[NTG-context] texexec

[Hans Hagen]

Aditya Mahajan wrote:
> On Sun, 7 May 2006, Hans Hagen wrote:
>
>   
>> Aditya Mahajan wrote:
>>     
>>> 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?
>>>
>>>       
>> we run newtexexec on windows and linux without problems (system calls in
>> perl are actually more problematic, or at least in th epast few years
>> differences between platforms have given me many headaches)
>>     
>>> 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.
>>>
>>>       
>> you mean that ok is false?
>>     
>
> Yes. For some reason, system(...) returns false whenever there is > in 
> the command. Maybe, in the future, the functionality of mpto can be 
> incorporated into (new)texexec. This is not needed right away, as I 
> managed to get rid of the mess in my system by using cygwin binaries 
> for ruby.
>   
how about using the code:

                File.silentdelete(mptex)
                command = "mpto #{mpname} > #{mptex}"
                report(command) if getvariable('verbose')
                ok = system(command)
                # not "ok && ..." because of potential problem with 
return code and redirect (>)
                if FileTest.file?(mptex) && File.appended(mptex, 
"\\end\n") then

so, instead of testing for a return code we test for a file existence

> I am still confused on why windows ruby have trouble with cgywin being 
> present, but I will leave debugging that to future. Right now, 
> newtexec is working correctly.
>   
well, the problem is probably cygwin being present -) 

Hans 

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