annoying ghostscript bug

[Peter Jay Salzman]

hi all,

i've been living with either a ghostscript or gv bug for years, and
recently just got the gumption to ask about it.

i use vim, pdflatex and gv an awful lot.

i've mapped F1 to "make" in vim, so all i need to do to run pdflatex is
hit "F1" and my makefile will run.

gv is set to "watch" the pdf file, so when make produces a new version
of the pdf file, gv loads it in.


often, when gv reloads the pdf file, i get the following ghostscript
error:




Execution stack:
   %interp_exit   .runexec2   --nostringval--   --nostringval--
   %--nostringval--   2   %stopped_push   --nostringval--
   %--nostringval--   --nostringval--   false   1   %stopped_push   1
   %3   %oparray_pop   1   3   %oparray_pop   .runexec2
   %--nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   2
   %%stopped_push   --nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--
   %--nostringval--   --nostringval--   %loop_continue   --nostringval--
   %--nostringval--   %loop_continue   --nostringval--   --nostringval--
   %--nostringval--   --nostringval--   --nostringval--
   %--nostringval--
Dictionary stack:
   --dict:1009/1123(ro)(G)--   --dict:0/20(G)--   --dict:72/200(L)--
--dict:97/127(ro)(G)--   --dict:220/230(ro)(G)--   --dict:19/24(L)--
--dict:4/6(L)--   --dict:19/20(L)--
Current allocation mode is local
AFPL Ghostscript 7.04: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1




now here's the part i don't understand.  when i click "dismiss" to
eliminate the ghostscript error pop-up window, and hit "redisplay" on
gv's main window, the newly made pdf file displays just fine.  it's very
frustrating.  all i need to do is hit "redisplay" and it's as if there
were no error to begin with.

this puts a serious crimp in my edit cycle.  everytime i use make, i sit
there with the cursor at the height at which i know the error window's
dismiss button will pop up.

if gv were incapble of displaying the pdf, that would be one thing.  but
having it display OK after hitting "redisplay" is just really annoying.


this problem is reproduceable.  it happens nealry each and ever time i
run pdflatex and have gv watch the resulting pdf file.

i would say that the probability of the error popup is proportional to
the amount that the pdf file has changed.  if i've edited the file
extensively, it's sure to happen.  if the edit was very samll, the
ghostscript error often doesn't appear.


can some kind soul come to my rescue and help me figure out how to keep
this from happening?

thanks!
pete

ps- i realized that it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with gv's
watching.  if there's no watching, the sequence goes:

1. run pdflatex to produce a new pdf file.
2. hit redisplay
3. the ghostscript error pop-up window comes up
4. hit redisplay a second time
5. gv displays the pdf file perfectly.

-- 
Make everything as simple as possible, but no simpler.  -- Albert Einstein
GPG Instructions: http://www.dirac.org/linux/gpg
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