[tex-live] Content shifted to the right

[Heiko Oberdiek]

On Wed, Sep 01, 2010 at 04:32:30AM +0200, André Hänsel wrote:

> Hi list,

Wrong list, better places are the mailing list `texhax' or
the newsgroup `comp.text.tex'.

> I ran this simple tex file:
> \special{papersize=80mm,32.5mm}
> \parindent=0sp
> \hbox to 80mm{
> \hbox to 40mm{\vbox to 32.5mm{Hello left.\vfill}\hfill}
> \hbox to 40mm{\vbox to 32.5mm{Hello right.\vfill}\hfill}
> }
> \bye
> 
> by the TeX Live command: 
> tex label.tex && dvipdf label.dvi
> 
> and got the attached PDF.
> 
> I'd expect the "Hello left" starting at the very left border but the content
> is shifted to the right. Where is my mistake?

* The TeX origin isn't in the left top corner, but
  1in to the right and 1in below the top.
* The line ends become spaces, effective inside \hbox.
  Cured by comment characters:
    \hbox to 80mm{%
      \hbox to 40mm{...}%
      ...%
    }%
* The paragraphs inside \vbox are set with width \hsize,
  causing overfull \hbox warnings, because the parent box
  is "\hbox to 40mm". Cured by \hsize=40mm

\special{papersize=80mm,32.5mm}
\parindent=0sp
\hsize=40mm
\hoffset=-1in
\voffset=-1in
\hbox to 80mm{%
  \hbox to 40mm{\vbox to 32.5mm{Hello left.\vfill}\hfill}%
  \hbox to 40mm{\vbox to 32.5mm{Hello right.\vfill}\hfill}%
}
\bye

Yours sincerely
  Heiko Oberdiek