source: pst/ps/a2ps.xml@ bccbd219

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
   "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd" [
  <!ENTITY % general-entities SYSTEM "../../general.ent">
  %general-entities;

  <!ENTITY a2ps-download-http "http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/a2ps/a2ps-&a2ps-version;.tar.gz">
  <!ENTITY a2ps-download-ftp  "ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/a2ps/a2ps-&a2ps-version;.tar.gz">
  <!ENTITY a2ps-md5sum        "0c8e0c31b08c14f7a7198ce967eb3281">
  <!ENTITY a2ps-size          "1.9 MB">
  <!ENTITY a2ps-buildsize     "20.7 MB">
  <!ENTITY a2ps-time          "0.26 SBU">

  <!ENTITY i18n-fonts-version "0.1">
]>

<sect1 id="a2ps" xreflabel="a2ps-&a2ps-version;">
  <?dbhtml filename="a2ps.html"?>

  <sect1info>
    <othername>$LastChangedBy$</othername>
    <date>$Date$</date>
  </sect1info>

  <title>a2ps-&a2ps-version;</title>

  <indexterm zone="a2ps">
    <primary sortas="a-a2ps">a2ps</primary>
  </indexterm>

  <sect2 role="package">
    <title>Introduction to a2ps</title>

    <para><application>a2ps</application> is a filter utilized mainly
    in the background and primarily by printing scripts to convert almost
    every input format into PostScript output. The application's name
    expands appropriately to "all to PostScript".</para>
    
    <caution>
      <para><application>a2ps</application> cannot convert UTF-8 encoded
      text to PostScript. The issue is discussed in detail in the
      <xref linkend="locale-not-valid-option"/> section of the
      <xref linkend="locale-issues"/> page.
      The solution is to use <xref linkend="paps"/>, instead of
      <application>a2ps</application>, for converting
      UTF-8 encoded text to PostScript.</para>
    </caution>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Package Information</bridgehead>
    <itemizedlist spacing="compact">
      <listitem>
        <para>Download (HTTP): <ulink url="&a2ps-download-http;"/></para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download (FTP): <ulink url="&a2ps-download-ftp;"/></para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download MD5 sum: &a2ps-md5sum;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Download size: &a2ps-size;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Estimated disk space required: &a2ps-buildsize;</para>
      </listitem>
      <listitem>
        <para>Estimated build time: &a2ps-time;</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Additional Downloads</bridgehead>
    <itemizedlist spacing='compact'>
      <listitem>
        <para>International fonts: <ulink
        url="ftp://ftp.enst.fr/pub/unix/a2ps/i18n-fonts-&i18n-fonts-version;.tar.gz"/></para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect3">a2ps Dependencies</bridgehead>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Recommended</bridgehead>
    <para role="recommended"><xref linkend="cups"/> or <xref linkend="LPRng"/>
    (otherwise, <application>a2ps</application> will use the
    <command>cat &gt;/dev/lp0</command> command instead of <command>lpr</command>
    for sending its output to the printer)</para>

    <bridgehead renderas="sect4">Optional</bridgehead>
    <para role="optional"><xref linkend="x-window-system"/>,
    <xref linkend="psutils"/>,
    <xref linkend="tetex"/>,
    <xref linkend="gs"/> or <xref linkend="espgs"/>,
    <ulink
    url="http://packages.debian.org/unstable/source/libpaper">libpaper</ulink>,
    <ulink url="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html">Adobe
    Reader</ulink>, and
    <ulink
    url="http://www.gnu.org/software/ghostview/ghostview.html">Ghostview</ulink></para>

    <para condition="html" role="usernotes">User Notes:
    <ulink url="&blfs-wiki;/A2PS"/></para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="installation">
    <title>Installation of a2ps</title>

    <para>Install <application>a2ps</application> by running the following
    commands:</para>

<screen><userinput>sed -i "s|emacs||" contrib/Makefile.in &amp;&amp;
sed -i 's/+0 -1/-k 1,2/' afm/make_fonts_map.sh &amp;&amp;
sed -i "s|/usr/local/share|/usr/share|" configure &amp;&amp;
sed -i "s|char \*malloc ();|/* &amp; */|" \
    lib/path-concat.c &amp;&amp;
./configure --prefix=/usr \
    --sysconfdir=/etc/a2ps --localstatedir=/var \
    --enable-shared --with-medium=letter &amp;&amp;
make</userinput></screen>

    <para>To test the results, issue: <command>make check</command>.
    The <filename>printers.tst</filename> test will fail, as there is no default
    test printer.</para>

    <para>Now, as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>make install</userinput></screen>

    <para>Install the downloaded i18n-fonts by running the following
    commands as the <systemitem class="username">root</systemitem> user:</para>

<screen role="root"><userinput>tar -xf ../i18n-fonts-&i18n-fonts-version;.tar.gz &amp;&amp;
cp -v i18n-fonts-&i18n-fonts-version;/fonts/* /usr/share/a2ps/fonts &amp;&amp;
cp -v i18n-fonts-&i18n-fonts-version;/afm/* /usr/share/a2ps/afm &amp;&amp;
cd /usr/share/a2ps/afm &amp;&amp;
./make_fonts_map.sh &amp;&amp;
mv fonts.map.new fonts.map</userinput></screen>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="commands">
    <title>Command Explanations</title>

