Re: [RFC] latex preview and pdflatex-only packages

[Juergen Fenn <jfenn@gmx.net>]

Am 18.08.24 um 16:31 Uhr schrieb Ihor Radchenko:
> Juergen Fenn <jfenn@gmx.net> writes:
>
>> If you call latex then pdflatex is executed and you get a PDF file by
>> default, not a DVI:
>
> Not, by default, .dvi is produced when using latex command.
>
> Try the attached file:
> 1. latex test.tex
> 2. dvisvgm test.tex test.svg
>
> then, try
> 1. pdflatex test.tex
>
> You will see a difference in produced output.

I am sorry, you are right:


juergenfenn@Elefant Desktop % latex briefvorlage-2023-11-12.tex
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.26 (TeX Live 2024)
(preloaded format=latex)
 restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./briefvorlage-2023-11-12.tex
LaTeX2e <2024-06-01> patch level 2
L3 programming layer <2024-07-20>

...

Output written on briefvorlage-2023-11-12.dvi (1 page, 1520 bytes).
Transcript written on briefvorlage-2023-11-12.log.


But, as you can see from the logfile, this is not "latex", as it used to
be, say, ten years ago, but when calling latex then pdflatex is run in
DVI mode, as the pdftex man page calls it. The TeX Live team replaced
latex as an engine proper some years ago and introduced pdftex as the
default engine. You can change that locally in you TeX Live config or
you tell AUCTeX which engine to use.

I don't think you really want to default to DVI. No one does. After all,
dvisvgm also works with PDF:


DVISVGM(1)                                dvisvgm Manual
               DVISVGM(1)

NAME
       dvisvgm - converts DVI, EPS, and PDF files to the XML-based SVG
format


So, if you want to change anything in your setup, proceed from
pdf(la)tex and its options. BTW, the TeX engines are not treated in the
LaTeX Companion which only deals with LaTeX the format.

Best regards,
Jürgen.