GROPDF
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 21 March 2020
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NAME
gropdf - PDF driver for groff
SYNOPSIS
[ -dels ]
[ -F dir ]
[ -I dir ]
[ -p paper-size ]
#.OP -w n
[-u
[cmapfile]]
[ -y foundry ]
[file
...]
-v
--version
DESCRIPTION
gropdf
translates the output of GNU
troff
to PDF.
Normally
gropdf
should be invoked by using the groff command
with a
-Tpdf
option.
If no files are given,
gropdf
reads the standard input.
A filename of
-
also causes
gropdf
to read the standard input.
PDF output is written to the standard output.
When
gropdf
is run by
groff
options can be passed to
gropdf
using
groff's
-P
option.
See section "Font Installation" below for a guide how to install
fonts for
gropdf.
OPTIONS
Whitespace is permitted between a command-line option and its argument.
- -d
-
Include debug information as comments within the PDF.
Also produces an uncompressed PDF.
- -e
-
Forces
gropdf
to embed
all
fonts (even the 14 base PDF fonts).
- -F dir
-
Prepend directory
dir/devname
to the search path for font, and device description files;
name
is the name of the device, usually
pdf.
- -I dir
-
This option may be used to add a directory to the search path for
files named in
\X'pdf: pdfpic'
escape.
The current directory is always searched first.
This option may be specified more than once; the directories are then
searched in the order specified.
-
No directory search is performed for files with an absolute file name.
- -l
-
Orient the document in landscape format.
- -p paper-size
-
Set physical dimension of output medium.
This overrides the
papersize,
paperlength,
and
paperwidth
commands in the
DESC
file; it accepts the same arguments as the
papersize
command.
See
groff_font(5)
for details.
- -s
-
Append a comment line to end of PDF showing statistics,
i.e. number of pages in document.
Ghostscript's
ps2pdf
complains about this line if it is included, but works anyway.
- -u
-
[cmapfile]
Gropdf
normally includes a ToUnicode CMap with any font created using
text.enc
as the encoding file,
this makes it easier to search for words which contain ligatures.
You can include your own CMap by specifying a
cmapfile
or have no CMap at all by omitting the argument.
- -v
-
--version
Print the version number and exit.
- -y foundry
-
Set the foundry to use for selecting fonts of the same name.
USAGE
The input to
gropdf
must be in the format output by
troff(1).
This is described in
groff_out(5).
In addition, the device and font description files for the device used
must meet certain requirements:
The resolution must be an integer multiple of~72 times the
sizescale.
The
pdf
device uses a resolution of 72000 and a sizescale of 1000.
The device description file must contain a valid paper size; see
groff_font(5)
for more information.
gropdf
uses the same Type~1 Adobe PostScript fonts as the
grops
device driver.
Although the PDF Standard allows the use of other font types (like
TrueType) this implementation only accepts the Type~1 PostScript
font.
Fewer Type~1 fonts are supported natively in PDF documents than the
standard 35 fonts supported by
grops
and all PostScript printers, but all the fonts are available since any
which aren't supported natively are automatically embedded in the
PDF.
gropdf
supports the concept of foundries, that is different versions of basically
the same font.
During install a
Foundry
file controls where fonts are found and builds
groff
fonts from the files it discovers on your system.
Each font description file must contain a command
-
internalname psname
which says that the PostScript name of the font is
psname.
Lines starting with
#
and blank lines are ignored.
The code for each character given in the font file must correspond
to the code in the default encoding for the font.
This code can be used with the
\N
escape sequence in
troff
to select the character,
even if the character does not have a groff name.
Every character in the font file must exist in the PostScript font, and
the widths given in the font file must match the widths used
in the PostScript font.
Note that
gropdf
is currently only able to display the first 256 glyphs in any font.
This restriction will be lifted in a later version.
gropdf
can automatically include the downloadable fonts necessary
to print the document.
Fonts may be in PFA or PFB format.
Any downloadable fonts which should, when required, be included by
gropdf
must be listed in the file
/usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:font/devpdf/download;
this should consist of lines of the form
-
foundry font filename
where
foundry
is the foundry name or blank for the default foundry.
font
is the PostScript name of the font,
and
filename
is the name of the file containing the font;
lines beginning with
#
and blank lines are ignored;
fields must be separated by tabs
(spaces are
not
allowed);
filename
is searched for using the same mechanism that is used
for groff font metric files.
The
download
file itself is also searched for using this mechanism;
currently, only the first found file in the font path is used.
Foundry names are usually a single character (such as 'U' for
the URW Foundry) or blank for the default foundry.
This default uses the same fonts as
ghostscript
uses when it embeds fonts in a PDF file.
In the default setup there are styles called
R,
I,
B,
and
BI
mounted at font positions 1 to~4.
