dpost(1) User Commands dpost(1)
NAME
dpost - troff postprocessor for PostScript printers
SYNOPSIS
dpost [-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
DESCRIPTION
dpost 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 respon-
sible 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 typically be about 20 percent faster than level 0, which is the default and
produces output essentially identical to previous 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 expression 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 directory
/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 appropriate 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 |SUNWpsf |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
download(1), postdaisy(1), postdmd(1), postio(1), postmd(1), postprint(1), postreverse(1), posttek(1), troff(1), attributes(5)
NOTES
Output files often do not conform to Adobe's file structuring conventions. 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
output file. No attempt has been made to implement the character sets or fonts available on all devices supported by troff. Missing charac-
ters 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)