https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102#c2 --- Comment #2 from Joseph Comfort 2013-06-04 12:28:45 UTC --- Johannes, Thank you for your thoughtful analysis and informative comments. I am sure I found a bug, but it is either (a) disappearing with system/rpm updates and/or (b) it is elsewhere. (Due to additional work, the figure got regenerated, so it might be affected by system updates.) Some observations. 1) The print media was letter (612x792), not A4, so the size was OK (with the landscape figure rotated to portrait). 2) My earlier comment that both the .eps and the .pdf files printed off-center seems no longer to be correct. The .eps now prints centered, but the .pdf does not. 3) More significantly, the BoundingBox in the .eps file was 44 74 562 706. However, in the conversion to .pdf, it got changed to 0 0 518 632 (subtracting off the lower corner). Hence, it printed off-center -- at least on v12.3. (It is still a mystery why it works on v12.1.) I think I have now identified the culprit. If I use ps2pdf to convert, the BB in the .pdf file becomes 0 0 612 792. However, if I use the 'convert' command (from ImageMagick), it is 0 0 518 632. The first one prints centered; the second does not. How should this issue be reported? -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102#c Johannes Meixner changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|REOPENED |NEEDINFO InfoProvider| |Joseph.Comfort@asu.edu -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102#c5 --- Comment #5 from Joseph Comfort 2013-06-05 22:58:52 UTC --- I wrote an extended description of what the files are in the attachment. I committed the comment and submitted the attachment. The was some message about a mid-air collision. I do not see my comment. If it does not show up and can not be located, please let me know and I will regenerate it. Thank you. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102#c7 --- Comment #7 from Joseph Comfort 2013-06-06 00:37:44 UTC --- I will redo the comment. I extended the study, and the issue is getting murkier. The attached file contains 12 files: 6 files cv_range... from work (with the Minolta printer), and 6 files xcv_range... from home (with a Brother HL-5340D printer). The 4 .eps files are all duplicates. The pdf files of each set are distinguished as follows: cv_range.pdf Convert: ps2pdf cv_range.eps cv_range.pdf cv_range2.pdf Convert: convert cv_range.eps cv_range2.pdf cv_range3.pdf Convert: convert cv_range.eps -page 612x792 cv_range3.pdf cv_range4.pdf Convert: epstopdf cv_range4.eps The xcv_... files were generated at home the same way. The two computers are both x86_64 and are set up with identical rpms. At work -- cv_range.pdf prints centered correctly (identical to cv_range.eps) cv_range2.pdf prints off-center, but with the correct image size cv_range3.pdf prints off-center, but with the correct image size cv_range4.pdf prints centered correctly, with the proper image size At home -- xcv_range.pdf prints centered correctly (identical to xcv_range.eps) xcv_range2.pdf prints centered, with the image size expanded to fill the page xcv_range3.pdf prints off-center, but with the correct image size xcv_range4.pdf prints centered, with the image size expanded to fill the page The xcv*.pdf file sizes are the same as the cv*.pdf sizes. The xcv files also display exactly the same way as the corresponding cv files on acroread, okular, and xpdf. These displays are the same as described for the home computer (not the work computer). Looking inside the files, the corresponding pairs appeared to be the same, but the 'cmp' command shows differences. Thus: (a) the different methods for converting a .eps graph image to a .pdf image give different results on computers with identical setups; (b) the .pdf files print differently on the computers; (c) the image size is properly kept on one computer, but not the other; there is off-center printing that did not occur in earlier openSuSE versions. I appreciate your advice about the 'convert' command, and the confusion that can come from the large number of options. I started using it at one time because it was a quick and easy way to convert to different formats at the same time, without having to remember the names of particular commands. It had worked, but I will try to avoid it. It would be very nice if the different conversion methods could give the same results all the way through the display and printing stages in different computers. I don't know whether it is better to have automatic scaling or not, but at the moment any control for it seems to be hidden. Automatic centering is perhaps the best option, but then it should happen (as in the past). Things have become very confusing. I appreciate your attention and help. