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There are several ways to get from a TeX source file to a PDF file using LaTeX:

  • LaTeX to dvi to pdf (via dvipdf or dvipdfm or dvipdfmx).

  • LaTeX to dvi to ps to pdf (via DviPs followed by ps2pdf).

  • pdfLaTeX.

Is there an advantage to using any of the first two over the third?

ltcomdata
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    does the fact MikTeX use XeLaTeX to crete all of these make any difference?

    MikTeX ships XeLaTeX, but pdfLaTeX is just pdftex with the pdflatex format, versus XeLaTeX, which is xetex with the xelatex format. I've never heard of a way to use XeLaTeX with pdfLaTeX.

     – PTNobel Nov 19 '15 at 03:13
  • Right now the first part is only going to get opinions ('better' in what way?), while the latter is based on a false premise (MiKTeX does not do that - I've never used it, but I'm sure it doesn't do that). Also, http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/21863/tex-distribution-and-engine but there is probably a better duplicate somewhere. – cfr Nov 19 '15 at 03:18
  • Historically, dvi->ps->pdf was the first available (back when PDF stood for Proprietary Document Format). – John Kormylo Nov 19 '15 at 15:17
  • As far as I know, dvipdf should be regarded as obsolete and dvipdfm is not existing any more, being superseded by dvipdfmx. – egreg Nov 23 '15 at 18:33
  • @cfr, PTNobel: I have modified my question to make it more precise. MikTeX uses the XeTeX engine, not XeLaTeX. And I have tried to make the question less opinion oriented. – ltcomdata Nov 23 '15 at 19:57
  • No, miktex does not use the XeTeX engine. It provides all major engines: pdftex, luatex and xetex. – MaxNoe Nov 23 '15 at 21:37
  • And in our times, if the result should be a pdf-file, use an engine that produces it directly. – MaxNoe Nov 23 '15 at 21:38
  • @ltcomdata MiKTeX does not use the XeTeX engine. It provides this engine, among others. XeLaTeX is XeTeX with LaTeX format - it doesn't use a different engine. But you also have pdfTeX, LuaTeX, TeX, ConTeXt.... You may wish to use XeTeX, but that's a different issue. I don't see how this question can possibly be answered except by pointing out that it is based on false assumptions. – cfr Nov 24 '15 at 00:38
  • @cfr, MaxNoe, PTNobel: well, I was under the miss-conception that everything in MiKTeX was somehow handled by the XeLaTeX in some kind of compatibility mode. I apologize for being wrong about that. I have deleted the part of the question having to do with XeTeX. The first part of the question is still valid, though. – ltcomdata Nov 25 '15 at 02:00

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