TeX Live and MacTeX ⇒ Discrepancy in PDF output between linux and windows

[jrowellfx]

Hey folks,

I've been happily working on a Math paper, both on a Linux system (Fedora 21) where I installed Tex Live; and on a Windows 7 machine, where I installed MikTex. I'm editing the same .tex file on both systems.

The oddity is that the PDF output on the windows machine appears to be correct (at least it's what I expect) vs what lualatex produces on the linux system.

The somewhat subtle issue that anything generated by "math mode" on the linux (lualatex) version, the font looks slightly different from normal mode. The math mode text (which appears to be computer modern) appears slightly thinner and perhaps slightly smaller than the normal text mode. I'm not talking about the fact that letters are italicized etc. - what I'm describing is apparent on numbers.

However, on the windows system, the text matches perfectly (eg. a "1" looks exactly the same in normal vs math mode) - which is what I expect.

Is this a known issue? Am I missing something?

If anyone needs more details to help answer this query, I'll be happy to provide them.

Cheers,
James.

[Johannes_B]

Why don't you simply use TeX Live (as downloaded from TUG) on both machines?

[jrowellfx]

There's no good reason that I'm using different version of the software, I'm new to Tex and what I have installed is just how how I've been feeling my way along to arrive at this point, I certainly could switch to using the same on both systems.

However, the MikTex output seems preferable. It's not the inconsistency itself that I want to resolve, I want both to behave like the MikeTex output. So even if I were to switch to Tex Live, how would I get it to generate output in the way that I prefer?

I.e.; I don't think the font should look any different in math mode from normal mode.

Thanks!
J

[jrowellfx]

FYI - Here's a test case along with a link to the pdf generated with lualatex.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/215 ... ex.v01.pdf

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[parfill]{parskip} 
\begin{document}
Testing math mode vs normal mode from "lualatex" on linux.

Math mode -> ``$1234567890$"

Normal mode -> ``1234567890"

If I had generated this on Windows with ``MikeTex", the two strings of digits would look exactly the same.

\end{document}

[jrowellfx]

Ok - Hold on! Classic case of someone asking for help and debugging their own problem in the process.

It turns out that the pdf viewer (okular) on the linux system is the culprit (for whatever reason). When I view the pdf generated by lualatex (then posted in my dropbox account) directly in chrome (for example) - the issue disappears. Oddly enough, the issue I'm seeing is only apparent when viewing the pdf in "okular".

Sorry to have wasted everyone's time!

J

[Johannes_B]

Code: Select all

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage[parfill]{parskip} 
\begin{document}
Testing math mode vs normal mode from "lualatex" on linux.
 
Math mode:

``$1234567890$"
 
``1234567890"
 
If I had generated this on Windows with ``MikTeX"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, the two strings of digits would look exactly the same.
 
\end{document}

I cannot see any difference.

EDIT: Viewer problem are quite common on all platforms.


Still, MikTeX is slightly different from TeX Live. You will see real inconsistencies in the future.

[jrowellfx]

EDIT: Viewer problem are quite common on all platforms.

Still, MikTeX is slightly different from TeX Live. You will see real inconsistencies in the future.

I think I'll switch my Windows to be a Tex Live setup instead of MikTex.

Just curious, what kind of inconsistencies will we see in the future? Shouldn't the outputs be pretty much identical? Isn't that one of the benefits of latex, it's solid archival properties?

[Stefan Kottwitz]

I expect the PDF output for TeX Live and MiKTeX with a current and well maintained distribution and installation to be the same.

If there would be real difference, then for example because of a missing font. LaTeX should make the same, it's the large amount of packages and fonts that can make a difference, if they are installed in different versions.

Stefan

[Johannes_B]

There are small changes over time, including bug fixes. MikTeX includes those fixes right away, while TeX Live does that once a year after ome serious testing.
So with MikTeX, you get the new stuff sooner, but sometimes th new stuff has bugs in it. Leading to a horde of MikTeX users flooding the support sites when a bad update comes.

Long time archival stuff: The TeX program has seen some pretty major change and extensions over the years. LuaLaTeX especially doesn't have much in common with Knuths TeX. They just work the same.

[jrowellfx]

It turns out that the pdf viewer (okular) on the linux system is the culprit (for whatever reason). When I view the pdf generated by lualatex (then posted in my dropbox account) directly in chrome (for example) - the issue disappears. Oddly enough, the issue I'm seeing is only apparent when viewing the pdf in "okular".

The plot thickens.

If I compare the following two files:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/215 ... ex.v01.pdf <- Made on linux with lualatex
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/215 ... ex.v01.pdf <- Made on windows with MikTeX

Opening these files directly from dropbox (on chrome) on either windows or linux the files appear identical (apart from the weird -? that shows up in place of the '->' string on the mikTex version).

However, in "Okular" (linux's PDF/doc viewer) they to appear to be different.
i) The file generated on linux with lualatex, the normal mode text appears to be slightly "bolder" than the math mode.
vs
ii) ALL the text in the pdf generated with MikTex (on Windows) appears the same in okular, furthermore it appears to be identical to the MikTeX "math mode" text (i.e. the less bold text in the other file).

...so something is happening differently between the two programs in how it generates PDFs, and oddly the chrome browser ignores the differences that become apparent in okular.

Hmmm.