Last modified: 11:06:17, Wed 14 Nov 2001 UTC

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What's new for epsmerge

As of post-version 2, epsmerge major releases (i.e., releases :-) will be numbered x.y.0, where x == 2 and y is a non-negative integer. Patched versions will have x.y.p, where p is the number of the patch. So there.
As of 2.1.0, releases will also have a nifty codename.

Here is a list of the released and very-soon-to-be-released versions of epsmerge:

• Version 2.3.0?
  Maybe merge in some old code I have had lying around to make a graphical interface (using Tk). There is a complete GUI except I want to glue it to ghostscript or something so you can get a preview, and the help screens don't work yet. It will still run from the command line as well; it doesn't even compile the Tk sections if you don't give a Tk switch (or whatever).
• Version 2.2.2
  Added synonymous options like the (relevant) ones from a2ps. Should make life a little easier for those a2ps folks using epsmerge (and epsmerge folks using a2ps).
  Abandoned installation script mentioned under 2.2.1. The package formats .deb and .rpm are much more useful anyway, and slackware people can still do installation the old way if they wish (it is not difficult).
  .rpm files will be available once I figure out how to make them without being root. I really don't want to have to be root to do this.
• Version 2.2.1 (oops, didn't get released, wait for 2.2.2 instead. Sorry.)
  Updated DSC handling code, but still doesn't work with EPS files generated by Microsoft Word, though. But this code is much better now, there are fewer kludges in the EPS parser. Again, this version attempts to handle all resources uniformly, and in the same way, too;
  Usual numerous minor improvements here and there;
  Yet another new installation option: there is a script which can do the installation. It also knows how to package, thus making my life (slightly) easier, and, potentially, releases more frequent :P
  Should be available as .deb and .rpm as well, eventually, for even more installation happiness.
• Version 2.2.0 ``Bethnal Green''.
  Muchly improved support for merging postscript pages by attempting to write the prolog procedures and whatnot into the generated file. Well, at least it seems to work on my tex => dvips generated postscript files. Specifying postscript files as input makes epsmerge read all the pages now (instead of just the ones listed explicitly).
  Some bugfixes, such as the date written into the generated file was probably mostly not entirely correct, %%+ comments weren't parsed correctly due to a tyop, and no more compile-time warnings if compiled with Perl 5.6.0 (unless there are new ones, haven't tested with 5.6.0 yet).
• Version 2.1.0 ``Aldersbrook''
  has a new formatter that allows stacking together images vertically or horizontally. The formatter is a bit of a hack, though.
• Version 2.0.0:
  Support for reading postscript files as input (i.e., non-encapsulated, multi-page), but only simple files, i.e., files that do not rely on prologs for rendering (the stuff with prologs doesn't work yet, mostly because I haven't decided precisely how to do it). Shuffling pages in arbitrary order.
  It reads %%+ comments correctly now.
  There is a new installation option, you can symlink to the script from any directory in your path, and the script tries to work out where it lives.
  The version number has jumped since there are lots of internal changes most of which should be invisible to the user, though. In particular, I am gradually abstracting I/O from the rest, so as to have options between different interfaces.
  And my CVS is getting confused (or maybe I am).
• Version 1.2.3p2:
  Merges some code from the pre-2.0.0 (deletes %%Page comments that confuse some printers, slightly more help/usage options, etc); less fussy about postscript headers (but reading postscript input is not officially supported yet: I'm thinking about that one, though -- probably only works when you have one page); can run via symlink (see README file for details). Some more stuff that I have forgotten.
• Version 1.2.3p1:
  Fixes a bug where the number of pages for postscript is sometimes not calculated.
• Version 1.2.3:
  Minor changes to the option handling code. For example, all options are now written when the user requests '-h' (help). A buglet that no-one discovered (or at least reported) in the Option code was fixed. Unless specified otherwise, E- or non-E postscript is decided by the file's extension (if any), i.e, '.eps' generates multi-file EPS'es, '.ps' generates single-file postscript. Updates to the label handling code. A patch fixes a bug where postscript pages weren't calculated correctly.
• Version 1.2.2:
  Proper support for EPS files that contain embedded EPS files. Can generate multi-page (non-encapsulated) postscript files.
• Version 1.2.1:
  Some bugfixes, mostly minor. Better support for writing labels on EPS files that don't tell you what they should be. Also, the configuration file may now live in the current working directory, allowing the user to have a per-project configuration.
• Version 1.2.0:
  Much improved option handling; values are checked, unknown options raise errors and eyebrows etc. And there is a configuration file allowing the user to specify his/her favourite options. I decided to make my own options handling routine, rather than going with Getopt::Long. My routine is more flexible in many ways (though it may be false impatience) but it allows cleaner code (``Cleanliness is next to knuthliness''). It should also be applicable to other Perl programs since nothing in the Options handler says "epsmerge". See the Tech file. Also, epsmerge can now generate multiple files. A couple of bugfixes (two).
• Version 1.1.2:
  If run interactively, there is a prompt that lets the user add labels by typing a string for each file. Alternatively, the user can specify a perl script that will generate the labels.
• Version 1.1.1:
  Fixed the -par bug. Labels and headers can now be written. The format of each can be specified on the command line, and so can the fontsize. (A header, in this context, is a title for the entire EPS file).
• Version 1.1:
  Added new option to write labels. Currently only writes the title and the creationdate from each Eps file. Mostly internal rewiring.
• Version 1.0:
  First public version of epsmerge.

Known problems

• Some postscript files have embedded resources in the pages, which, as of 2.2.0, confuse epsmerge. I have only seen it in files that were generated by Microsoft Word, though.

What will happen to epsmerge?

Here is a list of things I want to do about epsmerge, approximately in descending order of importance:

• Create a graphical interface. The basic idea is to get an interactive user interface (most likely Tk) and generalized formatting in one fell swoop. I want to make it possible to display miniature images of the EPS files on the screen; this requires, however, that the user has imagemagick and Aladdin ghostscript installed (at the time of writing).
• Make a generalization of the -x and -y switches, allowing the user to specify exactly how many cells (s)he wants in each row (or column, if run with -rmo false). Also, there should be an option to center the images in each row (column if using -rmo false) rather than always making them align left.

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