The fonts are grouped into families
A,
BM,
C,
H,
HN,
N,
P,
and~T
having members in each of these styles:
-
- AR
-
AvantGarde-Book
AI
AvantGarde-BookOblique
AB
AvantGarde-Demi
ABI
AvantGarde-DemiOblique
BMR
Bookman-Light
BMI
Bookman-LightItalic
BMB
Bookman-Demi
BMBI
Bookman-DemiItalic
CR
Courier
CI
Courier-Oblique
CB
Courier-Bold
CBI
Courier-BoldOblique
HR
Helvetica
HI
Helvetica-Oblique
HB
Helvetica-Bold
HBI
Helvetica-BoldOblique
HNR
Helvetica-Narrow
HNI
Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
HNB
Helvetica-Narrow-Bold
HNBI
Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique
NR
NewCenturySchlbk-Roman
NI
NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
NB
NewCenturySchlbk-Bold
NBI
NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic
PR
Palatino-Roman
PI
Palatino-Italic
PB
Palatino-Bold
PBI
Palatino-BoldItalic
TR
Times-Roman
TI
Times-Italic
TB
Times-Bold
TBI
Times-BoldItalic
There is also the following font which is not a member of a family:
-
- ZCMI
-
ZapfChancery-MediumItalic
There are also some special fonts called
S
for the PS Symbol font.
The lower case greek characters are automatically slanted (to match
the SymbolSlanted font (SS) available to PostScript).
Zapf Dingbats is available as
ZD,
the "hand pointing left" glyph (\[lh]) is available since it has
been defined using the \X'pdf: xrev' extension which reverses the
direction of letters within words.
The default color for
\m
and
\M
is black.
gropdf
understands some of the X~commands produced using the
\X
escape sequences supported by
grops.
Specifically, the following is supported.
- \X'ps: invis'
-
Suppress output.
- \X'ps: endinvis'
-
Stop suppressing output.
- \X'ps: exec gsave currentpoint 2 copy translate n rotate neg exch neg exch translate'
-
where
n
is the angle of rotation.
This is to support the
align
command in
gpic.
- \X'ps: exec grestore'
-
Again used by
gpic
to restore after rotation.
- \X'ps: exec n setlinejoin'
-
where
n
can be one of the following values.
-
0 = Miter join
1 = Round join
2 = Bevel join
- \X'ps: exec n setlinecap'
-
where
n
can be one of the following values.
-
0 = Butt cap
1 = Round cap, and
2 = Projecting square cap
- \X'ps: ... pdfmark'
-
All the
pdfmark
macros installed by using
-m pdfmark
or
-m mspdf
(see documentation in
pdfmark.pdf).
A subset of these macros are installed automatically when you use
-Tpdf
so you should not need to use '-m pdfmark' for using most of
the PDF functionality.
gropdf
also supports a subset of the commands introduced in present.tmac.
Specifically it supports:-
-
PAUSE
BLOCKS
BLOCKE
Which allows you to create presentation type PDFs.
Many of the other
commands are already available in other macro packages.
These commands are implemented with
groff
X commands:-
- \X'ps: exec %%%%PAUSE
-
The section before this is treated as a block and is introduced using the
current BLOCK transition setting (see 'pdf: transition' below).
This command
can be introduced using the macro
.pdfpause.
- \X'ps: exec %%%%BEGINONCE
-
Any text following this command (up to %%%%ENDONCE) is shown only once,
the next %%%%PAUSE will remove it.
If producing a non presentation pdf, i.e.
ignoring the pauses, see
GROPDF_NOSLIDE
below, this text is ignored.
- \X'ps: exec %%%%ENDONCE
-
This terminates the block defined by %%%%BEGINONCE.
This pair of commands
is what implements the .BLOCKS Once/.BLOCKE commands in present.tmac.
The
mom
macro set already has integration with these extensions so you can build
slides with
mom.
If you use present.tmac with
gropdf
there is no need to run the program
presentps(1)
since the output will already be a presentation pdf.
All other
ps:
tags are silently ignored.
One
\X
special used by the DVI driver is also recognised:
- \X'papersize=paper-size'
-
where the
paper-size
parameter is the same as the
papersize
command.
See
groff_font(5)
for details.
This means that you can alter the page size at will within the PDF file
being created by
gropdf.
If you do want to change the paper size, it must be done before you start
creating the page.
In addition,
gropdf
supports its own suite of
pdf:
tags.
The following tags are supported:
- \X'pdf: pdfpic file alignment width height line-length'
-
Place an image of the specified
width
containing the PDF drawing from file
file
of desired
width
and
height
(if
height
is missing or zero then it is scaled proportionally).
If
alignment
is
-L
the drawing is left aligned.
If it is
-C
or
-R
a
linelength
greater than the width of the drawing is required as well.
