Re: LC_PAPER and default paper size

[David Kastrup]

Felipe Castro <address@hidden> writes:

>> I want to make the scores available to everybody.  I want users across
>> the world to be able to find the music, create the PDF and print it
>> with no problems on the paper they have.
>>
>> Specifying \paper would make the choice for the users.  Printers might
>> ask for paper that is not readily available.  Actually, Mutopia
>> doesn't want \paper to be specified.
>
> If the printer has just letter size paper to print an A4 PDF-file,
> will not the PDF-reader be able to stretch it a little bit, so that
> the content will fit to the new size and aspect ratio?

Usually the most annoying misfeature ever.

>>> More often than not, the global staff size and manual tweaks are set
>>> to achieve a certain page layout.  If LilyPond changed its behavior
>>> on different computers, stuff would stop working without the user
>>> having a clue that this was not intended output.
>>
>> Now that's a strong argument against LC_PAPER.  I'm guilty of making
>> such tweaks too.
>
> And also, the good thing with those environment variables is that most
> users should be used to them. The bad thing is that most users don't
> know them.

Personally, I think it would be reasonable if LilyPond editors like
Frescobaldi or Emacs, when asked to insert a basic document template,
would do so with a paper setting corresponding to the current
locale/environment/whatever.  But LilyPond itself should behave the same
with the same input.

-- 
David Kastrup