On Sun, 15 Jan 2017, David Carlisle wrote: > Specify the directory dirname to which output files are > written. Also look for > input files in dirname first, before looking along the normal > search path. See > Section 3.4 [Output file location], page 9.
The general principle here is that TeX expects to modify files in place. Stuff like the multi-stage compilation of LaTeX implicitly assumes that it works this way, but it is TeX, not LaTeX, that originally instituted the concept. It's not in keeping with the Unix philosophy of programs working as pipes, and it causes trouble for people with other expectations. For instance, I nearly always run TeX engines through Makefiles, and the rewriting of files that are used as both input and output screws up how Make works and requires complicated side handling. But the "modify in place" philosophy is built into TeX at a very deep level; it's not going to change soon; and it's probably pointless to expect that it could be turned off in a real way by a simple command line option. -- Matthew Skala msk...@ansuz.sooke.bc.ca People before principles. http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/
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