PS Tricks does not work \input

[Christian Kral]

When writing my book I am running into a problem including PS Tricks figures into my manuscript. I finally broke down the problem to a simple example which is attached to this report. The attached sample zip file (containing a tex and pst file) demonstrates the problem which occurs in Ubuntu 10.04 (desktop) using Texlive 2009.

Problem description:

I try to include a PS Tricks figure (which is created by JPicEdt 1.4.1-03) with "\input" in LaTeX. Considering the attached sample I perform the following steps:

  latex test
  dvips test
  ps2pdf13 test.ps test.pdf

The translation "ps2pdf13" hangs and does not generate the demanded pdf file.

Now in the source code of "test.tex" change "\input" to "\include" and the generation of the pdf file does work. Unfortunately the PDF does not contain the expected PS Tricks figure, however.

Both cases with "\input" and "\include" work perfectly fine in Ubuntu 8.04 (though I need the \input case only). I am a bit depressed because this means that I cannot continue writing my book with Ubuntu 10.04.

[Antoine Pairet (b-ly)]

I can not reproduce the bug on my machine. Using \input works perfectly. However, my texmf tree has been updated to include the latest versions of PSTricks packages.
Try to remove \usepackage{pst-all} and to replace it with \usepackage{pstricks}.

You can also put the command \listfiles above the \documentclass command so that file versions can be checked.
Here is my file list:
 *File List*
 article.cls 2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
  size10.clo 2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX file (size option)
inputenc.sty 2008/03/30 v1.1d Input encoding file
   utf8x.def 2004/10/17 UCS: Input encoding UTF-8
     ucs.sty 2004/10/17 UCS: Unicode input support
uni-global.def 2004/10/17 UCS: Unicode global data
pstricks.sty 2008/11/26 v0.40 LaTeX wrapper for `PSTricks' (RN,HV)
pstricks.tex 2010/04/26 v2.05 `PSTricks' (tvz,hv)
pst-xkey.tex 2005/11/25 v1.6 PSTricks specialization of xkeyval (HA)
 xkeyval.sty 2008/08/13 v2.6a package option processing (HA)
 xkeyval.tex 2008/08/13 v2.6a key=value parser (HA)
  pst-fp.tex 2010/04/26 v2.05 `PST-fp' (hv)
  xcolor.sty 2007/01/21 v2.11 LaTeX color extensions (UK)
   color.cfg 2007/01/18 v1.5 color configuration of teTeX/TeXLive
   dvips.def 1999/02/16 v3.0i Driver-dependant file (DPC,SPQR)
graphicx.sty 1999/02/16 v1.0f Enhanced LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
graphics.sty 2009/02/05 v1.0o Standard LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
    trig.sty 1999/03/16 v1.09 sin cos tan (DPC)
graphics.cfg 2009/08/28 v1.8 graphics configuration of TeX Live
 ucsencs.def 2003/11/29 Fixes to fontencodings LGR, T3
topologie.pst
 ***********

[Antoine Pairet (b-ly)]

I just tested the files with standard LaTeX installation, that is with no updated package:
 *File List*
 article.cls 2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
  size10.clo 2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX file (size option)
inputenc.sty 2008/03/30 v1.1d Input encoding file
   utf8x.def 2004/10/17 UCS: Input encoding UTF-8
     ucs.sty 2004/10/17 UCS: Unicode input support
uni-global.def 2004/10/17 UCS: Unicode global data
pstricks.sty 2008/11/26 v0.40 LaTeX wrapper for `PSTricks' (RN,HV)
pstricks.tex 2009/05/19 v1.29 `PSTricks' (tvz,hv)
  xcolor.sty 2007/01/21 v2.11 LaTeX color extensions (UK)
   color.cfg 2007/01/18 v1.5 color configuration of teTeX/TeXLive
   dvips.def 1999/02/16 v3.0i Driver-dependant file (DPC,SPQR)
graphicx.sty 1999/02/16 v1.0f Enhanced LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
  keyval.sty 1999/03/16 v1.13 key=value parser (DPC)
graphics.sty 2009/02/05 v1.0o Standard LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
    trig.sty 1999/03/16 v1.09 sin cos tan (DPC)
graphics.cfg 2009/08/28 v1.8 graphics configuration of TeX Live
 ucsencs.def 2003/11/29 Fixes to fontencodings LGR, T3
topologie.pst
 ***********

The bug is not reproducible, marking as invalid.

