1GROPDF(1) General Commands Manual GROPDF(1)
2
6 gropdf - PDF driver for groff
7
9 gropdf [-dels] [-F dir] [-I dir] [-p paper-size] [-u [cmapfile]]
10 [-y foundry] [file ...]
11 gropdf -v
13 gropdf --version
14
16 gropdf translates the output of GNU troff to PDF. Normally gropdf
17 should be invoked by using the groff command with a -Tpdf option. If
18 no files are given, gropdf reads the standard input. A filename of -
19 also causes gropdf to read the standard input. PDF output is written
20 to the standard output. When gropdf is run by groff options can be
21 passed to gropdf using groff's -P option.
22 See section “Font Installation” below for a guide how to install fonts
24 for gropdf.
25
27 Whitespace is permitted between a command-line option and its argument.
28 -d Include debug information as comments within the PDF. Also pro‐
30 duces an uncompressed PDF.
31 -e Forces gropdf to embed all fonts (even the 14 base PDF fonts).
33 -F dir Prepend directory dir/devname to the search path for font, and
35 device description files; name is the name of the device, usu‐
36 ally pdf.
37 -I dir This option may be used to add a directory to the search path
39 for files named in \X'pdf: pdfpic' escape. The current direc‐
40 tory is always searched first. This option may be specified
41 more than once; the directories are then searched in the order
42 specified.
43 No directory search is performed for files with an absolute file
45 name.
46 -l Orient the document in landscape format.
48 -p paper-size
50 Set physical dimension of output medium. This overrides the
51 papersize, paperlength, and paperwidth commands in the DESC
52 file; it accepts the same arguments as the papersize command.
53 See groff_font(5) for details.
54 -s Append a comment line to end of PDF showing statistics, i.e.
56 number of pages in document. Ghostscript's ps2pdf complains
57 about this line if it is included, but works anyway.
58 -u [cmapfile] Gropdf normally includes a ToUnicode CMap with any
60 font created using text.enc as the encoding file, this makes it
61 easier to search for words which contain ligatures. You can
62 include your own CMap by specifying a cmapfile or have no CMap
63 at all by omitting the argument.
64 -v
66 --version
67 Print the version number and exit.
68 -y foundry
70 Set the foundry to use for selecting fonts of the same name.
71
73 The input to gropdf must be in the format output by troff(1). This is
74 described in groff_out(5).
75 In addition, the device and font description files for the device used
77 must meet certain requirements: The resolution must be an integer mul‐
78 tiple of 72 times the sizescale. The pdf device uses a resolution of
79 72000 and a sizescale of 1000.
80 The device description file must contain a valid paper size; see
82 groff_font(5) for more information. gropdf uses the same Type 1 Adobe
83 PostScript fonts as the grops device driver. Although the PDF Standard
84 allows the use of other font types (like TrueType) this implementation
85 only accepts the Type 1 PostScript font. Fewer Type 1 fonts are sup‐
86 ported natively in PDF documents than the standard 35 fonts supported
87 by grops and all PostScript printers, but all the fonts are available
88 since any which aren't supported natively are automatically embedded in
89 the PDF.
90 gropdf supports the concept of foundries, that is different versions of
92 basically the same font. During install a Foundry file controls where
93 fonts are found and builds groff fonts from the files it discovers on
94 your system.
95 Each font description file must contain a command
97 internalname psname
99 which says that the PostScript name of the font is psname. Lines
101 starting with # and blank lines are ignored. The code for each charac‐
102 ter given in the font file must correspond to the code in the default
103 encoding for the font. This code can be used with the \N escape
104 sequence in troff to select the character, even if the character does
105 not have a groff name. Every character in the font file must exist in
106 the PostScript font, and the widths given in the font file must match
107 the widths used in the PostScript font.
108 Note that gropdf is currently only able to display the first 256 glyphs
110 in any font. This restriction will be lifted in a later version.
