DocBook

[Ben Pfaff]

Sean <picasso@madflower.com> writes:

> On 21 Feb 2001, Ben Pfaff wrote:
> 
> > You don't do this for *all* your documents?  To me, a "document"
> > under Unix is a directory with a Makefile in it.  Object Linking
> > and Embedding?  ActiveX?  Bah!  Just put in a copy of that .eps
> > and add a \includegraphics or @image command or <IMG> tag or
> > whatever.
> 
> Not to nitpick, but that is _precisely_ OLE.

Hmm?  Maybe in theory.  In practice OLE has numerous problems
(admittedly, I haven't used it in many years):

	* Incredibly slow.

	* Whenever I tried to use it under Windows, about half
          the time it would crash, taking one or both documents
          with it.

	* Awful protocol (I modified a client/server for it once).

	* Proprietary and not portable.

	* Can't really do much with the document without editors
          for all the subobjects.

	* AFAIK there's no way to do scripting.  I can't generate
          OLE documents via a Makefile.  I can't generate ASCII,
          PostScript, PDF and HTML versions with a single
          command.

In short, there is *no way* to do what GNU libavl does using OLE,
at least not without extensive extra tools.

> The only downside is your way
> doesnt pull up the proper editer for the embedded object. 

*shrug*  Such a feature only makes sense in a graphical
environment anyhow.  I spend 99% of my time in Emacs at the
console.  I can always type `C-x C-f e m b TAB RET' to pull up
`embeddedobject.text'.

> Even EPS
> files may contain font information or fonts themseves, other files
> (embedded or linked), colour information, etc. 

Sure.  I'm not sure what your point is here.

> Im not saying that 90% of my documents are not in fact directories, with
> bits and pieces from this or that, because most of them are. 
> 
> Personally, if I was going to go through that much work to create a
> document, I would probably write it with vi in the PDF language. 

Then you're crazy.  PostScript and PDF are output formats.  You
shouldn't recreate LaTeX in PostScript or PDF unless you're doing
it just to prove that you can, like the guy who implemented bc in
sed.

> But instead I sit here working with a directory full of files wrestling
> with an eps file that has a file embedded by linking that uses a font I
> don't have. 

Well, of course there are problems if you fragment your
documents.  What do you expect?
-- 
"Writing non-free software is not an ethically legitimate activity, so if
 people who do this run into trouble, that's good!  All businesses based
 on non-free software ought to fail, and the sooner the better."
--Richard Stallman