dpost(1) User Commands dpost(1)NAMEdpost - troff postprocessor for PostScript printers
SYNOPSISdpost [-c num] [-e num] [-m num] [-n num] [-o list]
[-w num] [-x num] [-y num] [-F dir] [-H dir]
[-L file] [-O] [-T name] [file]...
/usr/lib/lp/postscript/dpost
DESCRIPTIONdpost translates files created by troff(1) into PostScript and writes
the results on the standard output. If no files are specified, or if −
is one of the input files, the standard input is read.
The files should be prepared by troff. The default font files in
/usr/lib/font/devpost produce the best and most efficient output. They
assume a resolution of 720 dpi, and can be used to format files by
adding the -Tpost option to the troff call. Older versions of the eqn
and pic preprocessors need to know the resolution that troff will be
using to format the files. If those are the versions installed on your
system, use the -r720 option with eqn and -T720 with pic.
dpost makes no assumptions about resolutions. The first x res command
sets the resolution used to translate the input files, the DESC.out
file, usually /usr/lib/font/devpost/DESC.out, defines the resolution
used in the binary font files, and the PostScript prologue is responsi‐
ble for setting up an appropriate user coordinate system.
OPTIONS-c num Print num copies of each page. By default only one copy is
printed.
-e num Sets the text encoding level to num. The recognized choices
are 0, 1, and 2. The size of the output file and print time
should decrease as num increases. Level 2 encoding will typ‐
ically be about 20 percent faster than level 0, which is the
default and produces output essentially identical to previ‐
ous versions of dpost.
-m num Magnify each logical page by the factor num. Pages are
scaled uniformly about the origin, which is located near the
upper left corner of each page. The default magnification is
1.0.
-n num Print num logical pages on each piece of paper, where num
can be any positive integer. By default, num is set to 1.
-o list Print those pages for which numbers are given in the comma-
separated list. The list contains single numbers N and
ranges N1−N2. A missing N1 means the lowest numbered page, a
missing N2 means the highest. The page range is an expres‐
sion of logical pages rather than physical sheets of paper.
For example, if you are printing two logical pages to a
sheet, and you specified a range of 4, then two sheets of
paper would print, containing four page layouts. If you
specified a page range of 3-4, when requesting two logical
pages to a sheet; then only page 3 and page 4 layouts would
print, and they would appear on one physical sheet of paper.
-p mode Print files in either portrait or landscape mode. Only the
first character of mode is significant. The default mode is
portrait.
-w num Set the line width used to implement troff graphics commands
to num points, where a point is approximately 1/72 of an
inch. By default, num is set to 0.3 points.
-x num Translate the origin num inches along the positive x axis.
The default coordinate system has the origin fixed near the
upper left corner of the page, with positive x to the right
and positive y down the page. Positive num moves everything
right. The default offset is 0 inches.
-y num Translate the origin num inches along the positive y axis.
Positive num moves text up the page. The default offset is
0.
-F dir Use dir as the font directory. The default dir is
/usr/lib/font, and dpost reads binary font files from direc‐
tory /usr/lib/font/devpost.
-H dir Use dir as the host resident font directory. Files in this
directory should be complete PostScript font descriptions,
and must be assigned a name that corresponds to the appro‐
priate two-character troff font name. Each font file is
copied to the output file only when needed and at most once
during each job. There is no default directory.
-L file Use file as the PostScript prologue which, by default, is
/usr/lib/lp/postscript/dpost.ps.
-O Disables PostScript picture inclusion. A recommended option
when dpost is run by a spooler in a networked environment.
-T name Use font files for device name as the best description of
available PostScript fonts. By default, name is set to post
and dpost reads binary files from /usr/lib/font/devpost.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Examples of the dpost command.
If the old versions of eqn and pic are installed on your system, you
can obtain the best possible looking output by issuing a command line
such as the following:
example% pic -T720 file | tbl | eqn -r720 | troff -mm -Tpost | dpost
Otherwise,
example% pic file | tbl | eqn | troff -mm -Tpost | dpost
should give the best results.
EXIT STATUS
The following exit values are returned:
0 Successful completion.
non-zero An error occurred.
FILES
/usr/lib/font/devpost/*.out
/usr/lib/font/devpost/charlib/*
/usr/lib/lp/postscript/color.ps
/usr/lib/lp/postscript/draw.ps
/usr/lib/lp/postscript/forms.ps
/usr/lib/lp/postscript/ps.requests
/usr/lib/macros/pictures
/usr/lib/macros/color
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│Availability │print/lp/filter/postscript-lp-filter │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘
SEE ALSOdownload(1), postdaisy(1), postdmd(1), postio(1), postmd(1), post‐
print(1), postreverse(1), posttek(1), troff(1), attributes(5)NOTES
Output files often do not conform to Adobe's file structuring conven‐
tions. Piping the output of dpost through postreverse(1) should produce
a minimally conforming PostScript file.
Although dpost can handle files formatted for any device, emulation is
expensive and can easily double the print time and the size of the out‐
put file. No attempt has been made to implement the character sets or
fonts available on all devices supported by troff. Missing characters
will be replaced by white space, and unrecognized fonts will usually
default to one of the Times fonts (that is, R, I, B, or BI).
An x res command must precede the first x init command, and all the
input files should have been prepared for the same output device.
Use of the -T option is not encouraged. Its only purpose is to enable
the use of other PostScript font and device description files, that
perhaps use different resolutions, character sets, or fonts.
Although level 0 encoding is the only scheme that has been thoroughly
tested, level 2 is fast and may be worth a try.
SunOS 5.11 9 Sep 1996 dpost(1)
