[tex-live] [pdftex] PDF 1.5 by default in TL 2010

[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 12 January 2010 Karl Berry wrote:

 >    \pdfminorversion=5
 >    \pdfcompresslevel=9
 >    \pdfobjcompresslevel=2 (recommended setting from manual)
 > 
 > 
 > Another thing we could do is provide separate executables/formats
 > pdflatex-14, etc.  Then both options would always be available to all
 > users.

I must admit that I don't know which solution is best.

Given that the default is 1.4, it would be best if packages like
movie15.sty switch to the version number they need.  And maybe a
tiny package compresspdf.sty is needed.

It's also possible to do it the other way around.  Make 1.5 the
default and provide a file which complains about features which are
not supported by PDF/X or PDF/A.  But someone has to provide such a
package.  Doing it this way is more cumbersome.

I personally prefer to try to solve such problems on macro level
whenever possible.  I regard changing format files as a last resort,
if a particular problem can't be solved otherwise.

I'm not even convinced that it's useful to create a new format file
whenever someone wants to switch from A4 to letter or vice versa.  TeX
provides a token register called \everyjob which can be used in the
source code of a format file in order to \input a config file at runtime.
Shouldn't we make use of it?

Regards,
  Reinhard

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