CDLABELGEN(1) User Contributed Perl Documentation CDLABELGEN(1)NAMEcdlabelgen - CD/DVD jewel case inserts and envelopes creator. Gener‐
ates frontcards and traycards for CD cases, single-cd envelopes, DVD
case inserts.
SYNOPSIScdlabelgen [ -c <category> -s <subcategory> -i <item1%item2%etc> -f
<itemsfile> -v <num_items_cover> -e <cover_epsfile> -S
<cover_eps_scaleratio>[,<image_x_offset>,<image_y_offset_inches>] -E
<tray_epsfile> -T <tray_eps_scaleratio>[,<image_x_offset>,<image_y_off‐
set_inches>] -d <date> -D -o <outputfile> -t <template> -b -C -w -h -m
-M -O -p -y <page_offset_inches> -l <line_width_points>] --cre‐
ate-dvd-inside --create-dvd-outside --plaque-color <r,g,b> --cate‐
gory-color <r,g,b> --subcategory-color <r,g,b> --text-color <r,g,b> -n
<volume/number in set>
VERSION
Version 3.0.0, November 2003
DESCRIPTION
cdlabelgen's purpose in life is twofold:
· To be run automatically and swiftly from a shell script and auto‐
matically generate a frontcard and a traycard for a cd--usually
data archive cd's. The traycard (which goes behind the CD itself)
is U-shaped and the ends of the CD case bear the label of what the
CD is. Inside inserts for DVDs are also supported.
· To have a minimum of dependencies--cdlabelgen only requires perl.
cdlabelgen was designed to simplify the process of generating labels
for CD's. It originated as a program to allow auto generation of front‐
cards and traycards for CD's burned via an automated mechanism (specif‐
ically for archiving data), but has now become popular for labelling CD
compilations of mp3's, and copies of CDs. Note that cdlabelgen does not
actually print anything--it just spits out postscript, which you can
then do with as you please.
The latest version of cdlabelgen as well as this document can be found
at http://www.aczone.com/tools/cdinsert/. The software package includes
CGI scripts that can be used to serve cdlabelgen over the internet. An
older version may be available at: http://www.red-bean.com/~bwf/soft‐
ware/cdlabelgen/.
cdlabelgen comes with several eps images for you to use on your labels.
These images can be found in /usr/local/lib/cdlabelgen or
/usr/share/cdlabelgen or /opt/lib/cdlabelgen/ or /usr/local/share/cdla‐
belgen, depending on your installation. Included are a Recycling icon,
an mp3 icon, the Compact Disc icon (with and without 'Digital' on it),
Tux the penguin, and the new Debian 'swirl' logo. Two color background
images called Music Notes are also available.
CDs: cdlabelgen prints a 'tongue' as part of the traycard. This folds
around and is viewable from the front in jewel boxes that are entirely
clear (CD holder piece is not opaque). If you do not have a clear CD
holder in your jewel box, you may find it easier to just cut the
'tongue' off--it's a bit easier to fold without it.
Paper Sizes: Normal CD cases, Slim CD cases, DVD inside inserts can be
printed on a letter or A4 sized page. CD/DVD Envelopes and DVD outside
inserts will not fit on a letter sized paper, a larger paper size will
be needed to make it fit.
cdlabelgen requires Perl Version 5.003 or greater. Ghostscript is not
required, but is recommended so that you can test out your labels with‐
out wasting paper.
SWITCHES-c, category <category>
Set the category (title) for the CD
-s, subcategory <subcategory>
Set the subcategory (subtitle) for the CD
-i, --items <items>
'items' should be a '%' separated list of items to print on the
traycard of the CD. Note that if the number of items are too many
to fit on the tray card, cdlabelgen will leave out some items at
the end. cdlabelgen automatically flows the items into 2, 3, 4, or
5 columns and scales the fontsize accordingly, unless the "-P"
option is used. You can insert blank lines by inserting 2 percent
signs in a row into the items list.
-f, --items-from-file <filename>
Get item names from file named filename. Each item should be on its
own line separated by carriage returns. cdlabelgen automatically
flows the items into 2, 3, 4, or 5 columns and scales the fontsize
or clips the items as needed. You can insert blank lines by plac‐
ing blank lines between items in this file
-v, --cover-items <number_of_items_for_cover>
Normally, all the items are printed on the tray card. But if you
have a large number of items, you may wish to print some items on
the cover, and rest on the tray card. This option provides a way
of specifying how many items should be printed on the cover.