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102#c9 Johannes Meixner changed: What |Removed |Added ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Status|REOPENED |RESOLVED Component|Printing |Other Resolution| |INVALID QAContact|jsmeix@suse.com |qa-bugs@suse.de --- Comment #9 from Johannes Meixner 2013-06-07 09:02:45 CEST --- If you like to get some feedback from 'convert' what it does, use the -verbose option, e.g. for me: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- $ convert -verbose cv_range.eps -page letter+35+75 cv_range.convert-page.pdf "gs" -q -dQUIET -dSAFER -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dNOPROMPT -dMaxBitmap=500000000 -dAlignToPixels=0 -dGridFitTT=2 "-sDEVICE=pngalpha" -dTextAlphaBits=4 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 "-r72x72" -g518x632 "-sOutputFile=/tmp/magick--RZb0vzu-%08d" "-f/tmp/magick-wwWGDsWA" "-f/tmp/magick-RPjrMGoH" /tmp/magick--RZb0vzu-00000001 PNG 518x632 518x632+0+0 8-bit DirectClass 22.6KB 0.030u 0:00.020 cv_range.eps PS 518x632 518x632+0+0 16-bit DirectClass 22.6KB 0.000u 0:00.000 cv_range.eps=>cv_range.convert-page.pdf PS 518x632 612x792+35+75 16-bit DirectClass 94.2KB 0.050u 0:00.059 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This shows (you could also use "strace -f" to get the "gs" call) that 'convert' calls internally Ghostscript to convert the EPS into a bitmap image (via the Ghostscript device pngalpha). Afterwards 'convert' encapsulates the bitmap image into a PDF. I agree that from an end-user point of view "It would be very nice if the different conversion methods could give the same results all the way through the display and printing stages in different computers" but the present situation is that there is neither such a thing as a general guideline or specification nor is there a general agreement which same result all those different conversion methods should give. As matters stand the different conversion tools are made by different open source software projects with different use-cases in mind where each has its own reasoning behind what each particular default behaviour is. I am not involved in the ImageMagick open source software project so that I cannot decide about the 'convert' default behaviour. According to http://www.imagemagick.org "ImageMagick is a software suite to create, edit, compose, or convert bitmap images." That means the primary focus are bitmaps (and not vector graphics like PostScript usually has) and I assume that for bitmaps the 'convert' default behaviour is best. In contrast the main focus of Ghostscript is PostScript and PDF in particular regarding printing output so that the 'ps2pdf' default behaviour fits better for printing output. Bottom line from my point of view: Regardless that 'convert' works to convert PS/EPS into PDF it is not the best tool for it because it is meant to work with bitmap images. In contrast 'ps2pdf' is primarily meant to convert PS/EPS into PDF. I close the issue again as "invalid" because there is no actual bug. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.

https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102 https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=822102#c11 --- Comment #11 from Joseph Comfort 2013-06-07 13:44:46 UTC --- epstopdf is a perl script found in: texlive-epstopdf-bin . Documentation is in texlive-epstopdf . As you say, considering the sources, getting consistency among the various conversion methods can be difficult. My complaint is that something changed between openSuSE v12.1 and v12.3 so that conversion and printing which worked for a long time now fails. So I question the notation 'invalid.' To the user, something has gone wrong, and some previous consistency is lost. I did the same tests on a v12.1 system at work, printing to the same Minolta printer as before. I get SuSE v12.1 -- cv_range.pdf prints centered, but not identical to cv_range.eps; actually a bit larger and centered better than the .eps file or v12.3. cv_range2.pdf identical with cv_range.pdf (previous line) cv_range3.pdf prints off-center, with the same size as cv_range2.pdf cv_range4.pdf centered and identical with cv)range.pdf and cv_range2.pdf The '-page 612x792' (alone) option is not good anywhere. Here, ps2pdf, convert (alone), and epstopdf all give the same nice result. The v12.3 behavior is different, and wrong in some aspects. The root cause seems to be something outside of convert or epstopdf, so I will hold off on bug reports about them. The epstopdf files are identical on the two SuSE versions. -- Configure bugmail: https://bugzilla.novell.com/userprefs.cgi?tab=email ------- You are receiving this mail because: ------- You are on the CC list for the bug.