Hi all,

Regarding the backward (and maybe upward) compatibility I would suggest 
this:

1. Let the user choose whether or not to use the PS stuff. This could be 
done by \input musixps at the beginning of the score.

2. The PS slurs can be easily done in such a way that they completely 
replace the bitmapped ones. It should not be hard to set the parameters 
in such a way that the slurs would look almost identical.

3. Features unavailable in PS: \midslur, \curve and \invertslur (yet):
I don't know exactly how these work, but I suppose the \midslur can be 
implemented easily. The \curve makes different shape of the starting and 
ending segment of the slur - this is not yet supported by musixps, but 
can be added.

4. Features unavailable (and unachievable) using bitmapped fonts: 
arbitrary height, length and slope of the slur, sloped crescendos and 
decrescendos, figure in the middle of the slur etc. The potential of 
PostScript in this area is great - some features can be simulated in 
plain TeX, some not. But it should be possible to add a few commands to 
MusiXTeX to compile scores using PS stuff in such a way that they look 
if not pleasant, then at least readable.

5. Driver compatibility: The PS slurs use \special commands which 
directly invoke PostScript code. They are designed for DVIPS and I do 
not expect them to work with a different dvi-to-ps driver. Therefore: 
they will not appear in any other DVI driver as they are drawn in the 
PostScript RIP engine. It's not a bug, it's a feature :-)
Updating xdvi is of course generally possible, but either it would mean 
to implement the PS inerpreter into it, or freeze the slurs to current 
syntax of \special commands and prevent any future development of 
psslurs.pro.

Ufff.

Best regards,

Stanislav Kneifl.

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