1 2 Overview of Ghostscript 3 4 This document is a roadmap to the Ghostscript documentation. After 5 looking through it, if you want to install Ghostscript and not only 6 use it, we recommend you read how to install Ghostscript, and how to 7 compile Ghostscript from source code (which is necessary before 8 installing it on Unix and VMS systems). 9 _________________________________________________________________ 10 11Table of contents 12 13 * Document roadmap by theme 14 + What should I read if I'm a new user? 15 + AFPL Ghostscript and GPL Ghostscript 16 + Before building Ghostscript 17 + What should I read if I'm not a new user? 18 + What if I'm a developer? 19 + What if I'm writing documentation? 20 * Presence on the World Wide Web 21 + Ghostscript's home pages 22 + Adobe PostScript, Encapsulated PostScript, and PDF reference 23 documentation 24 + Other material on the WWW 25 * Which document contains what? 26 + Primarily for users: 27 28 Bug-form.htm 29 Bug-info.htm 30 Deprecated.htm 31 Devices.htm 32 Helpers.htm 33 Humor.htm 34 Ps2epsi.htm 35 Ps2pdf.htm 36 Ps2ps2.htm 37 Readme.htm 38 Unix-lpr.htm 39 Use.htm 40 41 + For both users and developers: 42 43 Changes.htm 44 Commprod.htm 45 Copying.htm 46 Fonts.htm 47 Hershey.htm 48 History*.htm 49 Install.htm 50 Language.htm 51 Make.htm 52 News.htm 53 Psfiles.htm 54 Public.htm 55 56 + Primarily for developers: 57 58 API.htm 59 C-style.htm 60 DLL.htm 61 Develop.htm 62 Drivers.htm 63 Htmstyle.htm 64 Issues.htm 65 Lib.htm 66 Maintain.htm 67 Projects.htm 68 Ps-style.htm 69 Release.htm 70 Source.htm 71 Testing.htm 72 Xfonts.htm 73 _________________________________________________________________ 74 75Document roadmap by theme 76 77 What should I read if I'm a new user? 78 79 * how to use Ghostscript. This includes both a quickstart 80 introduction to the commandline version and more extensive 81 reference material. 82 * detailed information about specific devices that Ghostscript can 83 use for output 84 * information about reporting problems--but remember that 85 Ghostscript comes with NO WARRANTY and NO SUPPORT 86 * more detailed information about how to use Ghostscript under Unix 87 with lpr as a filter for printing 88 89 AFPL Ghostscript and GPL Ghostscript 90 91 AFPL Ghostscript and GPL Ghostscript are different releases. If you 92 have AFPL Ghostscript, not the GPL Ghostscript releases, you should 93 read (or at least skim through): 94 * additional information about AFPL Ghostscript releases that is not 95 relevant to GPL Ghostscript releases. 96 97 If you run into any questions, or if you are going to be using 98 Ghostscript extensively, you should at least skim, and probably 99 eventually read: 100 * about the fonts distributed with Ghostscript, including how to add 101 or replace fonts 102 * a description of the Ghostscript language, and its differences 103 from the documented PostScript language 104 * about the postscript files distributed with Ghostscript (other 105 than fonts) 106 107 Before building Ghostscript 108 109 If you are going to compile Ghostscript from source, rather than just 110 use an executable you got from somewhere, you may want to read: 111 * how to build Ghostscript and install it 112 _________________________________________________________________ 113 114What should I read if I'm not a new user? 115 116 If you have already used Ghostscript, when you receive a new release 117 you should begin by reading this file, then 118 * News.htm, for incompatible changes and new features in the current 119 release; 120 * if you wish, Changes.htm, for a detailed list of changes in the 121 current release; 122 * if you wish, History#.htm (currently History8.htm), for changes in 123 other releases. 124 _________________________________________________________________ 125 126What if I'm a developer? 127 128 If you are going to do any development on or with Ghostscript at all, 129 you should at least look at 130 * the roadmap documentation for Ghostscript's source files and 131 architecture 132 133 If you are going to write a new driver for Ghostscript, you should 134 read 135 * the guide to the Ghostscript source code 136 * the interface between Ghostscript and device drivers 137 * about the external font interface between Ghostscript and 138 platform-supplied fonts 139 140 If you are considering distributing Ghostscript (either AFPL or GPL 141 versions) in conjunction with a commercial product, you should read 142 the license carefully, and you should also read 143 * additional clarification of the circumstances under which 144 Ghostscript can be distributed with a commercial product 145 146 If you intend to use Ghostscript in the form of a dynamic link library 147 (DLL) under OS/2 or Microsoft Windows or in the form of shared object 148 under Linux, read 149 * documentation on Ghostscript Interpreter API 150 151 If you want to use Ghostscript as part of another program--as a 152 callable PostScript language interpreter--and not as a DLL or as a 153 self-contained executable application, you should begin by reading 154 * the source file imain.h, the documented API for Ghostscript not as 155 a DLL 156 157 or if you are going to use only the Ghostscript graphics library, 158 * about the structure of the Ghostscript library and its interfaces 159 _________________________________________________________________ 160 161What if I'm writing documentation? 