pdftex.def, luatex.def: supported Adobe Illustrator format (.ai)

[munepi]

This PR adds support for Adobe illustrator (.ai) format inclusion to pdfTeX/LuaTeX driver.

See
[tex-live] Requests supporting Adobe Illustorator extension (.ai) for pdfTeX and dvipdfmx
Munehiro Yamamoto munepixyz at gmail.com
Fri Sep 20 02:04:46 CEST 2013
https://tug.org/pipermail/tex-live/2013-September/034255.html

[davidcarlisle]

Hmm if it were not for compatibility issues I think my preference would be for xetex.def not to accept .ai files either.

See for example

https://community.adobe.com/t5/illustrator-discussions/pdf-vs-ai/m-p/9710802#M87037

which ends with

PERSONAL RECOMMENDATION – Based on the above, I most strongly recommend that users treat AI and PDF as totally separate file formats. Don't try to save a few bytes by trying to make one file do for two. Save your Illustrator content as a .AI file without the PDF content and then, when you need a real PDF file, “save a copy” as a PDF file, specifying all the appropriate options you really need for your final purpose. And don't use Illustrator as a PDF file editor!

Dov

Dov Isaacs, former Adobe Principal Scientist (April 30, 1990 - May 30, 2021)

That said, it seems that the ai files are in fact PDF and the main danger is reading a general PDF file into AI rather than the other way round so perhaps we could add this, certainly it's no worse than the existing xetex/dvipdfm entry

I