[Christian Kral (christian-kral)]

I tested my example on the 64 bit machine of my co-worker where the example works without any problem. I tried the example on my second 32 bit machine and it is NOT working either. The original problem referred to a 32 bit machine, too. So I can reproduce the problem on two different 32 bit machines with Ubuntu 10.04.

I also attached the actual file list of my second machine (without UTF8 encoding, however)

* File List*
 article.cls 2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
  size10.clo 2007/10/19 v1.4h Standard LaTeX file (size option)
inputenc.sty 2008/03/30 v1.1d Input encoding file
   utf8x.def 2004/10/17 UCS: Input encoding UTF-8
     ucs.sty 2004/10/17 UCS: Unicode input support
uni-global.def 2004/10/17 UCS: Unicode global data
pstricks.sty 2008/11/26 v0.40 LaTeX wrapper for `PSTricks' (RN,HV)
pstricks.tex 2009/05/19 v1.29 `PSTricks' (tvz,hv)
  xcolor.sty 2007/01/21 v2.11 LaTeX color extensions (UK)
   color.cfg 2007/01/18 v1.5 color configuration of teTeX/TeXLive
   dvips.def 1999/02/16 v3.0i Driver-dependant file (DPC,SPQR)
graphicx.sty 1999/02/16 v1.0f Enhanced LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
  keyval.sty 1999/03/16 v1.13 key=value parser (DPC)
graphics.sty 2009/02/05 v1.0o Standard LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
    trig.sty 1999/03/16 v1.09 sin cos tan (DPC)
graphics.cfg 2009/08/28 v1.8 graphics configuration of TeX Live
 ucsencs.def 2003/11/29 Fixes to fontencodings LGR, T3

[Christian Kral (christian-kral)]

Sorry I posted the wrong file list:

all.sty 2008/01/01 the main pstricks tools
pstricks.sty 2008/11/26 v0.40 LaTeX wrapper for `PSTricks' (RN,HV)
pstricks.tex 2009/05/19 v1.29 `PSTricks' (tvz,hv)
  xcolor.sty 2007/01/21 v2.11 LaTeX color extensions (UK)
   color.cfg 2007/01/18 v1.5 color configuration of teTeX/TeXLive
   dvips.def 1999/02/16 v3.0i Driver-dependant file (DPC,SPQR)
pst-node.sty 2006/01/01 package wrapper for pst-node.tex
pst-node.tex 2008/11/26 1.01 `pst-node' (tvz)
pst-tree.sty 2009/01/25 package wrapper for pst-tree.tex
pst-tree.tex 2009/09/17 1.11 `pst-tree' (tvz,hv)
pst-xkey.tex 2005/11/25 v1.6 PSTricks specialization of xkeyval (HA)
 xkeyval.sty 2008/08/13 v2.6a package option processing (HA)
 xkeyval.tex 2008/08/13 v2.6a key=value parser (HA)
pst-plot.sty 2004/07/15 package wrapper for pst-plot.tex
pst-plot.tex 2009/06/08 1.04 `pst-plot' (tvz)
pst-grad.sty 2004/07/15 package wrapper for pst-grad.tex (hv)
pst-grad.tex 2006/11/27 1.06 `pst-grad' (tvz)
pst-coil.sty 2006/08/11 package wrapper for pst-coil.tex (hv)
pst-coil.tex 2006/11/05 v1.00 `pst-coil' (tvz)
pst-text.sty 2006/01/01 package wrapper for pst-text.tex (hv)
pst-text.tex 2006/11/05 1.00 `pst-text' (tvz)
  pst-3d.sty 2005/09/02 package wrapper for pst-3d.tex (hv)
  pst-3d.tex 2005/09/03 v1.00 `PST-3d' (tvz)
 pst-eps.sty 2005/05/20 package wrapper for pst-eps.tex (hv)
 pst-eps.tex 2006/11/04 1.00 `pst-eps' (tvz)
pst-fill.sty 2005/09/13 package wrapper for pst-fill.tex (hv)
pst-fill.tex 2007/03/10 v1.01 `PST-fill' (tvz,dg)
pstricks-add.sty 2009/03/17 v. 0.13 package wrapper for pstricks-add.tex (hv
)
pstricks-add.tex 2009/10/12 v3.35 `PSTricks-add' (hv)
 multido.sty 2004/05/17 package wrapper for PSTricks `multido.tex', (HV/RN)
graphicx.sty 1999/02/16 v1.0f Enhanced LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
graphics.sty 2009/02/05 v1.0o Standard LaTeX Graphics (DPC,SPQR)
    trig.sty 1999/03/16 v1.09 sin cos tan (DPC)
graphics.cfg 2009/08/28 v1.8 graphics configuration of TeX Live