162 163 If you are editing or adding to Ghostscript's existing documentation 164 in HTML format, or writing a new document, you should read 165 * the coding and style guidelines for Ghostscript's HTML-based 166 documentation. 167 _________________________________________________________________ 168 169Presence on the World Wide Web 170 171 Ghostscript's home page 172 173 Ghostscript has a home page on the World Wide Web with helpful 174 information such as the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) and a list of 175 known problems and workarounds for the current AFPL Ghostscript 176 release (in the "Obtaining" file for that release): 177 178 http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ 179 180 More material about Ghostscript can be found at 181 182 http://www.ghostscript.com/ 183 184 Adobe PostScript, Encapsulated PostScript, and PDF reference documentation 185 186 Adobe makes a wealth of technical documentation available over the 187 Web, including the PostScript Language Reference Manual (Third 188 Edition); the Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) Format Specification 189 version 3, including Encapsulated PostScript Interchange (EPSI) 190 format; the PDF Reference manuals. The Acrobat SDK contains pdfmark 191 and Acrobat Distiller parameters documentation. Some of these 192 documents are also available at Adobe's ftp site, but not necessarily 193 under the same filenames. 194 195 Other material on the WWW 196 197 Much other material about Ghostscript is available on the World Wide 198 Web, both as web pages and as archived Usenet and mailing list 199 discussions. Use the well-known search engines to find such material. 200 201 There is a translation of the Ghostscript 'man' pages into Czech at: 202 203 http://www.volny.cz/rebus/ghostscript/ 204 _________________________________________________________________ 205 206Which document contains what? 207 208 Here is the list in alphabetic order of Ghostscript documentation, 209 with explanations of the contents. 210 211 API.htm 212 On MS-Windows and OS/2, Ghostscript is compiled as a dynamic 213 link library (DLL). On Linux, Ghostscript can be compiled as a 214 shared object. This describes how to use it. For developers. 215 216 Bug-form.htm 217 A form to fill out and email to report a problem with AFPL 218 Ghostscript--but remember that Ghostscript comes with NO 219 WARRANTY and NO SUPPORT. Please read the instructions before 220 reporting a bug. 221 222 Bug-info.htm 223 Information about how to report problems with AFPL 224 Ghostscript--but remember that Ghostscript comes with NO 225 WARRANTY and NO SUPPORT. Please read this before reporting a 226 problem. 227 228 C-style.htm 229 Guidelines and style for C coding, which you should follow if, 230 for example, you write a new driver or add or change something 231 in Ghostscript. For developers. 232 233 Changes.htm 234 A detailed list of all code changes in the current release or 235 pre-release, generated mechanically from the CVS logs. For 236 developers. 237 238 Commprod.htm 239 The conditions under which Ghostscript may be distributed in a 240 commercial context. See also the Aladdin Free Public License. 241 242 Copying.htm 243 A reminder that AFPL Ghostscript is governed NOT by the Free 244 Software Foundation's GNU General Public License but by the 245 Aladdin Free Public License. 246 247 DLL.htm 248 On OS/2, MS Windows-16 and MS Windows-32 platforms, Ghostscript 249 is compiled as a dynamic link library (DLL). This describes how 250 to use it. For developers. This DLL interface is obsolete. Use 251 API.htm instead. 252 253 Develop.htm 254 Code orientation for developers. Contains a detailed breakdown 255 of the source files by functional group, and overviews of the 256 major architectural features and services. 257 258 Deprecated.htm 259 Documention for deprecated devices and features. Features 260 described here will be removed in future versions of 261 Ghostscript. 262 263 Devices.htm 264 Detailed information about some specific devices for which 265 Ghostscript can produce output. Run "gs -h" to see which 266 devices a particular version of Ghostscript is built to use. 267 268 Drivers.htm 269 Describes the interface between Ghostscript and device drivers. 270 If you do this, you should also read and use the C style and 271 coding guidelines. Necessary to develop a new driver. For 272 developers. 273 274 Fonts.htm 275 All about fonts freely available for Ghostscript, and how to 276 add and use new fonts. Also describes how to use Ghostscript 277 fonts as X Windows fonts. For both users and developers. 278 279 Helpers.htm 280 A note of thanks to people who have helped in the development 281 of Ghostscript. 282 283 Hershey.htm 284 Part 1 of the five-part original Usenet distribution of the 285 free Hershey fonts, giving the terms of use and describing 286 their encoding. 