Effort vs usefulness of pdf, was: proposal to omit pdf generation of reference manual

As far as hyperlinks in PDF go, I have found that the 
following commands work very well in the preamble of a LaTEX 
document (I maintain a large set of interlinked PDF 
documents made from LaTeX at work):

...
\usepackage{xr-hyper}  % cross-document links!  Must appear 
before hyperref!
...
\usepackage[hypertex,colorlinks=true,linkcolor=blue,filecolor=webgreen,extension=dvi]{hyperref}
...

This makes .dvi files with hyperlinks, which you can view 
with xdvik.   To make PDF out of the dvi,  I run "dvipdfm" 
on the .dvi file.
There may be a shorter way to generate PDF without going 
through dvi.  I can investigate, if people are interested.


				Kostas

Richard Fateman wrote:
>  
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu 
>> [mailto:maxima-bounces at math.utexas.edu] On Behalf Of Robert Dodier
>> Sent: Sunday, March 11, 2007 8:24 PM
>> Frankly I don't think the effort to maintain the pdf versions is worth
>> the trouble.
> 
> It is no trouble for me, since I am not maintaining either version.
> 
>> To the people who have asked for the pdf versions to be maintained:
>> I need to know if you really believe that the pdf version is 
>> valuable enough
>> to continue to maintain it. If you prefer pdf but you would 
>> be happy enough
>> without it, I want to know that.
> 
> We are all volunteers.  If the person who maintains the PDF no longer wishes
> to maintain it, then he can cease to do it. Either another volunteer must be
> found, or it will cease to be maintained.
> 
> I would request, however, that if it is not updated and maintained, then an
> existing PDF be archived. That way anyone who really needs a PDF and doesn't
> care if it possibly out of date in some minor respects, can use that form. I
> would certainly prefer PDF for some uses, even if outdated. The commercial
> Macsyma Reference Manual is online in PDF and is still sometimes useful.
> 
> I do not understand the mechanisms in use which make the production of PDF
> more difficult as documentation is increased.  I also agree with Kostas and
> Alasdair that the display of mathematics should be upgraded if possible.
> The technology used in the manual should not be limited by the design (from
> 1967) of the original Macsyma program which was based of CHARYBDIS.  See
> http://hopl.murdoch.edu.au/showlanguage.prx?exp=382
> 
> RJF