111 gropdf can automatically include the downloadable fonts necessary to
113 print the document. Fonts may be in PFA or PFB format.
114 Any downloadable fonts which should, when required, be included by
116 gropdf must be listed in the file /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/
117 font/devpdf/download; this should consist of lines of the form
118 foundry font filename
120 where foundry is the foundry name or blank for the default foundry.
122 font is the PostScript name of the font, and filename is the name of
123 the file containing the font; lines beginning with # and blank lines
124 are ignored; fields must be separated by tabs (spaces are not allowed);
125 filename is searched for using the same mechanism that is used for
126 groff font metric files. The download file itself is also searched for
127 using this mechanism; currently, only the first found file in the font
128 path is used. Foundry names are usually a single character (such as
129 ‘U’ for the URW Foundry) or blank for the default foundry. This
130 default uses the same fonts as ghostscript uses when it embeds fonts in
131 a PDF file.
132 In the default setup there are styles called R, I, B, and BI mounted at
134 font positions 1 to 4. The fonts are grouped into families A, BM, C,
135 H, HN, N, P, and T having members in each of these styles:
136 AR AvantGarde-Book
138 AI AvantGarde-BookOblique
139 AB AvantGarde-Demi
140 ABI AvantGarde-DemiOblique
141 BMR Bookman-Light
142 BMI Bookman-LightItalic
143 BMB Bookman-Demi
144 BMBI Bookman-DemiItalic
145 CR Courier
146 CI Courier-Oblique
147 CB Courier-Bold
148 CBI Courier-BoldOblique
149 HR Helvetica
150 HI Helvetica-Oblique
151 HB Helvetica-Bold
152 HBI Helvetica-BoldOblique
153 HNR Helvetica-Narrow
154 HNI Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
155 HNB Helvetica-Narrow-Bold
156 HNBI Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique
157 NR NewCenturySchlbk-Roman
158 NI NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
159 NB NewCenturySchlbk-Bold
160 NBI NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic
161 PR Palatino-Roman
162 PI Palatino-Italic
163 PB Palatino-Bold
164 PBI Palatino-BoldItalic
165 TR Times-Roman
166 TI Times-Italic
167 TB Times-Bold
168 TBI Times-BoldItalic
169 There is also the following font which is not a member of a family:
171 ZCMI ZapfChancery-MediumItalic
173 There are also some special fonts called S for the PS Symbol font. The
175 lower case greek characters are automatically slanted (to match the
176 SymbolSlanted font (SS) available to PostScript). Zapf Dingbats is
177 available as ZD, the "hand pointing left" glyph (\[lh]) is available
178 since it has been defined using the \X'pdf: xrev' extension which
179 reverses the direction of letters within words.
180 The default color for \m and \M is black.
182 gropdf understands some of the X commands produced using the \X escape
184 sequences supported by grops. Specifically, the following is sup‐
185 ported.
186 \X'ps: invis'
188 Suppress output.
189 \X'ps: endinvis'
191 Stop suppressing output.
192 \X'ps: exec gsave currentpoint 2 copy translate n rotate neg exch neg
194 exch translate'
195 where n is the angle of rotation. This is to support the align
196 command in gpic.
197 \X'ps: exec grestore'
199 Again used by gpic to restore after rotation.
200 \X'ps: exec n setlinejoin'
202 where n can be one of the following values.
203 0 = Miter join
205 1 = Round join
206 2 = Bevel join
207 \X'ps: exec n setlinecap'
209 where n can be one of the following values.
210 0 = Butt cap
212 1 = Round cap, and
213 2 = Projecting square cap
214 \X'ps: ... pdfmark'
216 All the pdfmark macros installed by using -m pdfmark or -m mspdf
217 (see documentation in pdfmark.pdf). A subset of these macros
218 are installed automatically when you use -Tpdf so you should not
219 need to use ‘-m pdfmark’ for using most of the PDF functional‐
220 ity.
