OS/2 Professional/OS2PRO194.ISO/os2/wps/progs/goscript/readme

Text File | 1992-09-21 | 14.1 KB | 372 lines

   Copyright (C) 1989, 1992 Aladdin Enterprises.  All rights reserved.
   Distributed by Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This file is part of Ghostscript.

Ghostscript is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.  No author or distributor accepts responsibility
to anyone for the consequences of using it or for whether it serves any
particular purpose or works at all, unless he says so in writing.  Refer
to the Ghostscript General Public License for full details.

Everyone is granted permission to copy, modify and redistribute
Ghostscript, but only under the conditions described in the Ghostscript
General Public License.  A copy of this license is supposed to have been
given to you along with Ghostscript so you can know your rights and
responsibilities.  It should be in a file named COPYING.  Among other
things, the copyright notice and this notice must be preserved on all
copies.

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*****************************************************
* This file describes version 2.5.2 of Ghostscript. *
*****************************************************

********
******** An overview of Ghostscript ********
********

Ghostscript is the name of a set of software that provides:

    - An interpreter for the PostScript (TM) language, and

    - A set of C procedures (the Ghostscript library) that
implement the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive
operations in the PostScript language.

The Ghostscript language interpreter and library are written entirely
in C, with some assembly-language accelerators for MS-DOS platforms.
Currently, Ghostscript is known to run on the following platform
families:

    - IBM PC and compatibles with EGA, VGA, SuperVGA, or compatible
      graphics under MS-DOS 3.1, 3.3, or 5.0, with or without
      Microsoft Windows 3.0 or 3.1;

    - A wide variety of Unix systems using X Windows version 11,
      release 3, 4, and 5, including Sun-3, Sun-4, Sun-386i,
      Sun SPARCStation 1 and 2; generic 80386 machines running 386/ix,
      ISC Unix, and SCO Unix; H-P 9000/300 and 9000/800;
      DECStation 2100 and 3100; VAX running Ultrix; Sequent Symmetry;
      Convex C1 and C2; Tektronix 4300; SGI Iris Indigo;

    - Sun workstations (Sun-3, SPARC, Sun-386i) running SunView;

    - VAX, VMS with X11R3/4/5, gcc and DEC C compiler (DEC C compiler
      version 3.1 or later is required).

It is very likely that Ghostscript will run under other versions of
MS-DOS, and other versions of Unix that support X11, but it has not
been tested in these environments.  Ghostscript does NOT run well on
PC-compatibles with Hercules display cards: text and graphics output
interfere with each other.

Ghostscript has also been ported to the Apple Macintosh and to the
Acorn Archimedes.  For information on the Macintosh port, contact
Martin Fong ([e-mail]).  For information on the Archimedes
port, contact David Elworthy ([e-mail]).

********
******** Related programs
********

There are two freely available X Windows screen previewers based on
Ghostscript: Ghostview and GSPreview.  For information on Ghostview,
contact Tim Theisen ([e-mail]).  For information on
GSPreview, contact Richard Hesketh ([e-mail]).

A set of patches and additions for Kanji capability for Ghostscript
version 2.4.1 is available for anonymous FTP from
ftp.cs.titech.ac.jp:GNU/gs241j11.tar.Z.  For more information, contact
Mr. Norio Katayama ([e-mail]).

********
******** Documentation overview ********
********

All the file names mentioned in the documentation, except for README,
are in lower case, which is the usual convention for Unix systems.
On MS-DOS systems, all file names are actually upper-case.

When you receive Ghostscript, you should start by reading:

> README - this file.

> readme.doc - information about problems and major changes new
features in the current release.

If you have used a previous release of Ghostscript, you probably
should also read any more recent sections of:

> NEWS - a complete, detailed history of changes in Ghostscript
releases.

Especially for new users
------------------------

If you are a new user of Ghostscript, you should read:

> use.doc - information about to use Ghostscript.

If you are going to compile Ghostscript, rather than just use an
executable you got from somewhere, you should read:

> make.doc - how to install, compile and link Ghostscript.

If you run into any questions, or if you are going to be using
Ghostscript extensively, you should at least skim, and probably
eventually read:

> fonts.doc - information about the fonts distributed with
Ghostscript, including how to add or replace fonts.

> language.doc - A description of the Ghostscript language, and its
differences from the documented PostScript language.

> psfiles.doc - information about the .ps files distributed with
Ghostscript (other than fonts).

Especially for developers
-------------------------

If you are going to be writing a new driver for Ghostscript, you
should read:

> drivers.doc - the interface between Ghostscript and device drivers.

