RC2) for windows. From tex.rb

   report(command) if getvariable('verbose')
   ok = system(command)
   if ok && File.appended(mptex, "\\end\n") then


This is failing on my system. Can others using windows test this.


1. Create a file called mp-test-01.mp
------------mp-test-01.mp--------------------
beginfig(1)
  label(btex This is a test etex, origin)
endfig;
end
------------------------------------------

2. Create a file called test.rb
-----------test.rb---------------------
def test(command)
   puts command
   puts Kernel.system(command)
   puts $?
   puts "---------------------------"
end
test("mpto mp-test-01.mp")
test("mpto mp-test-01.mp > mp-test-01-test.tex")
-------------------------------------------------

3. Go to cmd.exe and source setuptex.bat.

4. What is the output of
ruby --version
ruby test.rb


I get.

F:\tmp\cont-test\test>ruby --version
ruby 1.8.4 (2005-12-24) [i386-mswin32]

F:\tmp\cont-test\test>ruby test.rb
mpto mp-test-01.mp
\gdef\mpxshipout{\shipout\hbox\bgroup
   \setbox0=\hbox\bgroup}
\gdef\stopmpxshipout{\egroup  \dimen0=\ht0 \advance\dimen0\dp0
   \dimen1=\ht0 \dimen2=\dp0
   \setbox0=\hbox\bgroup
     \box0
     \ifnum\dimen0>0 \vrule width1sp height\dimen1 depth\dimen2
     \else \vrule width1sp height1sp depth0sp\relax
     \fi\egroup
   \ht0=0pt \dp0=0pt \box0 \egroup}
\mpxshipout% line 2 mp-test-01.mp
This is a test\stopmpxshipout
\end{document}
true
0
---------------------------
mpto mp-test-01.mp > mp-test-01-test.tex
false
0
---------------------------


Notice that the second test is failing. So, in tex.rb, the system 
command fails and I do not get mp-test-01-test.tex file! Can anyone 
else using one-click installer for ruby on windows confirm this?

Thanks,
Aditya

-- 
Aditya Mahajan, EECS Systems, University of Michigan
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~adityam || Ph: 7342624008