Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!icdoc!sot-ecs!spqr From: spqr@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Sebastian Rahtz) Newsgroups: comp.text.tex Subject: Re: system identification Message-ID: Date: 13 Oct 90 14:18:36 GMT References: <40309@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> Sender: spqr@ecs.soton.ac.uk Organization: Southampton University Computer Science Lines: 27 In-reply-to: mdeck@sybil.cs.Buffalo.EDU's message of 11 Oct 90 22:13:39 GMT In article <40309@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> mdeck@sybil.cs.Buffalo.EDU (Mary Deck) writes: Here's a question for anyone who wants to answer it (and can): Is there a way in (La)TeX to identify the type of system one is on? For instance, I have several files which I'll be using in both a VAX/VMS environment and a Sun/Unix environment. I have a macro file, same thing on both systems but different filename, which I want to include in these documents. I want to put a line in the file to include my macros which will pick the proper file name for the current system. I `support' TeX on various systems, and one solution I adopt for a similar problem is to define my own symbol (a TeX counter), set the value of that when I build a .fmt file, and then check its value in style files with a case statement. a hackier way would be to check for the existence of the VMS name and if that failed, try the unix one..... so far as I know there is no generic answer, but it is perfectly permissible to build something into the format file. but please test in the style file to see if your trap is defined at all! then other people can use your files too..... -- Sebastian Rahtz S.Rahtz@uk.ac.soton.ecs (JANET) Computer Science S.Rahtz@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Bitnet) Southampton S09 5NH, UK S.Rahtz@sot-ecs.uucp (uucp)