xfig does not recognize paper size A4 when exporting to eps format

llsalcedo · 07-02-2019, 03:18 AM

Hi! I have just installed openSUSE 15.1.
Within xfig (version 3.2.7a), when I try to Export a figure in eps format a pop up window informs me
"Error during EXPORT. Messages:
Unknown paper size `A4
'"
(the same thing happens for pdf format and other paper sizes).
Direct exportation to eps from xfig was working in the previous version.
Now I have to Export in Postscript (where Paper Size ISO A4 appears as selected) and in the shell
use ps2eps to obtain the eps format.
Any ideas about what I am doing wrong?
Thanks

ehartman · 07-02-2019, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llsalcedo

Hi! I have just installed openSUSE 15.1.
Within xfig (version 3.2.7a), when I try to Export a figure in eps format

Officially an eps (Enbeddded PostScript) file shouldn't have any page size at all, as it's meant to be enbedded within another ps document (and that document will set the page size for the whole output itself).

llsalcedo · 07-02-2019, 05:11 AM

Thank you for your reply. I don't really care about paper sizes, the trouble is that xfig complains about it and creates an empty .eps file.
You are right, it is not clear why xfig bothers at all about any paper sizes specification when exporting to eps in the first place.

DavidMcCann · 07-02-2019, 10:12 AM

According to the manual, you can set the paper size by using a parameter when launching it:
xfig -pap A4

cameronabrams · 07-29-2019, 01:18 PM

I have this same problem -- must be a package issue with OpenSUSE. This version of fig2dev on other distros I use works fine.

To get this working on OpenSUSE 15.1, I built a working fig2dev from source, following instructions in Sourceforge, nothing fancy. Be sure you have the xorg-x11-devel package set installed before you build!

llsalcedo · 07-30-2019, 04:28 AM

That should solve the problem. Up to now I was using a workaround, namely, exporting to postscript followed by ps2eps. Thanks.