Re: padding problem

[Aaron Hill]

On 2019-07-31 10:24 pm, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> Folks,
>
>
> please have a look at the attached (non-MWE) example.  If the
> `padding' value in `system-system-spacing' is -2, both systems are
> displayed on one page – and there is plenty of vertical space still
> available at the bottom.
>
> If I change `padding' to -1, I suddenly get two pages.  Why?  What
> parameters am I missing to get the two systems on one page without
> overlapping?  In case there is no bug in lilypond this should be
> easily possible, right?

I would suspect it is simply LilyPond's early estimation for page 
breaking that is determining there would be insufficient room.  In my 
experience, LilyPond seems to be a little generous when estimating the 
potential size of objects.  This often results in music overflowing to 
additional pages when not strictly needed.  Adjusting variables like 
system-count and systems-per-page are usually helpful.

You could experiment with setting page-breaking-system-system-spacing, 
which can let you specify custom spacing variables that apply just for 
the determination of page breaking.  For instance, you will likely not 
want a negative padding for the real system-system-spacing so that you 
do not get any overlapping ink; but the negative padding could be needed 
with page-breaking-system-system-spacing.

-- Aaron Hill