Hi > The goal of testpage.tex is to match the output to the physical > page size, and the default paper size must *not* be used since the > file explicitly asks for a paper size. Hence the need for a fix.
Since this is a LaTeX base file, please sent your complaints to the LaTeX team, they have an issue tracker. > Note that paperconf is designed to allow a user-level default. > However, TeX uses a system-level default only. For instance, with Since when? I don't have paperconf available anymore, but when I wrote the support code, there was only /etc/papersize ... > PAPERSIZE=a5 pdflatex > /usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/testpage.tex > > the generated PDF file still has the A4 page size, because A4 is still > the system-level default for TeX. Yes, and I explained you why. There is no setup for physical papersize done in testfile.tex. > Changing the paperconf default has the effect of reconfiguring the TeX > defaults, like that: Yes, I know. > Said otherwise, the end user cannot choose the default for TeX > (not even statically). On a per user basis. Yes, because this would require format dumps per user, which is a pain, and will break practically every system update. > BTW, the TeX-level configuration isn't even always consistent. > For instance, tl-paper was giving You can set paper size per application. No problem with me. You probably have done that at some point. Or, the paper code parsing for context is broken. One of the two things. > This is crap design. What would be a better design? Instead of complaining on a problem that is a problem with LaTeX core team document, and complaining about "crap design", what about constructive input? And dont forget, what about copying testpage.tex, and add the \usepackage{geometry} and be happy? Is that that hard? Norbert -- PREINING Norbert https://www.preining.info arXiv / Cornell University + IFMGA Guide + TU Wien + TeX Live GPG: 0x860CDC13 fp: F7D8 A928 26E3 16A1 9FA0 ACF0 6CAC A448 860C DC13