Re: [Maxima-discuss] cairolatex terminals for draw package

[Leo B. <Leo...@um...>]

On Thu, Nov 27 2025, Robert Dodier <rob...@gm...> wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 27, 2025 at 10:37 AM Leo Butler <Leo...@um...> wrote:
>
>> my git repo and then failed to push it. I started using the tikz
>> terminal after many years of using cairlatex pdf and I just forgot about
>> the stashed patch. Thanks for resurrecting it.
>
> What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of cairolatex vis a vis
> tikz? I don't really know much about it, I'm just curious.

Cairolatex is fast, especially when plotting with a non-trivial amount
of data. But, it generates two files, which can be a pain if these are
being put in an images directory or something like (one needs to make
sure the graphics search path is set correctly). In addition, since the
file ending of the graphics file is not included, changing the exported
file type (e.g. png to pdf) will cause hiccups.

Tikz generates a single, self-contained latex (.tikz) file. I find the
graphics it creates are crisper. On the other hand, because a lot of the
work is done by tex, the compiler matters--it is slow with pdflatex and
very slow with lualatex.

Those are my ¢2.

Leo