PDF with comments generated via GH action is no longer in A4 format

[vladak]

Starting with release v91 the PDFs generated via Github Actions seems to have the paper size wrong. v90 (Nov 2022) is fine.

[vladak]

Unfortunately the logs for the Github Action that created v90 assets were removed.

[vladak]

For the record, v91 was built with:

pdflatex unix-linux-prog-in-c_slides-only.m4.tex
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.22 (TeX Live 2022/dev/Debian) (preloaded format=pdflatex)
 restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(./unix-linux-prog-in-c_slides-only.m4.tex
LaTeX2e <2021-11-15> patch level 1
L3 programming layer <2022-01-21>
(/usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/tex/latex/seminar/seminar.cls
Document Class: seminar 2021/07/01, 1.63a
Documentclass: `seminar' v1.63a <2021/07/01> (tvz,hv)

and further below there is a warning:

LaTeX Warning: You have requested document class `seminar',
               but the document class provides `xcomment'.

however I get the same warning when building locally on macOS (see #51 (comment) below for version information) where this problem does not happen.

More below is this warning:

*******************************************************
***** !! PRINT THIS DOCUMENT IN LANDSCAPE MODE !! *****
*******************************************************
(./unix-linux-prog-in-c_slides-only.m4.aux)

however I also get the same warning when building locally and also it seems to be specific just to the "slides only" PDFs.

[vladak]

My local pdfTex version is 3.1415926-2.4-1.40.13 (TeX Live 2012) which is not that different than the one used by Github Actions runner. If I were to guess, it is rather caused by some of the styles, e.g. the local version of seminar.sty is 2008/10/15, 1.5 and the one used by the runner comes from 2021.

Another thing for consideration is that the Git repository contains xcomment.{sty,tex}.

[vladak]

The PRINT THIS DOCUMENT IN LANDSCAPE MODE comes from seminar.sty, so maybe in the old version it was overriden by something but in the new version it is for real.

That said, the warning seems to be displayed just for the "slides only" PDF so is probably just a red herring.

[vladak]

Checking the size of the document generated from the Github action in the Preview macOS app, I can see 27,94 × 21,59 cm which seems to match the letter paper size. A4 should be 210 mm × 297 mm.

[vladak]

For the record, on macOS with rather old pdfTeX, Version 3.1415926-2.4-1.40.13 (TeX Live 2012), LaTeX2e <2011/06/27> still generates the PDF as A4. Another possibly relevant piece of data is Document Class: seminar 2008/10/15, 1.5.

[vladak]

Displaying the properties of the file in evince says: US Letter, Landscape (279 × 216 mm)

This means the command at the top of unix-linux-prog-in-c.tex:

\AtBeginDocument{%                                                              
  \pdfhorigin=1sp                                                               
  \pdfvorigin=1sp                                                               
  \paperwidth=297truemm                                                         
  \paperheight=210truemm                                                        
}

no longer works. I tried experimenting with geometry package and adding various options to the seminar package however could not produce A4 with correct content.

[vladak]

A4 format can be brought back via the

  \pdfpagewidth=297truemm
  \pdfpageheight=210truemm

added to the \AtBeginDocument section, however it still remains in landscape mode.

[vladak]

After minimizing the content to single file, I found that that when I remove the hyperref package and add the a4 option to the seminar package, the A4 is generated in portrait mode, however the content on the page is not centered.