Default is 0 (i.e., print no item on the cover, print all items on
the tray). The items to be printed on the cover are taken from the
list of items, from the top of the list. Note that if the number
of items is too many to fit on the cover, it will result in items
being dropped. As of Jan 2002, around 250-300 items can be fitted
on the cover or the tray, depending on whether a title/subti‐
tle/date is used or not.
-d, --date <date>
Set the date to be used as 'date' if not set or not overridden with
the -D flag, today's date will be used (default is today's date).
Use this option if you don't like cdlabelgen's default format of
YYCC-MM-YY, for example.
-D, --no-date
Do not print any date (overrides -d as well)
-e, --cover-image <cover_epsfile>
Filename of eps file to print on cover. Note that cdlabelgen
requires that the eps file contain a proper '%%BoundingBox LLx LLy
URx URy' declaration according to the PostScript Document Structur‐
ing Conventions. cdlabelgen uses this line to determine the dimen‐
sions of the eps graphic so that it can position it appropriately
on the cover. Note that cdlabelgen first looks for this file in
your working directory. If it doesn't find it there, it will look
in the list of directories where the default eps files are stored
(see @where_is_the_template). This makes it easy to use the images
shipped with cdlabgelgen without typing miles of pathnames.
-S, --cover-image-scaleratio <cover_eps_scaleratio [,image_x_off‐
set,image_y_offset_inches]>
The ratio by which you want to scale the epsfile that appears on
the cover. If you omit this flag, cdlabelgen assumes a scaleratio
of 1.0. This flag allows you to squeeze larger graphics into the
cover or expand smaller graphics to fill the cover. Scaleratio must
be a number (int or float).
If the scale value passed is 0 (or 0.0), then the logo is used as a
background image - it will be scaled as required to fit the entire
cover.
The -S option also takes optional translate arguments. Normally
images are printed on the cover and the tray so that the bottom-
right of the image is anchored to the bottom-right of the cover or
tray. To move the images away from the bottom and right borders,
use this option. For example, to leave two inches of gap between
the image and the bottom border, and 0.5 inches from the left bor‐
der, and use 1.0 scaleratio, use this: -S 1.0,-2,0.5
This offset only applies when the image is being used as a logo -
i.e., image is not being used as background to fill the entire
cover or tray.
-E, --tray-image <tray_epsfile>
Filename of eps file to print on traycard. Note that cdlabelgen
requires that the eps file contain a proper '%%BoundingBox LLx LLy
URx URy' declaration according to the PostScript Document Structur‐
ing Conventions. cdlabelgen uses this line to determine the dimen‐
sions of the eps graphic so that it can position it appropriately
on the cover. Note that cdlabelgen first looks for this file in
your working directory. If it doesn't find it there, it will look
in the list of directories where the default eps files are stored
(see @where_is_the_template). This makes it easy to use the images
shipped with cdlabgelgen without typing miles of pathnames.
-T, --tray-image-scaleratio <tray_eps_scaleratio [,image_x_off‐
set,image_y_offset_inches]>
The ratio by which you want to scale the epsfile that appears on
the traycard. If you omit this flag, cdlabelgen assumes a scalera‐
tio of 1. This flag allows you to squeeze larger graphics into the
traycard or expand smaller graphics to fill the traycard. Scalera‐
tio must be a positive number (int or float) specifying the scale.
If the scale value passed is the word fill1, then the image is used
as a background - it is scaled so that it completely fills the
interior tray card region. The value 0 (or 0.0) works same as the
fill1 argument.
If the value passed is the word fill2, then the image is used as a
background to fill more than just the tray. For normal CD cases,
the image is scaled so that it completely fills both the tray card
region, and the two endcaps (but not the extreme right-hand
'tongue-cap') for normal cd cases. For Slim CD cases or DVD
Inside/Outside covers, the tray image will fill both the tray and
cover regions (including any spines).