287 288 History*.htm 289 The history of changes in all Ghostscript releases: 290 291 History8.htm for Ghostscript versions 8.n 292 History7.htm for Ghostscript versions 7.n 293 History6.htm for Ghostscript versions 6.n 294 History5.htm for Ghostscript versions 5.n 295 History4.htm for Ghostscript versions 4.n 296 History3.htm for Ghostscript versions 3.n 297 History2.htm for Ghostscript versions 2.n 298 History1.htm for Ghostscript versions 1.n 299 300 Htmstyle.htm 301 The guidelines and style for HTML coding of Ghostscript's 302 documentation, which you should follow if, for example, you 303 change existing HTML documentation or write new documents. For 304 writers and editors. 305 306 Humor.htm 307 Another Ghostscript interpreter. 308 309 Install.htm 310 How to install Ghostscript. See also how to build it. 311 312 Issues.htm 313 A list of outstanding open issues in Ghostscript. These include 314 known limitations, minor bugs, performance issues, differences 315 from Adobe implementations, and others. 316 317 Language.htm 318 The relationship between the Ghostscript interpreter and the 319 PostScript language as defined by Adobe. 320 321 Lib.htm 322 A description of the Ghostscript library, a set of procedures 323 to implement the graphics and filtering capabilities that are 324 primitive operations in the PostScript language and in Adobe 325 Portable Document Format (PDF). For developers. 326 327 Maintain.htm 328 Assorted Ghostscript maintenance procedures. For developers. 329 330 Make.htm 331 How to build Ghostscript executables from the source code. See 332 also how to install it. It's not necessary to be a highly 333 experienced developer to build or install Ghostscript, but some 334 experience is needed. 335 336 News.htm 337 A brief description of the latest release or pre-release of 338 Ghostscript, and a list of any incompatible changes in it. 339 Changes in older releases are described in the history files 340 "History*.htm", which are usually installed in the 341 documentation directory. Run "gs -h" to see where that is. 342 343 Projects.htm 344 A list of Ghostscript development projects with which we would 345 like help. 346 347 Ps-style.htm 348 The guidelines and style for postscript coding in Ghostscript. 349 Some of Ghostscript is implemented in the postscript language 350 itself, and various utilities and examples are distributed with 351 it. You should follow these guidelines if you're extending or 352 modifying those files. For developers. 353 354 Ps2epsi.htm 355 Detailed information on how to use Ghostscript through ps2epsi 356 to convert PostScript to Adobe Encapsulated PostScript 357 Interchange (EPSI) format. 358 359 Ps2pdf.htm 360 Detailed information on how to use Ghostscript through ps2pdf 361 to convert PostScript to Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). 362 363 Ps2ps2.htm 364 Detailed information on how to use Ghostscript through ps2ps2 365 to convert Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) or Adobe 366 Postscript Level 3 into Adobe Postscript Level 2. 367 368 Psfiles.htm 369 A description of the PostScript files (other than font files) 370 distributed with Ghostscript, including initialization 371 routines, utility programs, and sample printable files. 372 373 Public.htm 374 The Aladdin Free Public License, which states the conditions 375 for using and redistributing AFPL Ghostscript. 376 377 Readme.htm 378 This document. 379 380 Release.htm 381 A description of how to prepare and test a Ghostscript release. 382 Of interest only to developers who want to create new 383 Ghostscript versions for distribution. 384 385 Source.htm 386 A guide to the Ghostscript source code, for development and 387 debugging. 388 389 Testing.htm 390 Documentation for using the test scripts located in the 391 toolbin/tests directory, and conventions for writing new 392 testing scripts. 393 394 Unix-lpr.htm 395 How to set up Ghostscript as a Unix lpr filter. 396 397 Use.htm 398 Detailed instructions on how to use Ghostscript, including such 399 matters as designating an output device; choosing a default 400 paper size; how Ghostscript finds files, including font files; 401 how it uses environment variables; notes on specific platforms, 402 including the X Window System; and command-line options. 403 404 Xfonts.htm 405 Ghostscript's external font interface to a host platform's 406 font-rendering mechanism, for developers. 407 _________________________________________________________________ 408 409 Copyright � 1996-2002 artofcode LLC. All rights reserved. 410 411 This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or 412 implied. This software is distributed under license and may not be 413 copied, modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under 414 the terms of the license contained in the file LICENSE in this 415 distribution. For more information about licensing, please refer to 416 http://www.ghostscript.com/licensing/. For information on commercial 417 licensing, go to http://www.artifex.com/licensing/ or contact Artifex 418 Software, Inc., 101 Lucas Valley Road #110, San Rafael, CA 94903, 419 U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861. 420 421 Ghostscript version 8.53, 20 October 2005 422