Sorry for going off topic, but since it is a concern ... Using a linux distribution with an intelligent package/dependencies handling system such as Gentoo or Debian would end your updating woes for all time. In debian testing apt-get install inkscape downloads and installs inkscape 0.41 and updates all dependencies automatically and in Gentoo ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge -ua inkscape downloads the source of inkscape 0.41 and all required dependencies and compiles them (taking a lot of time of course). Without going to the testing distribution ("~x86") you get 0.37 Comparing the two, the debian testing distribution has never been less than stable while gentoo testing is updated faster, but has given me trouble at some points. Sorry for the noise if this is inappropriate information for this list, Johan -- Johan Sandblom N8, MRC, Karolinska sjh t +46851776108 17176 Stockholm m +46735521477 Sweden "What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite" -- Bertrand Russell ----- Original Message ----- From: Hans Hagen Date: Thursday, April 14, 2005 9:33 am Subject: Re: [NTG-context] new beta

Paul Tremblay wrote:

...

Is inkscape the beast that gave you so much trouble with the glib library? I know I tried to install it and gave up after I couldn't install glib.

indeed, but since i use windows as production platform i can wait till i've updated the linux machines; i have no idea how well inkscape installs on the mac

...

Why did you choose inskscape? I thought inkscape is supposed to be a great gui svg-editor, but I wonder if you need all of its power just to do a conversion. I use batik for my conversions, which is part of the apache project. Of course, it is written in java, which raises other problems.

indeed, i find installing java programs (sometimes bigger than tex collections) with this classpath stuff often troublesome (unless there is an installer, which is often true for gui based programs);

concerning the alternatives: batik and imagemagick are not good enough (hardly maintained too); i ran a sample set of some 9000 svg graphics trough the converter tools and it worked ok with inkscape; it was also fast; btw, some versions give problems (0.41 is ok, 0.40 was bugged, 0.39 ok if i remember right)

(the only drawback of inkscape is the clumsy command line print feature, kind of piping, while just writing to a file would have been nicer)

Hans

----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | fax: 038 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________ ntg-context mailing list ntg-context@ntg.nl http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context