The -T option also takes optional translate arguments. Normally
images are printed on the cover and the tray so that the bottom-
right of the image is anchored to the bottom-right of the cover or
tray. To move the images away from the bottom and right borders,
use this option. For example, to leave two inches of gap between
the image and the bottom border, and 0.5 inches from the left bor‐
der, and use 1.0 scaleratio, use this: -T 1.0,-2,0.5
This offset only applies when the image is being used as a logo -
i.e., image is not being used as background to fill the entire
cover or tray.
-o, --output-file <outputfile>
If the -o flag is used, cdlabelgen prints to outputfile instead of
STDOUT.
-t, --template <template>
Specify explicitly which template to use. This is useful if you
need to debug the PostScript code in the template, use a different
template, or if you have created your own template to use in lieu
of the one provided with cdlabelgen.
-b, --no-tray-plaque
Suppresses printing of the Plaque on the traycard, thus allowing
you to either fit even more items on the traycard, or to use a
slightly larger font size for the items.
-C, --no-cover-plaque
Suppresses printing of the plaque on the front cover, thus allowing
a cover image that fills the front cover, but still displaying cat‐
egory and sub-category information in the other usual places.
-h, --help
print out the usage message
-w, --tray-word-wrap
Enables word wrapping of the items that print on the traycard. Note
that this is *not* extensively tested and may be buggy! Make sure
that you preview your label before printing it if you use this
flag.
If there is a problem with "-w", the best option right now is to
split lines in the input itself, and to omit the "-w" option.
-m, --create-slim-cover
Creates covers suitable for use in slim cd-cases, this means no
tray card (the tray card is now the inside front cover). This cre‐
ates a two page, folding cover insert. This could also be used in
normal cd cases.
-O, --outside_foldout
Output slim cd cover cases (or dvd inserts) with the order of the
pages switched so the folding line lies on the outside of a normal
case. Can be used when printing either the slim-cd-case or dvd-
inside inserts.
-M, --create-envelope
Creates covers suitable for use as envelopes for a CD. Guide lines
are printed, to aid in folding the printout correctly.
--create-dvd-inside
Creates inserts suitable for use as inside insert for a normal DVD
case. Guide lines are printed, to aid in folding the printout cor‐
rectly. Note: DVD inserts may not print fully on Letter or A4
sized paper printers; it may require larger paper sizes.
--create-dvd-outside
Creates inserts suitable for use as outside cover inserts for a
normal DVD case. Guide lines are printed, to aid in folding the
printout correctly. Note: DVD inserts may not print fully on Let‐
ter or A4 sized paper printers; it may require larger paper sizes.
-p, --clip-items
Enables clipping of items; uses fixed font size for all items.
Normally, the template.ps used by cdlabelgen will try to fit an
item in a given column by reducing the font size if needed. This is
ok if done for one or two items, but if done too often, it makes
the tray card look ugly, with text of varying font sizes.
Use this option to use a fixed width font for all items. If the
item is too large to fit in a column, the text will be clipped
instead.
-y, --page-offset <y_offset_inches>
Use this to move the entire output up or down, to make the output
fit on appropriate sized paper. For letter sized paper, 0.8 works
well, and for A4 paper, 1.5 works well. The value is in units of
inches.
-l, --line-width <line_width_points>
Specify size in points of the edge and interior lines of the cover
and tray card. If this is 0, then the lines are omitted for both
the cover and tray (but guide cut lines are still printed). The
size is specified in points (1 point is 1/72 inch).
--plaque-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color to fill plaque. Color must be specified using the
rgb components, each value should be between 0 and 255.
--category-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color for category. Color must be specified using the
rgb components, each value should be between 0 and 255.
--subcategory-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color for subcategory. Color must be specified using the
rgb components, each value should be between 0 and 255.
--text-color <r,g,b>
Specify a color for text - this is used for the list of items, and
the date display under the plaque and in the end-caps. Color must
be specified using the rgb components, each value should be between
0 and 255.
