[tex-live] pstopdf - strange behaviour on linux

[George N. White III]

On Dec 4, 2007 4:36 PM, Wolfgang Fleischer <w.fleischer at erlenweg.de> wrote:
> Hello
>
> This time I have a question about pstopdf on linux:

which linux? which context version?

> When I use pstopdf like
>
>   latex sample2e
>   dvips sample2e
>   pstopdf sample2e.ps
>
> I end up with a correct pdf-file sample2e.pdf.
>
> Now lets do
>
>   mv sample2e.ps aBcD.ps
>   pstopdf aBcD.ps
>
> to have a file name with uppercase letters.
>
> There is no output file aBcD.pdf. pstopdf complains about not finding
> aBcD.ps which is true because aBcD.ps has been renamed to abcd.ps.
> If there exist both files abcd.ps and aBcD.ps the command
>
>   pstopdf aBcD.ps
>
> will overwrite abcd.ps without any warning.

Using RedHat Fedora 8 linux with the F9 texlive test and
ConTeXt from  August, I can recreate the bug if I use the
RH context version, but it appears to have been fixed
in the current version:

$ pstopdf --verbose Golfer.ps
PsToPdf | converting ps (ps) into pdf
PsToPdf | gs profile gsprofile.ini saved
PsToPdf | conversion method 2
PsToPdf | piping data
PsToPdf | converting Golfer.ps bounded
PsToPdf | ghostscript: @gsprofile.ini -q -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dNOPAUSE
-dNOCACHE -dBATCH -dSAFER -dProcessColorModel=/DeviceCMYK
-dAutoRotatePages=/None  -sOutputFile=Golfer.pdf - -c quit
PsToPdf | opening input file
PsToPdf | opening pipe/file
PsToPdf | piping data
PsToPdf | looks like a valid ps file
PsToPdf | locating boundingbox
PsToPdf | low res boundingbox found
PsToPdf | removing pre banner data
PsToPdf | getting rid of problematic creator spec
PsToPdf | faking papersize
PsToPdf | ignoring post trailer crap
PsToPdf | done, sending EOF
PsToPdf | closing pipe
$ ls
Golfer.pdf  Golfer.ps

but, using the RedHat version of context:

$ ruby /usr/share/texmf/scripts/context/ruby/pstopdf.rb --verbose Golfer.ps
PsToPdf | file Golfer.ps does not exist
$ ls
Golfer.pdf  golfer.ps

Check versions:

$ rpm -q --whatprovides /usr/bin/pstopdf
texlive-2007-0.18.fc9
$ pstopdf --help
PsToPdf | version 2.0.1 - 2002-2006 - PRAGMA ADE/POD

PsToPdf | --convert    convert ps into pdf
PsToPdf | --request    handles exa request file
PsToPdf | --watch      watch folders for conversions (untested)
$ ctxtools --contextversion
CtxTools | context version: 2007.08.23 14:01
(/usr/local/texlive/texmf-cont/tex/context/base/context.tex)
CtxTools | context version: 2007.08.23 14:01
(/usr/local/texlive/texmf-cont/tex/context/base/cont-new.tex)

$ kpsewhich -format=texmfscripts pstopdf.rb
/usr/local/texlive/texmf-cont/scripts/context/ruby/pstopdf.rb

The two .rb files are essentially the same, but:

$ diff -bw /usr/share/texmf/scripts/context/ruby/pstopdf.rb
/usr/local/texlive/texmf-cont/scripts/context/ruby/pstopdf.rb
79c79
<             filename = Tool.cleanfilename(filename, at commandline)
---
>             filename = Tool.cleanfilename(filename, at commandline) # brrrr

hints at some issue with Tool.cleanfilename!

-- 
George N. White III <aa056 at chebucto.ns.ca>
Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia