1PKFIX-HELPER(1) PKFIX-HELPER(1)
2
6 pkfix-helper - preprocess dvips-produced PostScript documents before
7 passing them to pkfix
8
10 pkfix-helper [--help] [--verbose] [--force=name=fontspec]
11 [--ps=filename.ps] [--tex=filename.tex] [--cache=filename]
12 [--include=fontspec] [--exclude=regexp] [--keep=fontspec] [--quiet]
13 [--no-repeats] [--spp=number] [input.ps [output.ps]]
14
16 Motivation
17 PostScript documents created with old versions of dvips almost
18 invariably utilize bitmapped (PostScript Type 3) fonts. The problem
19 with bitmapped fonts is that they target a specific device resolution;
20 a PostScript file produced using 300 DPI fonts will look grainy on a
21 600 DPI printer. Even worse, all bitmapped fonts look grainy when
22 zoomed in on screen. The solution is to use vector (PostScript Type 1)
23 fonts, which are resolution-independent and appear crisp at any size or
24 scale.
25 While it is no longer difficult to configure dvips to use vector fonts,
27 it is not always possible to rerun dvips on an old .dvi file. The .dvi
28 file and document source may have been lost; or, the source may no
29 longer compile because packages it depends upon may no longer be
30 available.
31 Heiko Oberdiek's pkfix script replaces bitmapped fonts in
33 dvips-produced PostScript files with the corresponding vector fonts.
34 It works by parsing the PostScript comments with which dvips surrounds
35 bitmapped-font definitions. For example, a font definition beginning
36 with the comment "%DVIPSBitmapFont: Fi cmss10 11 28" and ending with a
37 matching %EndDVIPSBitmapFont is known to define font "Fi" as "cmss10"
38 (Computer Modern Sans Serif at a design size of 10 points) scaled to
39 11 points. Only the 28 characters actually used by the document are
40 defined. pkfix then replaces the font definition with one that defines
41 "Fi" using the same set of characters but taken from the cmss10.pfb
42 vector font file.
43 Unfortunately, pkfix works only with versions of dvips newer than v5.58
45 (ca. 1996). Naturally, the older a PostScript document, the less
46 likely its sources still exist and can still be recompiled. Older
47 versions of dvips lack %DVIPSBitmapFont comments and various other
48 PostScript comments on which pkfix relies. Without PostScript comments
49 to guide it, pkfix is unable to determine which vector fonts correspond
50 with which bitmapped fonts.
51 Overview
53 The pkfix-helper script is a preprocessor for pkfix that attempts to
54 determine the association between each document-font name (e.g., "Fi")
55 in a PostScript file and the original font (e.g., "cmss10") and fonts
56 size (e.g., 11 points). It then fabricates the PostScript comments
57 that pkfix expects to see so that pkfix can do its job.
58 pkfix-helper works by comparing every document font against every .tfm
60 font file it knows about (assuming that each such font has a
61 corresponding .pfb vector version) and selecting the best matching .tfm
62 file for every document font. pkfix-helper has access only to the
63 widths of characters and only to those characters actually used in the
64 document. Also, the program recognizes only a limited set of the most
65 popular .tfm files and scaling factors. Consequently, the comparison
66 is imperfect and pkfix-helper may attribute an incorrect font to a
67 given name. Fonts comprising only one or two characters actually used
68 in a document are particularly problematic for pkfix-helper because
69 many fonts may be near-enough matches to fool the problem.
70 pkfix-helper is designed so that a user can guide the font-selection
72 process by manually designating matching fonts. With a modicum of
73 diligence and patience a user can correct any mismatched fonts and help
74 the program provide proper input to pkfix.
75
77 pkfix-helper accepts on the command line the filename of a PostScript
78 document to process (with the default being the standard input device)
79 and the filename of a modified PostScript document to create (with the
80 default being the standard output device). The program also accepts
81 the following command-line options:
82 Frequently Used Options
84 -h, --help
85 Display usage information and exit. The --verbose and --quiet
86 options can be used to increase and decrease the amount of
87 information presented.
88 -v, --verbose
90 Increase the amount of status information that pkfix-helper
91 displays as it runs. Additional instances of --verbose on the
92 command line further increase the program's verbosity. By default,
93 only major operations are displayed. A single --verbose
94 additionally displays information about individual font
95 comparisons. A second --verbose additionally displays details
96 about some of the program's internal operations.
97 -f name=fontspec, --force=name=fontspec
99 Force pkfix-helper to associate a specific font with a given font
100 name appearing the document. name is a two-character dvips font
101 name such as "Fa". fontspec is a font specification such as
102 "cmmi8" or "cmsy10 @ 1.1X". An asterisk used in the name of the
103 base font (e.g., "cmti*") will automatically try all integral test
104 font sizes from 5 to 17 points ("cmti5", "cmti6", ..., "cmti17").
105 An asterisk used as a scale value (e.g., "cmsy10 @ *") will be
106 replaced by the scale value that gives the best match to the
107 original font's metrics. The --force option can be specified
108 repeatedly on the command line.
109 -p filename.ps, --ps=filename.ps
111 Create a PostScript file called filename.ps that shows the dvips
112 name and a font sample of every font used by the input document.
113 -t filename.tex, --tex=filename.tex
115 Create a Plain TeX file called filename.tex that shows the dvips
116 name and a font sample of every font that pkfix-helper used in the
117 output document.
118 Infrequently Used Options
120 -C filename, --cache=filename
121 Speed up TFM file processing by caching character metrics into file
122 filename. On some systems it takes a long time to read a TFM file,
123 spawn tftopl to convert it to PL format, and extract from the PL
124 data the metrics for each character. The first time --cache is
125 specified, pkfix-helper proceeds as normal then writes all of the
126 extracted character metrics to filename. On subsequent runs in
127 which --cache=filename is specified, pkfix-helper reads the
128 previously extracted metrics from filename, going through the
129 tftopl-based process only for TFM files that were not previously
130 encountered.
131 -q, --quiet
133 Instruct pkfix-helper to produce no output during its run except
134 for fatal error messages.
135 -1, --no-repeats
137 Prevent pkfix-helper from associating the same fontspec with more
138 than one dvips font name.
139 -i fontspec, --include=fontspec
141 Add fontspec to the list of font specifications against which
142 pkfix-helper compares every document font. (In contrast, --force
143 designates a font specification to use only for a specific document
144 font.) The --include option can be specified repeatedly on the
145 command line.
146 -x regexp, --exclude=regexp
148 Remove all font specifications matching regular expression regexp
149 from pkfix-helper's list of known fonts. The --exclude option can
150 be specified repeatedly on the command line.
151 -k fontspec, --keep=fontspec
153 Do not substitute a vector font for bitmapped font fontspec ("Fa",
154 "Fb", etc.). This is useful when converting documents that use
155 obscure bitmapped fonts for which there is no vector equivalent.
156 For example, it was somewhat common in the past to include graphics
157 such as university or corporate logos into a document by converting
158 the bitmapped image into a single-character font and using that
159 font in LaTeX. --keep prevents such fonts from being replaced.
160 The --keep option can be specified repeatedly on the command line.
161 -a, --any-scale
163 Allow any value to be used to scale a font when ""*"" is specified
164 as the scale factor. Normally, pkfix-helper considers only integer
165 multiples of 0.1 that are greater than or equal to 1.0 (i.e.,
166 fontname@1X, "@1.1X", "@1.2X", "@1.3X", etc.).
167 -s, --spp
169 Specify the number of font samples per page to print to the files
170 indicated using the --ps and --tex options. The default value, 25,
171 should work well in most circumstances.
172
174 "Best match for name is rather poor"
175 The best font pkfix-helper found for dvips font name name has a
176 mismatch value greater than or equal to 1.0. (The mismatch value
177 is the sum of the squares of the difference between the character
178 widths of a document font and a potential replacement font.) Use
179 the --force option to designate an alternative replacement font or
180 scaling amount.
181
183 For the purpose of the following examples, assume that oldfile.ps is
184 the name of a PostScript file produced by an old version of dvips and
185 utilizing at least one bitmapped font. It's always worth verifying
186 that pkfix can't convert the file on its own:
187 $ pkfix oldfile.ps newfile.ps
189 PKFIX 1.3, 2005/02/25 - Copyright (c) 2001, 2005 by Heiko Oberdiek.
190 ==> no fonts converted
191 (Alternatively pkfix may issue an error message such as "!!! Error:
193 Parse error (@start parameters)!".) Only when pkfix can't replace
194 bitmapped fonts with vector fonts is pkfix-helper needed. In its
195 simplest form, pkfix-helper takes the name of an input file (oldfile.ps
196 in this example) and the name of an output file (pkfix-oldfile.ps),
197 which will have the same contents as the input file but serve as
198 suitable input for pkfix:
199 $ pkfix-helper oldfile.ps pkfix-oldfile.ps
201 Reading oldfile.ps ... done.
202 Number of Type 3 fonts encountered: 10
203 Bitmapped fonts are typeset at 600 DPI.
204 Finding character widths ... done.
205 Reading TFM files ... done (103 TFMs in 193 scaling variations).
206 Matching fonts:
207 Processing Fi ... done (cmr10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.11683).
208 Processing Fa ... done (cmti10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.08892).
209 Processing Fb ... done (cmr8 @ 1X, mismatch=0.07133).
210 Processing Ff ... done (cmbx12 @ 1.2X, mismatch=0.02948).
211 Processing Fh ... done (cmtt10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.06895).
212 Processing Fd ... done (cmmi10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.03966).
213 Processing Fj ... done (cmbx12 @ 1X, mismatch=0.03972).
214 Processing Fe ... done (cmbx10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.00762).
215 Processing Fg ... done (cmsy10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.00875).
216 Processing Fc ... done (cmr6 @ 1X, mismatch=0.00284).
217 $ pkfix pkfix-oldfile.ps newfile.ps
219 PKFIX 1.3, 2005/02/25 - Copyright (c) 2001, 2005 by Heiko Oberdiek.
220 *** Font conversion: `cmti10' -> `CMTI10'.
221 *** Font conversion: `cmr8' -> `CMR8'.
222 *** Font conversion: `cmr6' -> `CMR6'.
223 *** Font conversion: `cmmi10' -> `CMMI10'.
224 *** Font conversion: `cmbx10' -> `CMBX10'.
225 *** Font conversion: `cmbx12' -> `CMBX12'.
226 *** Font conversion: `cmsy10' -> `CMSY10'.
227 *** Font conversion: `cmtt10' -> `CMTT10'.
228 *** Font conversion: `cmr10' -> `CMR10'.
229 *** Font conversion: `cmbx12' -> `CMBX12'.
230 *** Merging font `CMBX12' (2).
231 ==> 10 converted fonts.
232 ==> 1 merged font.
233 Although pkfix-helper tries to automate as much as possible the font-
235 detection process, some fonts will invariably be incorrectly
236 identified. The program outputs a warning message if it knows a match
237 is bad but the lack of a warning message does not necessarily indicate
238 that pkfix-helper did a good job. It is therefore strongly recommended
239 that the user produce "before" and "after" font sheets:
240 $ pkfix-helper -q oldfile.ps pkfix-oldfile.ps \
242 --ps=oldfonts.ps --tex=newfonts.tex
243 $ tex newfonts.tex
245 This is TeX, Version 3.14159 (Web2C 7.4.5)
246 (./newfonts.tex [1] )
247 Output written on newfonts.dvi (1 page, 1292 bytes).
248 Transcript written on newfonts.log.
249 $ dvips newfonts.dvi -o newfonts.ps
251 This is dvips(k) 5.92b Copyright 2002 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
252 ' TeX output 2006.06.11:1636' -> newfonts.ps
253 <texc.pro><8r.enc><texps.pro>. <cmr6.pfb><cmsy10.pfb><cmbx10.pfb><cmbx12.pfb>
254 <cmmi10.pfb><cmtt10.pfb><cmr8.pfb><cmti10.pfb><cmr10.pfb>[1]
255 After running the preceding commands, oldfonts.ps shows samples of the
257 fonts in oldfile.ps and newfonts.ps shows samples of the replacement
258 fonts that pkfix-helper used to produce pkfix-oldfile.ps. Print
259 oldfonts.ps and newfonts.ps and compare them carefully for incorrect
260 fonts and sizes.
261 Suppose that the choice of "cmbx12 @ 1.2X" for font "Ff" looks wrong;
263 say the characters look taller in oldfonts.ps than in newfonts.ps.
264 This is where the trial-and-error stage begins. Let's hypothesize that
265 "cmb12" is a better match than "cmbx12" but we don't know how much to
266 scale the font. Fortunately, pkfix-helper allows "*" to be used as a
267 scaling factor to tell the program to automatically detect an optimal
268 scaling factor, even if doing so means choosing a nonstandard font
269 size:
270 $ pkfix-helper oldfile.ps pkfix-oldfile.ps --force="Ff=cmb12 @ *"
272 Reading oldfile.ps ... done.
273 Number of Type 3 fonts encountered: 10
274 Bitmapped fonts are typeset at 600 DPI.
275 Finding character widths ... done.
276 Reading TFM files ... failed.
277 pkfix-helper: Unable to process user-specified TFM file "cmb12"
278 Oops, it looks like we don't have a cmb12.tfm file on our system.
280 Let's try scaling up cmb10.tfm instead:
281 $ pkfix-helper oldfile.ps pkfix-oldfile.ps --force="Ff=cmb10 @ *"
283 Reading oldfile.ps ... done.
284 Number of Type 3 fonts encountered: 10
285 Bitmapped fonts are typeset at 600 DPI.
286 Finding character widths ... done.
287 Reading TFM files ... done (103 TFMs in 193 scaling variations).
288 Matching fonts:
289 Processing Fi ... done (cmr10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.11683).
290 Processing Fa ... done (cmti10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.08892).
291 Processing Fb ... done (cmr8 @ 1X, mismatch=0.07133).
292 Processing Ff ... done (cmb10 @ 1.5X, mismatch=0.00035).
293 Processing Fh ... done (cmtt10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.06895).
294 Processing Fd ... done (cmmi10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.03966).
295 Processing Fj ... done (cmbx12 @ 1X, mismatch=0.03972).
296 Processing Fe ... done (cmbx10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.00762).
297 Processing Fg ... done (cmsy10 @ 1X, mismatch=0.00875).
298 Processing Fc ... done (cmr6 @ 1X, mismatch=0.00284).
299 The match has definitely improved, although 15 pt. is certainly an odd
301 size for a font. Then again, many documents do use nonstandard sizes
302 so this may in fact be correct. The best way to verify is once again
303 to produce, print, and compare a pair of font samples and iterate until
304 all of the fonts look correct. Use one instance of --force for each
305 font you want to alter.
306
308 pkfix-helper honors the following environment variables:
309 GS The name of the Ghostscript interpreter (default: gs)
311 TFTOPL The name of a utility for converting .tfm files to .pl files
313 (default: tftopl)
314
316 Even when pkfix-helper finds a perfect match (i.e., the correct font in
317 the correct size) the mismatch value is still typically nonzero. The
318 same error is probably what causes pkfix-helper sometimes to consider
319 the wrong font as being a better match than the correct font.
320 Suggestions for fixing these bugs are welcome.
321
323 pkfix-helper works only with PostScript files produced by dvips, not
324 with arbitrary PostScript files. The program has not been tested with
325 output from versions of dvips older than v5.490 (ca. 1992); output from
326 older versions may or may not work. Only bitmapped fonts loaded by
327 dvips can be analyzed, not bitmapped fonts loaded by embedded graphics.
328 pkfix-helper works by comparing character widths, not the actual
330 glyphs. Consequently, it is misled by sets of fonts with similar
331 character widths (at least for those characters used by a given
332 document). As an extreme example, all Computer Modern Teletype fonts
333 of a given design size (e.g., "cmtt10", "cmsltt10", and "cmitt10") use
334 exactly the same widths for all characters. Human assistance is
335 generally needed to guide pkfix-helper's font-matching procedures.
336
338 Files produced using the --tex option are Plain TeX files and therefore
339 must be compiled with tex (or a variation such as pdftex, luatex,
340 etc.), not with latex.
341
343 pkfix(1), dvips(1), tex(1), gs(1)
344 PostScript Language Reference, Third Edition. Published by Addison-
346 Wesley, ISBN 0-201-37922-8,
347 <http://www.adobe.com/products/postscript/pdfs/PLRM.pdf>.
348
350 Scott Pakin, scott+pkfh@pakin.org
351
353 Copyright (C) 2011, Scott Pakin
354 This file may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of
356 the LaTeX Project Public License, either version 1.3c of this license
357 or (at your option) any later version. The latest version of this
358 license is in <http://www.latex-project.org/lppl.txt> and version 1.3c
359 or later is part of all distributions of LaTeX version 2006/05/20 or
360 later.
361v1.4 2011-06-11 PKFIX-HELPER(1)