Odds and ends
-------------

> hershey.doc - information about the Hershey fonts, which are the
basis of some of the Ghostscript fonts.

> humor.doc - a humorous comment on Ghostscript contributed by a net.person.

> lib.doc - information about the Ghostscript library.

> man.doc - a possible Un*x 'man' page for Ghostscript.

********
******** Trouble reporting ********
********

Aladdin Enterprises doesn't have the resources to respond to questions
from general users of Ghostscript.  If you have problems with
Ghostscript, and you have access to Usenet news, we suggest you post
your question to gnu.ghostscript.bug.  There are hundreds of
Ghostscript user sites all over the world, and often another user will
be able to help you.  If you are having trouble with a specific device
driver, look in the file devs.mak and see if it is a user-maintained
driver.  If so, you may contact the person listed there directly;
please do not contact Aladdin Enterprises regarding user-maintained
drivers.

Aladdin Enterprises does want Ghostscript to be of high quality, so if
you have been running Ghostscript and encounter a problem, we will be
glad to investigate it if you meet all the following criteria:

    - You are using the most recent version of Ghostscript.

    - You obtained Ghostscript directly from Aladdin Enterprises,
    or from a GNU distribution site on the Internet.

    - You have installed Ghostscript successfully, and used it
    successfully on other input data.

    - Your problem is reproducible, and you can send us the input
    data that evokes it (by e-mail, anonymous FTP, or PC diskette).

    - Your bug report tells us what hardware, operating system,
    window system, and C compiler you are using.

Bug reports that include suggested fixes are especially welcome.

As time permits, Aladdin Enterprises will also respond to e-mail from
the following classes of users:

    - Beta testers who have actually given us at least one report on
    some beta version supplied to them.

    - People developing drivers that are for, or applications that
    are based on, Ghostscript and that will be made freely available.

    - People who express serious interest in commercial licensing
    of Ghostscript.

    - Commercial licensees.

Given the choice between the Internet and the UUCP address, remember
that the Internet is not to be used for general commercial traffic:
if you aren't sure whether you or your organization can use the
Internet, use UUCP.

Aladdin Enterprises owns or has access to the following hardware and
software:

    80486 PC, MS-DOS 5.0, Microsoft Windows 3.0;
      Borland C++ 3.1 (and several older versions);
      color SuperVGA display; Epson-compatible printer
      (the printer also is compatible with the IBM Proprinter);
      various H-P printers; Canon BubbleJet.

    SPARCstation, SunOS 4.1, cc and gcc, X11R5 and SunView;
      both monochrome and color displays.

    DECstation, Ultrix.

If your problem turns out to be specific to some other hardware or
software configuration, it may take longer to track down, since we
will have to rely on other users to help.

If you wish to contact Aladdin Enterprises directly, you may reach us
at:

    Aladdin Enterprises
    P.O. box 60264
    Palo Alto, CA 94306
    voice [phone]
    fax [phone]
    ...{uunet,decwrl}!aladdin!ghost
    [e-mail]

If you call on the phone, you will usually be talking to an answering
machine.  In this case, please leave a message with your name and
phone number and the best time for us to return the call.

********
******** Things you can do to help ********
********

There are some projects that users could do that are somewhat
decoupled from the main body of the code, and that would help improve
Ghostscript:

    - Ghostscript needs some good, free, Type 1 (outline) fonts.
Karl Berry is working on this, but it might go faster if he got some
knowledgeable assistance.  Contact [e-mail] if you want to
help with this.

    - Several people have asked for a program that will take
PostScript code and reconstruct some reasonable ASCII form of the
input, if this is possible.  Ghostscript's gs_2asc.ps utility does a
fair job of extracting the strings and their placement on the page,
but that's only the easy half of the job: a second pass is needed to
figure out, at a minimum, where paragraph breaks are (based on Y
positioning), and where spaces go (based on X positioning).  Contact
[e-mail] if you want to help by doing this.

    - Adobe has donated the specification of the Display
PostScript C API to the X distribution.  Implementing this API for
Ghostscript might make Ghostscript a lot more useful, since it would
then be "plug compatible" with Display PostScript in an important
way.  This might not be a very big project.  Contact
[e-mail] if you would like to help with this.

    - On gray-scale displays, it might be worthwhile implementing
anti-aliased fonts.  To do this, one would modify the renderer so
that it cached a high-resolution bitmap, and then did the
anti-aliasing as it copied the bitmap to the device.  This would
allow simulating fractional-pixel positioning, which is one of the
great benefits of anti-aliased fonts.  Contact [e-mail] if
this is of interest to you.

