[tex-k] dvips possible-bug/feature-request

[gual News]

To whom it may concern:

There is a problem with pdf files metainformation that I think might be
fixed in dvips (and, unfortunately, I don't know how to do it).
I reported this in the "comp.text.tex" newsgroup (
http://groups.google.com/group/comp.text.tex/browse_thread/thread/946ed6e0d03d1ecd/21b4721c249abeff#21b4721c249abeff),
and it was formerly reported by somebody else in the "
comp.graphics.apps.gnuplot" group, but I am filing it here as a "bug
report," though it might be more properly called a "feature request."
With the last gnuplot (4.2.0), when using the eps terminal (e.g. "set term
post eps", and I presume any postscript terminal) in order to generate eps
files to be included in a TeX document via the graphicx macros, the
"pdfmark" information included in those eps files takes precedence over the
pdfmark information generated by hyperref (I presume because it appears
later in the file) when using latex + dvips + ps2pdf. I presume this might
be called a dvips bug, or at least it might be fixed in dvips. When using
"epstopdf + pdflatex" or "latex + dvipdfmx" the problem does not appear.
Another contributor in "comp.text.tex" confirmed that, when including eps
files created by a different procedure but containing metainformation, he
encountered the same problem.
The problem is easy to reproduce, but so you may check it, I attach here 3
files:
(1) "gr.gp", a gnuplot script file.
(2) "gr.eps", the resulting eps file.
(3) "problem.tex", the LaTeX that gives rise to the problem.
I process "problem.tex" with latex (or pdflatex --output-format=dvi), then
dvips (with or without -z), and finally ps2pdf. Then "pdfinfo problem.pdf"
yields:
Title:          gr.eps
Subject:        gnuplot plot
Keywords:
Author:         root
Creator:        gnuplot 4.2 patchlevel 0
Producer:       dvips + AFPL Ghostscript 8.54
CreationDate:   Thu Mar  8 09:11:13 2007
ModDate:        Thu Mar  8 09:33:40 2007
Tagged:         no
Pages:          1
Encrypted:      no
Page size:      612 x 792 pts (letter)
File size:      6805 bytes
Optimized:      no
PDF version:    1.4
That is, the author and title metainformation is taken from "gr.eps" rather
than the hyperref settings. Just looking at "problem.ps", one may see that
it has both "pdfmark" settings, so ps2pdf just takes the last one it
encounters. I presume one might tweak dvips to reproduce only the hyperref
information in this case, or rather to ignore the metainformation coming
from the included graphics files.
Thanks for your help.
Best regards,
Gual
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