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Diffstat (limited to 'Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-bits+pieces.tex')
-rw-r--r-- | Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-bits+pieces.tex | 54 |
1 files changed, 31 insertions, 23 deletions
diff --git a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-bits+pieces.tex b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-bits+pieces.tex index 06851bbc665..dc0d8788dd6 100644 --- a/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-bits+pieces.tex +++ b/Master/texmf-dist/doc/generic/FAQ-en/faq-bits+pieces.tex @@ -4,32 +4,35 @@ \Question[Q-dvi]{What is a \acro{DVI} file?} +`\acro{DVI}' is supposed to be an acronym for +\acro{D}e\acro{V}ice-\acro{I}ndependent, meaning that the file may be +processed for printing or viewing on most kinds of typographic output +device or display. + A \acro{DVI} file (that is, a file with the type or extension -\extension{dvi}) is the main output file of ``original'' \tex{}; later +\extension{dvi}) is the main output file of ``original'' \tex{} (later \tex{}-like systems, such as \Qref*{\pdftex{}}{Q-whatpdftex} may use -other formats. +other formats). -\Qref*{\xetex}{Q-xetex} (released some time after \pdftex{}) uses an -``extended \acro{DVI} format'' (\acro{XDV}) to send its output to its -close-coupled \Qref*{\acro{DVI} driver}{Q-driver}, -\ProgName{xdvipdfmx}. +A \acro{DVI} file contains all the information that is needed for +printing or previewing, except for the actual bitmaps or outlines of +fonts, and any material to be introduced by means of % !line break +\Qref*{\csx{special} commands}{Q-specials}. Characters in the +\acro{DVI} file (representing glyphs for printing or display) appear +in an encoding determined in the document. -`\acro{DVI}' is supposed to be an acronym for -\acro{D}e\acro{V}ice-\acro{I}ndependent, meaning that the file can be -processed for printing or viewing on most kinds of typographic output -device or display. The \acro{DVI} file may be processed by a -\Qref*{DVI driver}{Q-driver} to produce further output designed -specifically for a particular printer, or it may be used by a -previewer for display on a computer screen. The character encoding of -a \acro{DVI} file is determined by the document itself~--- see % line break -``\Qref*{what are encodings}{Q-whatenc}'' for an explanation of -encodings. A \TeX{} input file should produce the same \acro{DVI} file +Any \TeX{} input file should produce the same \acro{DVI} file regardless of which implementation of \TeX{} is used to produce it. -A \acro{DVI} file contains all the information that is needed for printing -or previewing except for the actual bitmaps or outlines of fonts, and -any material to be introduced by means of -\Qref*{\csx{special} commands}{Q-specials}. +An \acro{DVI} file may be processed by a \Qref*{DVI driver}{Q-driver} +to produce further output designed specifically for a particular +printer, or for output in another format (for distribution), or it may +be used by a previewer for display on a computer screen. + +Note that \Qref*{\xetex{}}{Q-xetex} (released some time after +\pdftex{}) uses an ``extended \acro{DVI} format'' (\acro{XDV}) to send +its output to a close-coupled \Qref*{\acro{DVI} driver}{Q-driver}, +\ProgName{xdvipdfmx}. The canonical reference for the structure of a \acro{DVI} file is the source of Knuth's program \ProgName{dvitype} (whose original purpose, @@ -40,7 +43,7 @@ processed may offer further enlightenment. \item[\nothtml{rmfamily}DVI processing standard]\CTANref{dvistd} \item[dvitype]\CTANref{dvitype} \end{ctanrefs} -\LastEdit{2012-10-20} +\LastEdit{2013-03-15} \Question[Q-driver]{What is a \acro{DVI} driver?} @@ -98,7 +101,7 @@ needed for each font used by \TeX{}, that is for each design (point) size for each weight for each family; each \acro{TFM} file serves for all magnifications of `its' font, so that there are (typically) fewer \acro{TFM} files than there are \Qref*{\acro{PK}}{Q-pk} files. \TeX{}, -\LaTeX{}, etc.\@ +\LaTeX{}, etc.,\@ themselves need only know about the sizes of characters and their interactions with each other, but not what characters look like. By contrast, \acro{TFM} files are not, in principle, needed by the @@ -666,7 +669,11 @@ from \acro{CTAN} (which comes with skeleton \extension{dtx} and Composition of \extension{dtx} files is supported in \ProgName{emacs} by \Qref*{\acro{AUC}-\TeX{}}{Q-editors}. -Another useful way of generating \extension{dtx} files is to write the +The (unix-based) script \ProgName{dtxgen} generates a proforma basic +\extension{dtx} file, which could be useful when starting a new +project. + +Another route to an \extension{dtx} file is to write the documentation and the code separately, and then to combine them using the \ProgName{makedtx} system. This technique has particular value in that the documentation file can be used separately to generate @@ -703,6 +710,7 @@ thus permitting documented distribution of bundles containing code for \item[docmfp.sty]\CTANref{docmfp} \item[docstrip.tex]Part of the \LaTeX{} distribution \item[DTX tutorial]\CTANref{dtxtut} +\item[dtxgen]\CTANref{dtxgen} \item[makedtx]\CTANref{makedtx} \item[sty2dtx]\CTANref{sty2dtx} \end{ctanrefs} |