[Antoine Pairet (b-ly)]

Sorry for the confusion.I did the test on a 64-bit system.

An interesting test procedure would be to change of architecture at each step of the build procedure:
 1) on 32 bit : latex
     on 64 bit : dvips and ps2pdf
 2) on 32 bit : latex and dvips
     on 64 bit : ps2pdf
 3) on 64 bit : latex
     on 32 bit : dvips and ps2pdf
 4) on 64 bit : latex and dvips
     on 32 bit : ps2pdf

Have you tested other version of ps2pdf. In the original bug report, you mentioned ps2pdf13, did you try with ps2pdf12 ps2pdf14?

regards

[Christian Kral (christian-kral)]

So far I tested the following: I created the DVI and PS file on the 32 bit version of Ubuntu 10.04.
 * Conversion with ps2pdf12 and ps2pdf14 on 32 bit version of Ubuntu 10.04 did not work either
 * Conversion with ps2pdf13 on 32 bit version of Ubuntu 8.04 did also not work

[Christian Kral (christian-kral)]

I have unfortunately no 64 bit machine for testing: my computers are all 32 bit machines. Since the problem did not occur with the previous Ubuntu 8.04 32 bit, I did the following cross testing with the 32 bit version of Ubuntu 8.04 .

 1) on 32 bit Ubuntu 10.10: latex
     on 32 bit Ubuntu 8.04: dvips and ps2pdf

    FAILS with dvips:

    This is dvips(k) 5.96.1 Copyright 2007 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
    ' TeX output 2010.08.13:2231' -> test.ps
    dvips: ! Couldn't find header file pst-algparser.pro.
    Note that an absolute path or a relative path with .. are denied in -R2 mode.

 2) on 32 bit Ubuntu 10.10: latex and dvips
     on 32 bit Ubuntu 8.04 : ps2pdf

     FAILS with ps2pdf (hangs): the PS file is not converted into a PDF file
     so apparently the PS file is corrupted as the same result occurs if the PS is converted under the 32 bit version of Ubuntu 10.10

 3) on 32 bit Ubuntu 8.04 : latex
     on 32 bit Ubuntu 10.10: dvips and ps2pdf

    WORKS

 4) on 32 bit Ubuntu 8.04 : latex and dvips
     on 32 bit Ubuntu 10.10: ps2pdf

    WORKS

--

I wonder what the right conclusions are. I would guess the problem is the LATEX binary (and/or the package implementation of pstricks and "pst-algparser.pro", respectively; see case 1) of the 32 bit version of Ubuntu 10.04 since the DVI file cannot be processed with the 32 bit version of Ubuntu 8.04. Assuming that the DVI files should be compatible (which I do not know) this seems to be a valid conclusion.

[Christian Kral (christian-kral)]

In comment no 9 it should say Ubuntu 10.04, not 10.10. Sorry for the confusion.

[Christian Kral (christian-kral)]

In case some on wants to test the cases 1) and 2) with a 64 bit version of Ubuntu 10.04 (instead of Ubuntu 8.04, as originally suggested in comment #7), please use the attached files of comment # 10 and 11.