[Tex/LaTex] Creating a PDF of version 1.5 and using the etexcmds-package

pdftex

When I compile this MWE:

\documentclass{report}
\pdfminorversion=5
\usepackage{etexcmds}
\begin{document}
Hi!
\end{document}

with pdflatex from TeXlive 2011, then I get in the log-file:

(.../etexcmds.sty
Package: etexcmds 2011/02/16 v1.5 Prefix for e-TeX command names (HO)

(.../infwarerr.sty
Package: infwarerr 2010/04/08 v1.3 Providing info/warning/message (HO)
)
(.../ifluatex.sty
Package: ifluatex 2010/03/01 v1.3 Provides the ifluatex switch (HO)
Package ifluatex Info: LuaTeX not detected.
)
Package etexcmds Info: Could not find \expanded.
(etexcmds)             That can mean that you are not using pdfTeX 1.50 or
(etexcmds)             that some package has redefined \expanded.
(etexcmds)             In the latter case, load this package earlier.
)

but Adobe Reader states at document properties: "PDF-Version: 1.5 (Acrobat 6.x)".
Is that some bug in [etexcmds][1], or did I make some mistake?

Best Answer

That info message is perfectly normal.

The current version of pdftex is 1.40 (it's independent of the PDF version); as far as I know an \expanded primitive was planned for pdftex version 1.50, but I don't know if it will ever see the light.

The package etexcmds checks for the existence of \expanded and doesn't find it as a primitive, so it tells you.

As of version 1.40, pdftex can output PDF 1.5 and setting \pdfminorversion=5 does just that. However, this is the default as of TeX Live 2011 and, I believe, also MiKTeX 2.9.

Related Question