221 gropdf also supports a subset of the commands introduced in
223 present.tmac. Specifically it supports:-
224 PAUSE
226 BLOCKS
227 BLOCKE
228 Which allows you to create presentation type PDFs. Many of the other
230 commands are already available in other macro packages.
231 These commands are implemented with groff X commands:-
233 \X'ps: exec %%%%PAUSE
235 The section before this is treated as a block and is introduced
236 using the current BLOCK transition setting (see ‘pdf: transi‐
237 tion’ below). This command can be introduced using the macro
238 .pdfpause.
239 \X'ps: exec %%%%BEGINONCE
241 Any text following this command (up to %%%%ENDONCE) is shown
242 only once, the next %%%%PAUSE will remove it. If producing a
243 non presentation pdf, i.e. ignoring the pauses, see
244 GROPDF_NOSLIDE below, this text is ignored.
245 \X'ps: exec %%%%ENDONCE
247 This terminates the block defined by %%%%BEGINONCE. This pair
248 of commands is what implements the .BLOCKS Once/.BLOCKE commands
249 in present.tmac.
250 The mom macro set already has integration with these extensions so you
252 can build slides with mom.
253 If you use present.tmac with gropdf there is no need to run the program
255 presentps(1) since the output will already be a presentation pdf.
256 All other ps: tags are silently ignored.
258 One \X special used by the DVI driver is also recognised:
260 \X'papersize=paper-size'
262 where the paper-size parameter is the same as the papersize com‐
263 mand. See groff_font(5) for details. This means that you can
264 alter the page size at will within the PDF file being created by
265 gropdf. If you do want to change the paper size, it must be
266 done before you start creating the page.
267 In addition, gropdf supports its own suite of pdf: tags. The following
269 tags are supported:
270 \X'pdf: pdfpic file alignment width height line-length'
272 Place an image of the specified width containing the PDF drawing
273 from file file of desired width and height (if height is missing
274 or zero then it is scaled proportionally). If alignment is -L
275 the drawing is left aligned. If it is -C or -R a linelength
276 greater than the width of the drawing is required as well. If
277 width is specified as zero then the width is scaled in propor‐
278 tion to the height.
279 \X'pdf: xrev'
281 This toggles a flag which reverses the direction of printing
282 letter by letter, i.e., each separate letter is reversed, not
283 the entire word. This is useful for reversing the direction of
284 glyphs in the Dingbats font. To return to normal printing
285 repeat the command again.
286 \X'pdf: markstart /ANN definition'
288 The macros which support PDF Bookmarks use this call internally
289 to start the definition of bookmark hotspot (user will have
290 called ‘.pdfhref L’ with the text which will become the ‘hot
291 spot’ region). Normally this is never used except from within
292 the pdfmark macros.
293 \X'pdf: markend'
295 The macros which support PDF Bookmarks use this call internally
296 to stop the definition of bookmark hotspot (user will have
297 called ‘.pdfhref L’ with the text which will become the ‘hot
298 spot’ region). Normally this is never used except from within
299 the pdfmark macros.
300 \X'pdf: marksuspend'
302 \X'pdf: markrestart'
303 If you are using page traps to produce headings, footings, etc.,
304 you need to use these in case a ‘hot spot’ crosses a page bound‐
305 ary, otherwise any text output by the heading or footing macro
306 will be marked as part of the ‘hot spot’. To stop this happen‐
307 ing just place ‘.pdfmarksuspend’ and ‘.pdfmarkrestart’ at the
308 start and end of the page trap macro, respectively. (These are
309 just convenience macros which emit the \X code. These macros
310 must only be used within page traps.)
311 \X'pdf: transition'feature mode duration dimension motion direction
313 scale bool
314 where
315 feature can be either SLIDE or BLOCK. When it is SLIDE the
317 transition is used when a new slide is introduced to the screen,
318 if BLOCK then this transition is used for the individual blocks
319 which make up the slide.