If
width
is specified as zero then the width is scaled in proportion to the height.
- \X'pdf: xrev'
-
This toggles a flag which reverses the direction of printing
letter by letter,
i.e., each separate letter is reversed, not the entire word.
This is useful for reversing the direction of glyphs in the Dingbats font.
To return to normal printing repeat the command again.
- \X'pdf: markstart /ANN definition'
-
The macros which support PDF Bookmarks use this call internally to
start the definition of bookmark hotspot (user will have called
'.pdfhref~L' with the text which will become the 'hot
spot' region).
Normally this is never used except from within the pdfmark macros.
- \X'pdf: markend'
-
The macros which support PDF Bookmarks use this call internally to
stop the definition of bookmark hotspot (user will have called
'.pdfhref~L' with the text which will become the 'hot
spot' region).
Normally this is never used except from within the pdfmark macros.
- \X'pdf: marksuspend'
-
\X'pdf: markrestart'
If you are using page traps to produce headings, footings, etc., you
need to use these in case a 'hot spot' crosses a page
boundary, otherwise any text output by the heading or footing macro
will be marked as part of the 'hot spot'.
To stop this happening just place '.pdfmarksuspend' and
'.pdfmarkrestart' at the start and end of the page trap macro,
respectively.
(These are just convenience macros which emit the \X code.
These macros must only be used within page traps.)
- \X'pdf: transition'feature mode duration dimension motion direction scale bool
-
where
-
feature
can be either SLIDE or BLOCK.
When it is SLIDE the transition is used
when a new slide is introduced to the screen, if BLOCK then this transition
is used for the individual blocks which make up the slide.
mode
is the transition type between slides:-
-
-
Split
- Two lines sweep across the screen, revealing the new page.
The lines
may be either horizontal or vertical and may move inward from the
edges of the page or outward from the center, as specified by the
dimension
and
motion
entries, respectively.
Blinds
- Multiple lines, evenly spaced across the screen, synchronously
sweep in the same direction to reveal the new page.
The lines may be
either horizontal or vertical, as specified by the
dimension
entry.
Horizontal
lines move downward; vertical lines move to the right.
Box
- A rectangular box sweeps inward from the edges of the page or
outward from the center, as specified by the
motion
entry, revealing the new page.
Wipe
- A single line sweeps across the screen from one edge to the other in
the direction specified by the
direction
entry, revealing the new page.
Dissolve
- The old page dissolves gradually to reveal the new one.
Glitter
- Similar to Dissolve, except that the effect sweeps across the page in a
wide band moving from one side of the screen to the other in the
direction specified by the
direction
entry.
R
- The new page simply replaces the old one with no special transition
effect; the
direction
entry shall be ignored.
Fly
- (PDF 1.5) Changes are flown out or in (as specified by
motion),
in the
direction specified by
direction,
to or from a location that is offscreen except
when
direction
is
None.
Push
- (PDF 1.5) The old page slides off the screen while the new page
slides in, pushing the old page out in the direction specified by
direction.
Cover
- (PDF 1.5) The new page slides on to the screen in the direction
specified by
direction,
covering the old page.
Uncover
- (PDF 1.5) The old page slides off the screen in the direction
specified by
direction,
uncovering the new page in the direction
specified by
direction.
Fade
- (PDF 1.5) The new page gradually becomes visible through the
old one.
-
duration
is the length of the transition in seconds (default 1).
-
dimension
(Optional;
Split and Blinds
transition styles only) The dimension in which the
specified transition effect shall occur:
H
Horizontal, or
V
Vertical.
-
motion
(Optional;
Split,
Box and Fly
transition styles only) The direction of motion for
the specified transition effect:
I
Inward from the edges of the page, or
O
Outward from the center of the page.
-
direction
(Optional;
Wipe,
Glitter,
Fly,
Cover,
Uncover and Push
transition styles only)
The direction in which the specified transition effect shall moves, expressed in
degrees counterclockwise starting from a left-to-right direction.
If the value is a number, it shall be one of:
0
= Left to right,
90
= Bottom to top (Wipe only),
180
= Right to left (Wipe only),
270
= Top to bottom,
315
= Top-left to bottom-right (Glitter only)
The value can be
None,
which is relevant only for the
Fly
transition when the value of
scale
is not 1.0.
-
scale
(Optional; PDF 1.5;
Fly
transition style only) The starting or ending scale at
which the changes shall be drawn.
If
motion
specifies an inward transition, the scale
of the changes drawn shall progress from
scale
to 1.0 over the course of the
transition.
If
motion
specifies an outward transition, the scale of the changes drawn
shall progress from 1.0 to
scale
over the course of the transition
-
bool
(Optional; PDF 1.5;
Fly
transition style only) If
true,
the area that shall be flown
in is rectangular and opaque.