-n, --number-in-set <string>
Append volume information to the end of the date string. This
should be a single string. If used in conjuction with "-D", it
will be in place of the date; otherwise, it is appended to the date
as " - <number-in-set>"
EXAMPLEScdlabelgen-c "My Filesystem"
-s "/usr/local/foo"
-e postscript/recycle.eps > foo.ps
cdlabelgen-c "title of cd"
-s "subtitle"
-i "Item 1%and Item 2%a third item here perhaps"
-e postscript/recycle.eps > bar.ps
cdlabelgen-c "Fitz"
-s "home directory"
-o qux.ps
cdlabelgen-c "Backups"
-s "home directory"
-n "4 of 5"
CHARACTER ENCODINGS - using ogonkify
cdlabelgen uses the Helvetica family of fonts for various text items,
using the default encoding of ISO-Latin1.
To use other encodings, the "ogonkify" program can be used; this is a
package available at http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/ogonkify/
The output from cdlabelgen can be piped into ogonkify, example for
Latin2 encoding:
cdlabelgen <args> ⎪ ogonkify -H -eL2 > <outputfilename>
See the man page for ogonkify for other possible values for the encod‐
ing.
Hint: if you always work with a particular encoding, you can just run
ogonkify on template.ps - and use the output as the new template.ps.
ogonkify -H -eL2 template.ps > template-enc.ps
This way ogonkify has to be run only once, cdlabelgen output will con‐
tain the correctly encoded fonts from the modified template.ps. Use the
-tcdlabelgen option to specify the new template-enc.ps file, or save
the old template.ps and renmae template-enc.ps to template.ps.
PRINTING
When using tools such as Adobe Acrobat to print the .ps or a .pdf file,
make sure that "Fit To Paper" option is unchecked. Also uncheck any
option that will perform scaling up or down of the cdlabelgen output
file.
Failure to do so will result in incorrect size printouts.
Paper Sizes: Normal CD cases, Slim CD cases, DVD inside inserts can be
printed on a letter or A4 sized page. CD/DVD Envelopes and DVD outside
inserts will not fit on a letter sized paper, a larger paper size will
be needed to make it fit.
When using different sized paper, experimentation with the -y (also:
--page-offset) <page_offset_inches> option may be required to place the
image in the printable region of the paper.
AUTHOR
Currently maintained by Avinash Chopde <avinash@aczone.com>
Original author: B. W. Fitzpatrick <fitz@red-bean.com>
THANKS
- Karl Fogel, for general encouragement and that free software vibe
- Adam Di Carlo, for bug testing, help and making the .deb
- Greg Gallagher, for bug testing, coding, and tons of suggestions
- Goran Larsson, for feedback and date fixes
- Jens Claussen, for the patch to allow arbitrary ISO-Latin1 characters
- Bernard Quatermass, for contributing several excellent new features
- Sebastian Wenzler <sick@home.and.drunk.at> for reports, tests, RPM ['01]
- Peter Bieringer <pb@bieringer.de> for RPM .spec file ['02]
- Ronald Rael Harvest <number6@cox.net> for original envelope template ['02]
- Alessandro Dotti Contra <alessandro.dotti@libero.it> for color support,
man page and other improvements ['02]
Mathias Herberts
- Mathias Herberts <Mathias.Herberts@iroise.net>, for slim cdcase foldout
ERRATA
Perhaps one of the most important features that I wanted in a CD
labelling program was the ability to print Title/Subtitle, and date
information on the endcaps of the CD jewel box to allow me to keep ar‐
chive disks in a standard CD rack and find a particular one without
yanking them all out and shuffling through them like a deck of cards.
cdlabelgen was inspired by the need for not only a simple cd labelling
program (there are many available), but by the need for a free
labelling program which could be integrated easily with scheduled CD
archiving routines. I did find a program called cdlabel
http://londo.ncl.ac.uk/~npac/cdlabel/, but that one is designed to work
with CDDB.
I searched the net for a suitable program, but found none, so taking
cues from programs that I found that perform similar tasks (like tape
labellers and DAT labellers), I embarked on this venture. Notable
inspiration came from the incredible audio-tape.ps by Jamie Zawinski
(which is indeed, as Jamie notes, completely out of control). Other
ideas were drawn from casslabel.c, and cdlabel.cc (noted above).
Please report bugs and submit any patches to the current author's email
address.
TODO
** Ability to change the text style on a given line:
{#B}Track# {#P}Title {#I} Text...
[Workaround available: just use multi columns input, use blank
lines to spread out input items into columns]
** Ability to select or specify fonts for the text/items
perl v5.9.4 2003-11-15 CDLABELGEN(1)
