[tex-k] Allow epstopdf input.eps output.pdf ?

[Heiko Oberdiek]

Hello,

On 2017-01-04 7:07, Ryo Furue wrote:
> Dear epstopdf developer,
>
> I wish epstopdf allowed this:
>
>      epstopdf input.eps output.pdf

This causes an ambiguity with a feature request like:

     epstopdf input1.eps input2.eps

> Currently it issues this error
>
>     Error: Unknown option or too many input files

> I've just found out the option --outfile= , but there are a lot of
> Unix/Linux commands out there that already exhibits the same/similar
> behavior:
>
>    mv orgname newname
>    convert intput.jpg output.png
>    pdftops input.pdf output.ps

And other programs behave differently:

     gcc -o output input.c
     ...

> so, it's easy to guess how these commands work, without ever
> consulting their manuals.  (I'm sure I'll forget --outfile= in a
> week.)
>
> By the way, I was surprised that "-o outfile.pdf" works with epstopdf
> .  It's not documented in "epstopdf --help" .

It's a feature of the Perl module "Getopt::Long", that long names
may be abbreviated. Short options (one letter options) are not defined
in the Perl script. And `-o' will stop working, when a new option is
added that starts with "o".

Yours sincerely
   Heiko Oberdiek