********
******** Authors ********
********

Ghostscript was originally created, and is still primarily developed
and maintained, by L. Peter Deutsch, proprietor of Aladdin
Enterprises.

The following users (in alphabetical order) have contributed
substantially to improving Ghostscript:

    Hitoshi Aida (for help with the SunView driver),
    William Bader (for several drivers and bug reports),
    Karl Berry and Kathy Hargreaves (for helping create the fonts
      distributed with Ghostscript),
    George Cameron (for a DeskJet 500C driver),
    Phil Conrad (for originating the PPM utilities and the PCX and
      GIF drivers, and lots of bug reports),
    Michel Dagenais (for major help with the DeskJet driver),
    Gershon Elber (for improvements to the BGI driver),
    Mike Ferrara (for help with the LaserJet driver and HP-UX),
    J Greely (for help with the PostScript-to-ASCII filter),
    Paul Haeberli (for the ideas behind better color selection
      and trapezoid fill algorithms),
    Richard Hesketh (for GSPreview),
    Thomas Hiller (for the Trident TVGA driver),
    Frans van Hoesel (for improvements to the DeskJet driver),
    Alfred Kayser (for a DeskJet 500C driver and beta testing),
    Richard Keeney (for help with the SunView driver),
    Eleftherios Koutsofios (for help with the SunView driver),
    Markku Koppinen (for a better circle-to-curve algorithm),
    Russell Lang and Maurice Castro (for the first working Microsoft
      Windows driver),
    Ian MacPhedran (for a sixel driver),
    Jim Mayer (for help with the DeskJet and LaserJet drivers),
    Richard Mlynarik (for a nearly overwhelming volume of
      improvements and suggestions),
    Ulrich Mueller (for the LN03 driver),
    Daniel Newman (for major help with VMS and the CCITT Fax filters),
    Roque Donizete de Oliveira (for testing and debugging,
      and a 'man' page),
    Marc Paquette (for the original PaintJet driver),
    Hal Peterson (for major help with BDF fonts),
    Tom Quinn (for the Canon LBP-8II driver),
    Jerry Roylance (for help with statusdict),
    Dave St. Clair (for the color Epson/Fujitsu driver),
    Jan Sanislo (for two subtle but vital fixes),
    Clemens Schrimpe (for help with accented characters),
    Mike Smolenski (for the Sony drivers),
    Snoopy (for major help with Hershey fonts, and many other
      contributions),
    Karsten Spang (for the Tektronix ink-jet driver),
    Andreas Stolcke (for help with the SunView driver),
    Chris Strozyk (for getting the URW fonts made available),
    Michael Sweet (for help with the high-density Epson driver),
    Tim Theisen (for help with the X Windows driver, and for the
      Ghostview previewer that is built on Ghostscript),
    Gregg Townsend (for the low-resolution dithering algorithm),
    Christian Tschudin (for fixes to the virtual memory package,
      and for the original BubbleJet driver),
    Jos Vos (for the original PBM/PGM/PPM driver),
    Allan Wax (for the AT&T 6300 modification to the BGI driver),
    David Wexelblat (for the high-resolution 9-pin Epson driver),
    Elizabeth Zwicky (for some very challenging examples).

The following people have also helped out by beta testing, by
reporting bugs, or in other ways:

    Vikas Aggarwal, Michael Almond,
    Malcolm Bennett,
    Jim Collins,
    Peter da Silva, Art Dederick, Paul DuBois,
    Toerless Eckert,
    Mark Friedman, Richard Foulk,
    Glenn Geers, Dave Goldblatt, Dirk Grunwald,
    Lars Haakedal, Adam Hammer, George Hartzell, Mike Hoffmann,
    Brad Jones, Terry Jones,
    David Keppel,
    Anthony Lee, John Lundin Jr., Lee McLoughlin,
    Stergios Marinopoulos, Herb Martin, David Maynard,
      Doug McDonald, Rich Murphey,
    Russ Nelson,
    Peter Phillips,
    Mark Rawling, Philippe Robert, Tomas Rokicki, Wolfgang Rupprecht,
    Bill Schelter, Bakul Shah,
    Erik Talvola,
    Amanda Walker, Peter Wan, Carsten Wiethoff, Carl Witty,
    Frank Yellin,
    Jamie Zawinski.

If your name appears on the above list and I've forgotten a
particular contribution you made, or if it doesn't appear at all,
please forgive me: just remind me, and you will be properly
acknowledged in the next release.

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PostScript is a trademark of Adobe Systems, Incorporated.