[LON-CAPA-users] Printing with version 2.11.1

[Stuart Raeburn]

Hi Rex,

Investigating some more ...

The particular resource:
/res/msu/kortemey/physicsprecourse/geometry/arclength.problem

includes an image: arc.jpg from which an arc.jpg.eps file is created  
during printout generation using ImageMagick.

It looks as though the versions of ImageMagick and ImageMagick-perl  
included with CentOS 6 (ImageMagick-6.5.4.7-7.el6_5 and  
ImageMagick-perl-6.5.4.7-7.el6_5) are creating .eps files result in a  
.ps file with errors (which results in a "blank" pdf file when  
ps2pdf13 is run).

I will look into building rpms for more recent versions of ImageMagick  
that do not have this problem, and add them to the LON-CAPA CentOS 6  
repository at http://install.loncapa.org/centos/loncapa/6/x86_64/

In the meantime, if Gerd (the problem author) wishes to create and  
publish an eps format version -- arc.eps -- in the same directory as  
the arc.jpg file that will be used in printout generation, thereby  
eliminating the need for the call to convert the jpg using ImageMagick.


Stuart Raeburn
LON-CAPA Academic Consortium

> Hi Rex,
>
> For this resource:
>
> /res/msu/kortemey/physicsprecourse/geometry/arclength.problem
>
> the print utility in LON-CAPA generates a non-blank PDF when using any
> of the servers in the msu domain, or any of the *educog.com servers
> (all running LON-CAPA 2.11.1).
>
> I switched my web session to a number of other servers in the network
> currently running 2.11.1 and found that a non-blank PDF was also
> generated on servers in other domains where the Linux distro was CentOS
> 5 or 7, or Ubuntu 12 or 14.  However, a blank PDF was the result on
> some (but not all) servers running CentOS 6.
>
>> ... Now, I just get a link to the pdf file  and nothing else.  Is   
>> there a way to find the log and TeX files with  2.11.1?
>
> There has not been a change in the display of links to the .log and
> .tex files in 2.11.1 as compared with earlier LON-CAPA versions.
>
> Those links are displayed to "advanced users" (e.g., Course
> Coordinators, Authors/Co-authors etc.) when an "Emergency stop" is
> found in the log file.
>
> If printout generation is successful and the various stages of the
> process are completed (i.e., calls to latex, dvips, ps2pdf13 complete
> etc.) then the corresponding files with extensions  .log, .tex, .ps and
> .pdf will remain in the prtspool directory, until the nightly clean-up
> by cleanup_file_caches.pl.
>
> You can access the .log, .tex etc. files by replacing the .pdf
> extension, with the extension for the desired file in your browser's
> address box. If you right click (or ctrl-click for Mac) on the link:
> "Your PDF file" in the text:
>
> <Name> - Your PDF file is ready for download, in the final printout
> generation screen then you can copy the link location, which will be of
> the form:
> http://loncapa.tcc.fl.edu/prtspool/<user>_<domain>_<identifier>.pdf
>
> Comparing sizes for the various files generated when printing
> /res/msu/kortemey/physicsprecourse/geometry/arclength.problem (imported
> into a course) in the same course for the same user on msua4 (i.e.,
> s4.lite.msu.edu) versus tccfll1 (i.e., loncapa.tcc.fl.edu) I find:
>
> 2412 msua4.dvi
> 26010 msua4.log
> 30978 msua4.pdf
> 999358 msua4.ps
> 3740 msua4.tex
> 1001384 msua4temporar.ps
>
> 2408 tccfll1.dvi
> 26010 tccfll1.log
> 9360 tccfll1.pdf
> 1003401 tccfll1.ps
> 3740 tccfll1.tex
> 1005427 tccfll1temporar.ps
>
> A diff of tccfll1.tex and msua4.tex reports no differences.
>
> However the .dvi files are different, and in addition the .ps file
> generated on loncapa.tcc.fl.edu cannot be displayed with a postscript
> viewer.
>
> The issue would seem to be in the generation of the .dvi file within
> cgi-bin/printout.pl from the command:
>
> "latex filename.tex 1>/dev/null 2>/dev/null"
>
> where filename is the name of the .tex file.
>
> Note: loncapa.tcc.fl.edu and s4.lite.msu.edu have the same Linux
> distro, and architecture.
>
>
> Stuart Raeburn
> LON-CAPA Academic Consortium
>
>
> Quoting Rex Abert <ABERTR at tcc.fl.edu>:
>
>> I'm having difficulty printing some resources after our system was   
>>  upgraded to 2.11.1.  Previously, if there was a TeX error,  
>> Lon-Capa   would provide links to the log file and the original TeX  
>> file to   assist in troubleshooting.  Now, I just get a link to the  
>> pdf file   and nothing else.  Is there a way to find the log and  
>> TeX files  with  2.11.1?
>>
>> For what it's worth, the resource that is causing the error is
>>
>> /res/msu/kortemey/physicsprecourse/geometry/arclength.problem
>>
>> (Sorry, Gerd!)
>>
>> Rex Abert
>> Associate Professor of Mathematics
>> Tallahassee Community College
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