[TxMt] Re: LaTeX package epsfig forces the use of latex instead of pdflatex?

[Paul McCann]

Juergen wrote...

> Well, I can run pdflatex manually without problems on a tex file with
> epsfig included. That's why I'm wondering, why TextMate cannot use
> pdflatex, even if I configured it to do so.

The engine that is used to compile you document is determined by the
packages you use: "epsfig", which is an old package (and has been
superseded by graphicx) usually indicates that the document is of 2.09
vintage, and will most likely require dvips to compile. At least I
guess that's the logic behind the code in "TexMate.py" which decides
which engine to use. I would imagine that trying to determine whether
it's a modern document running a compatibility mode of an ancient
package is going to get really old really quickly for the poor
maintainer! I think it's time to convince your co-authors to shed
their epsfig dependency and come into the 21st century! (Well, at
least the 1990's...)

The example file you posted doesn't actually include an eps file, and
if you try to compile it by simply substituting an eps file for the
jpg you used it'll produce an error under pdflatex: "! LaTeX Error:
Unknown graphics extension: .eps."

In short: using epsfig for inclusion of jpg's is, well, sufficiently
funky/perverse that I wouldn't expect TextMate to bother trying to
work out that it's *possible* to compile the thing under pdflatex.

Cheers,
Paul