Bug 88468 – xdvi with embedded EPS graphics and -gsalpha doesn't clear image area properly

• Status: RESOLVED FIXED
• Product: Gentoo Linux

[Description Gert Doering 2005-04-09 06:32:53 UTC]

I use LaTeX documents with "epsf.sty" and embed graphics into my LaTeX sources.  For better readability when presenting slides, I use "xdvi -gsalpha" so that ghostscript can do antialiasing, which improves readability for people listening to my talks very much.
Gentoo's xdvi or ghostscript will display the first image fine, but when going to the next slide, the image area is not cleared, so first+second image overlap, and so on.  To demonstrate the effect, I have created a very simple TeX file with 3 embedded EPS graphics, all in the tar file at the URL above.
Running xdvi without "-gsalpha" displays all the graphics just fine, but without antialiasing (of course).
The tar file contains a "run.sh" script that displays the problem.  The first page is always OK, but as soon as you page forward/backward, it's very obvious for the "-gsalpha" case.
I cannot say whether this is a problem in xdvi or ghostscript, because I don't understand clearly how xdvi and gs communicate, and who is responsible for cleaning up the image area.
All packages on my system (Gentoo/x86) are up-to-date as per 2005/04/08.
Ghostscript is app-text/ghostscript-7.07.1-r8
TeTex is app-text/tetex-2.0.2-r5

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. download the tar file from the URL above and unpack it in a new directory
2. run "run.sh"
3. xdvi will open, look at page 1-3, quit
4. xdvi -gsalpha will open, look at page 1-3, quit

Actual Results:  
in the "xdvi -gsalpha" case, all 3 embedded graphics from page 1-3 overlap into
one common image.

Expected Results:  
before displaying the next EPS graphics, the graphics area should be cleared

Portage 2.0.51.19 (default-linux/x86/2005.0/2.4, gcc-3.3.5,
glibc-2.3.4.20041102-r1, 2.4.28-gentoo-r8 i686)
=================================================================
System uname: 2.4.28-gentoo-r8 i686 Mobile Pentium II
Gentoo Base System version 1.4.16
Python:              dev-lang/python-2.3.4-r1 [2.3.4 (#1, Feb 15 2005, 22:31:00)]
dev-lang/python:     2.3.4-r1
sys-devel/autoconf:  2.13, 2.59-r6
sys-devel/automake:  1.4_p6, 1.5, 1.6.3, 1.7.9-r1, 1.8.5-r3, 1.9.4
sys-devel/binutils:  2.15.92.0.2-r7
sys-devel/libtool:   1.5.10-r4
virtual/os-headers:  2.4.22-r1
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"
AUTOCLEAN="yes"
CFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=i686"
CHOST="i386-pc-linux-gnu"
CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc /usr/kde/2/share/config /usr/kde/3/share/config
/usr/lib/X11/xkb /usr/share/config /usr/share/texmf/dvipdfm/config/
/usr/share/texmf/dvips/config/ /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic/config/
/usr/share/texmf/tex/platex/config/ /usr/share/texmf/xdvi/ /var/qmail/control"
CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/gconf /etc/terminfo /etc/env.d"
CXXFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=i686"
DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"
FEATURES="autoaddcvs autoconfig ccache distlocks maketest sandbox sfperms test"
GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.inode.at/ ftp://gentoo.inode.at/source/
http://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/
http://gentoo.mirror.icd.hu/ ftp://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/"
MAKEOPTS="-j2"
PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"
PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"
PORTDIR="/usr/portage"
SYNC="rsync://rsync.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"
USE="x86 X alsa apache2 apm avi berkdb bitmap-fonts crypt divx4linux emboss
foomaticdb fortran gdbm gif gtk gtk2 ipv6 java jpeg libg++ libwww mad mikmod
motif mp3 mpeg ncurses nls oggvorbis opengl oss pam pcmcia pdflib perl png
python quicktime readline spell ssl tcpd tetex truetype truetype-fonts
type1-fonts xml2 xmms xv zlib"
Unset:  ASFLAGS, CBUILD, CTARGET, LANG, LC_ALL, LDFLAGS, PORTDIR_OVERLAY

[Comment 1 Gert Doering 2005-04-09 06:36:13 UTC]

Created attachment 55758 [details]
latex source, dvi output, and 3 EPS files (generated from tgif .obj) to demonstrate the issue

in here is all you need to reproduce the problem - extract the tar file, then
run "run.sh"

[Comment 2 Martin Ehmsen (RETIRED) 2006-04-14 05:12:33 UTC]

According to my tests this is fixed in the latest unstable tetex (tetex-3.0_p1-r3). Can you please try that version and report back that it fixes the issue?
I'm planning on stabelizing tetex-3.0-r3 soon, so that will (according to my tests) fix this bug.

[Comment 3 Gert Doering 2006-04-15 10:29:02 UTC]

(In reply to comment #2)
> According to my tests this is fixed in the latest unstable tetex
> (tetex-3.0_p1-r3). Can you please try that version and report back that it
> fixes the issue?
> I'm planning on stabelizing tetex-3.0-r3 soon, so that will (according to my
> tests) fix this bug.
> 

I've emerged the latest "testing" tetex release (tetex-3.0_p1-r3) from portage, and it fixes the problem.

Thanks!

[Comment 4 Jakub Moc (RETIRED) 2007-04-04 15:23:30 UTC]

Closing as tetex-3.0_p1-r3 is stable now.