320 mode is the transition type between slides:-
321 Split - Two lines sweep across the screen, revealing the
323 new page. The lines may be either horizontal or vertical
324 and may move inward from the edges of the page or outward
325 from the center, as specified by the dimension and motion
326 entries, respectively.
327 Blinds - Multiple lines, evenly spaced across the screen,
328 synchronously sweep in the same direction to reveal the
329 new page. The lines may be either horizontal or verti‐
330 cal, as specified by the dimension
331 entry. Horizontal lines move downward; vertical lines
332 move to the right.
333 Box - A rectangular box sweeps inward from the edges of
334 the page or outward from the center, as specified by the
335 motion entry, revealing the new page.
336 Wipe - A single line sweeps across the screen from one
337 edge to the other in the direction specified by the
338 direction entry, revealing the new page.
339 Dissolve - The old page dissolves gradually to reveal the
340 new one.
341 Glitter - Similar to Dissolve, except that the effect
342 sweeps across the page in a wide band moving from one
343 side of the screen to the other in the direction speci‐
344 fied by the direction entry.
345 R - The new page simply replaces the old one with no spe‐
346 cial transition effect; the direction entry shall be
347 ignored.
348 Fly - (PDF 1.5) Changes are flown out or in (as specified
349 by motion), in the direction specified by direction, to
350 or from a location that is offscreen except when direc‐
351 tion is None.
352 Push - (PDF 1.5) The old page slides off the screen while
353 the new page slides in, pushing the old page out in the
354 direction specified by direction.
355 Cover - (PDF 1.5) The new page slides on to the screen in
356 the direction specified by direction, covering the old
357 page.
358 Uncover - (PDF 1.5) The old page slides off the screen in
359 the direction specified by direction, uncovering the new
360 page in the direction specified by direction.
361 Fade - (PDF 1.5) The new page gradually becomes visible
362 through the old one.
363 duration is the length of the transition in seconds (default 1).
365 dimension (Optional; Split and Blinds transition styles only)
367 The dimension in which the specified transition effect shall
368 occur: H Horizontal, or V Vertical.
369 motion (Optional; Split, Box and Fly transition styles only) The
371 direction of motion for the specified transition effect: I
372 Inward from the edges of the page, or O Outward from the center
373 of the page.
374 direction (Optional; Wipe, Glitter, Fly, Cover, Uncover and Push
376 transition styles only) The direction in which the specified
377 transition effect shall moves, expressed in degrees counter‐
378 clockwise starting from a left-to-right direction. If the value
379 is a number, it shall be one of: 0 = Left to right, 90 = Bottom
380 to top (Wipe only), 180 = Right to left (Wipe only), 270 = Top
381 to bottom, 315 = Top-left to bottom-right (Glitter only) The
382 value can be None, which is relevant only for the Fly transition
383 when the value of scale is not 1.0.
384 scale (Optional; PDF 1.5; Fly transition style only) The start‐
386 ing or ending scale at which the changes shall be drawn. If
387 motion specifies an inward transition, the scale of the changes
388 drawn shall progress from scale to 1.0 over the course of the
389 transition. If motion specifies an outward transition, the
390 scale of the changes drawn shall progress from 1.0 to scale over
391 the course of the transition
392 bool (Optional; PDF 1.5; Fly transition style only) If true, the
394 area that shall be flown in is rectangular and opaque.
395 This command can be used by calling the macro .pdftransition
397 using the parameters described above. Any of the parameters may
398 be replaced with a "." which signifies the parameter retains its
399 previous value, also any trailing missing parameters are
400 ignored.
401 Note: not all PDF Readers support any or all these transitions.
403 Importing graphics
405 gropdf only supports importing other PDF files as graphics. But that
406 PDF file may contain any of the graphic formats supported by the PDF
407 standard (such as JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.). So any application which out‐
408 puts PDF can be used as an embedded file in gropdf. The PDF file you
409 wish to insert must be a single page and the drawing must just fit
410 inside the media size of the PDF file. So, in inkscape(1) or gimp(1)
411 (for example) make sure the canvas size just fits the image.