    <para><command>sed -i -e "s|emacs||" contrib/Makefile.in</command>:
    This command eliminates the compiling and installing of the
    <application>Emacs</application> script files. If you have substituted
    <application>Emacs</application> for <application>Vi</application> as your
    primary editor, skip this step.</para>

    <para><command>sed -i 's/+0 -1/-k 1,2/' afm/make_fonts_map.sh</command>:
    The make_fonts_map.sh script to uses an option that is invalid with the
    version of sort installed as part of <application>Coreutils-5.93</application>.
    If you are using an older version of <application>Coreutils</application>,
    skip this step.</para>

    <para><command>sed -i -e "s|/usr/local/share|/usr/share|" configure</command>:
    This command modifies the configure script to search for
    <application>Ghostscript</application> fonts at the location where they were
    installed by the BLFS instructions.</para>

    <para><command>sed -i -e "s|char \*malloc ();|/* &amp; */|"
    lib/path-concat.c</command>: This command fixes a build problem with
    <application>GCC</application>-3.4.x</para>

    <para><parameter>--sysconfdir=/etc/a2ps</parameter>: Configuration data
    is installed in <filename class="directory">/etc/a2ps</filename> instead of
    <filename class="directory">/usr/etc</filename>.</para>

    <para><parameter>--enable-shared</parameter>: This switch enables building
    the dynamic <filename class='libraryfile'>liba2ps</filename> library.</para>

    <para><parameter>--with-medium=letter</parameter>: This switch changes
    the default paper format of A4 to letter. Installations that utilize A4
    would eliminate this switch.</para>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="configuration">
    <title>Configuring a2ps</title>

    <sect3 id="a2ps-config">
      <title>Config Files</title>

      <para><filename>/etc/a2ps/a2ps.cfg</filename>,
      <filename>/etc/a2ps/a2ps-site.cfg</filename></para>

      <indexterm zone="a2ps a2ps-config">
        <primary sortas="e-etc-a2ps-a2ps.cfg">/etc/a2ps/a2ps.cfg</primary>
      </indexterm>

      <indexterm zone="a2ps a2ps-config">
        <primary sortas="e-etc-a2ps-a2ps-site.cfg">/etc/a2ps/a2ps-site.cfg</primary>
      </indexterm>

    </sect3>

    <sect3>
      <title>Configuration Information</title>

      <para>Information about configuring <application>a2ps</application>
      can be found in the comments contained in the above files, and also
      by running <command>info a2ps</command>.</para>

    </sect3>

  </sect2>

  <sect2 role="content">
    <title>Contents</title>

    <segmentedlist>
      <segtitle>Installed Programs</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Libraries</segtitle>
      <segtitle>Installed Directories</segtitle>

      <seglistitem>
        <seg>a2ps, card, composeglyphs, fixnt, fixps, ogonkify,
        pdiff, psmandup, psset, and texi2dvi4a2ps</seg>
        <seg>liba2ps.{so,a} and filter data</seg>
        <seg>/etc/a2ps and /usr/share/a2ps</seg>
      </seglistitem>
    </segmentedlist>

    <variablelist>
      <bridgehead renderas="sect3">Short Descriptions</bridgehead>
      <?dbfo list-presentation="list"?>
      <?dbhtml list-presentation="table"?>

      <varlistentry id="a2ps-prog">
        <term><command>a2ps</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is a filter, utilized primarily by printing scripts,
          that converts standard input or supported files to PostScript.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps a2ps-prog">
            <primary sortas="b-a2ps">a2ps</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="card">
        <term><command>card</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>prints a reference card of a given program's options.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps card">
            <primary sortas="b-card">card</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="composeglyphs">
        <term><command>composeglyphs</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>creates a composite font program.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps composeglyphs">
            <primary sortas="b-composeglyphs">composeglyphs</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="fixnt">
        <term><command>fixnt</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>is supposed to fix the problems in the PostScript files
          generated by the Microsoft PostScript driver under Windows NT
          (3.5 and 4.0).</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps fixnt">
            <primary sortas="b-fixnt">fixnt</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="fixps">
        <term><command>fixps</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>tries to fix common PostScript problems that break
          postprocessing.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps fixps">
            <primary sortas="b-fixps">fixps</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="ogonkify">
        <term><command>ogonkify</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>provides international support for Postscript by performing
          various munging of PostScript files related to printing in different
          languages.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps ogonkify">
            <primary sortas="b-ogonkify">ogonkify</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="pdiff">
        <term><command>pdiff</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>produces a pretty comparison between files.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps pdiff">
            <primary sortas="b-pdiff">pdiff</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="psmandup">
        <term><command>psmandup</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>tries to produce a version of a given PostScript file to
          print in manual duplex.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps psmandup">
            <primary sortas="b-psmandup">psmandup</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="psset">
        <term><command>psset</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>produces a version of a given PostScript file with a
          protected call to the PostScript operator 'setpagedevice'.
          Typical use is making a file print duplex, or on the manual
          tray, etc.</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps psset">
            <primary sortas="b-psset">psset</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

      <varlistentry id="texi2dvi4a2ps">
        <term><command>texi2dvi4a2ps</command></term>
        <listitem>
          <para>compiles Texinfo and LaTeX files to DVI or PDF</para>
          <indexterm zone="a2ps texi2dvi4a2ps">
            <primary sortas="b-texi2dvi4a2ps">texi2dvi4a2ps</primary>
          </indexterm>
        </listitem>
      </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>

  </sect2>

</sect1>