-
This command can be used by calling the macro
.pdftransition
using the parameters described above.
Any of the parameters may be
replaced with a "." which signifies the parameter retains its
previous value, also any trailing missing parameters are ignored.
-
Note:
not all PDF Readers support any or all these transitions.
Importing graphics
gropdf
only supports importing other PDF files as graphics.
But that PDF file may contain any of the graphic formats supported by
the PDF standard (such as JPEG, PNG, GIF, etc.).
So any application which outputs PDF can be used as an embedded file
in
gropdf.
The PDF file you wish to insert must be a single page and the drawing
must just fit inside the media size of the PDF file.
So, in
inkscape(1)
or
gimp(1)
(for example) make sure the canvas size just fits the image.
The PDF parser used in
gropdf
has not been rigorously tested with all possible applications which
produce PDFs.
If you find a single page PDF which fails to import properly, it is
worth running it through the
pdftk(1)
program by issuing the command:
-
pdftk
oldfile.pdf
output
newfile.pdf
You may find that
newfile.pdf
will now load successfully.
TrueType and other font formats
gropdf
does not support any other fonts except Adobe Type 1 (PFA or PFB).
FONT INSTALLATION
This section gives a summary of the above explanations; it can serve
as a step-by-step font installation guide for
gropdf.
-
•
Convert your font to something groff understands.
This is either a PostScript Type~1 font in either PFA or PFB,
together with an AFM file.
-
The very first line in a PFA/PFB file contains this:
-
-
%!PS-AdobeFont-1.0:
-
A PFB file has this also in the first line, but the string is
preceded with some binary bytes.
-
•
Convert the AFM file to a groff font description file with the
afmtodit(1)
program.
An example call is
-
-
afmtodit Foo-Bar-Bold.afm map/textmap FBB
-
which converts the metric file 'Foo-Bar-Bold.afm' to the groff
font 'FBB'.
If you have a font family which comes with normal, bold, italic, and
bold italic faces, it is recommended to use the letters
R,
B,
I,
and
BI,
respectively, as postfixes in the groff font names to make groff's
'.fam' request work.
An example is groff's built-in Times-Roman font: The font family
name is
T,
and the groff font names are
TR,
TB,
TI,
and
TBI.
-
•
Install both the groff font description files and the fonts in a
'devpdf' subdirectory of the font path which groff finds.
See section "Environment" in
troff(1)
for the actual value of the font path.
Note that groff doesn't use the AFM files (but it is a good idea to
store them anyway).
-
•
Register all fonts which must be downloaded to the printer in the
devpdf/download
file.
Only the first occurrence of this file in the font path is read.
This means that you should copy the default
download
file to the first directory in your font path and add your fonts there.
To continue the above example we assume that the PS font name for
Foo-Bar-Bold.pfa is 'XY-Foo-Bar-Bold' (the PS font name is
stored in the
internalname
field in the
FBB
file) and belongs to foundry 'F'
thus the following line should be added to
download:
-
-
F XY-Foo-Bar-Bold Foo-Bar-Bold.pfa
Use a tab character to separate the fields, and the 'foundry'
field should be null for the default foundry.
ENVIRONMENT
- GROFF_FONT_PATH
-
A list of directories in which to search for the
devname
directory in addition to the default ones.
If, in the
download
file,
the font file has been specified with a full path,
no directories are searched.
See
troff(1)
and
groff_font(5)
for more details.
- GROPDF_NOSLIDE
-
If this is set true,
gropdf
will ignore all commands which produce a presentation pdf,
and produce a normal pdf instead.
- SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
-
A timestamp (expressed as seconds since the Unix epoch) to use as the
creation timestamp in place of the current time.
FILES
- /usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:font/devpdf/DESC
-
Device description file.
- /usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:font/devpdf/F
-
Font description file for font~F.
- /usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:font/devpdf/U-F
-
Font description file for font~F
(using foundry~U
rather than the default foundry).
- /usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:font/devpdf/download
-
List of downloadable fonts.
- /usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:font/devpdf/Foundry
-
A Perl script used during install to locate suitable fonts.
- /usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:font/devpdf/enc/text.enc
-
Encoding used for text fonts.
- /usr/:share/:groff/:1.22.4/:tmac/pdf.tmac
-
Macros for use with
gropdf;
automatically loaded by
troffrc.
SEE ALSO
afmtodit(1),
groff(1),
troff(1),
groff_font(5),
groff_out(5)
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- OPTIONS
-
- USAGE
-
- Importing graphics
-
- TrueType and other font formats
-
- FONT INSTALLATION
-
- ENVIRONMENT
-
- FILES
-
- SEE ALSO
-
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Time: 08:55:10 GMT, December 16, 2021