412 The PDF parser used in gropdf has not been rigorously tested with all
414 possible applications which produce PDFs. If you find a single page
415 PDF which fails to import properly, it is worth running it through the
416 pdftk(1) program by issuing the command:
417 pdftk oldfile.pdf output newfile.pdf
419 You may find that newfile.pdf will now load successfully.
421 TrueType and other font formats
423 gropdf does not support any other fonts except Adobe Type 1 (PFA or
424 PFB).
425
427 This section gives a summary of the above explanations; it can serve as
428 a step-by-step font installation guide for gropdf.
429 · Convert your font to something groff understands. This is either a
431 PostScript Type 1 font in either PFA or PFB, together with an AFM
432 file.
433 The very first line in a PFA/PFB file contains this:
435 %!PS-AdobeFont-1.0:
437 A PFB file has this also in the first line, but the string is pre‐
439 ceded with some binary bytes.
440 · Convert the AFM file to a groff font description file with the
442 afmtodit(1) program. An example call is
443 afmtodit Foo-Bar-Bold.afm map/textmap FBB
445 which converts the metric file ‘Foo-Bar-Bold.afm’ to the groff font
447 ‘FBB’. If you have a font family which comes with normal, bold,
448 italic, and bold italic faces, it is recommended to use the letters
449 R, B, I, and BI, respectively, as postfixes in the groff font names
450 to make groff's ‘.fam’ request work. An example is groff's built-
451 in Times-Roman font: The font family name is T, and the groff font
452 names are TR, TB, TI, and TBI.
453 · Install both the groff font description files and the fonts in a
455 ‘devpdf’ subdirectory of the font path which groff finds. See sec‐
456 tion “Environment” in troff(1) for the actual value of the font
457 path. Note that groff doesn't use the AFM files (but it is a good
458 idea to store them anyway).
459 · Register all fonts which must be downloaded to the printer in the
461 devpdf/download file. Only the first occurrence of this file in
462 the font path is read. This means that you should copy the default
463 download file to the first directory in your font path and add your
464 fonts there. To continue the above example we assume that the PS
465 font name for Foo-Bar-Bold.pfa is ‘XY-Foo-Bar-Bold’ (the PS font
466 name is stored in the internalname field in the FBB file) and
467 belongs to foundry ‘F’ thus the following line should be added to
468 download:
469 F XY-Foo-Bar-Bold Foo-Bar-Bold.pfa
471 Use a tab character to separate the fields, and the ‘foundry’ field
473 should be null for the default foundry.
474
476 GROFF_FONT_PATH
477 A list of directories in which to search for the devname direc‐
478 tory in addition to the default ones. If, in the download file,
479 the font file has been specified with a full path, no directo‐
480 ries are searched. See troff(1) and groff_font(5) for more
481 details.
482 GROPDF_NOSLIDE
484 If this is set true, gropdf will ignore all commands which pro‐
485 duce a presentation pdf, and produce a normal pdf instead.
486 SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
488 A timestamp (expressed as seconds since the Unix epoch) to use
489 as the creation timestamp in place of the current time.
490
492 /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/font/devpdf/DESC
493 Device description file.
494 /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/font/devpdf/F
496 Font description file for font F.
497 /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/font/devpdf/U-F
499 Font description file for font F (using foundry U rather than
500 the default foundry).
501 /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/font/devpdf/download
503 List of downloadable fonts.
504 /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/font/devpdf/Foundry
506 A Perl script used during install to locate suitable fonts.
507 /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/font/devpdf/enc/text.enc
509 Encoding used for text fonts.
510 /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/pdf.tmac
512 Macros for use with gropdf; automatically loaded by troffrc.
513
515 afmtodit(1), groff(1), troff(1), groff_font(5), groff_out(5)
516groff 1.22.4 3 November 2020 GROPDF(1)