GROPDF(1) General Commands Manual GROPDF(1)
NAME
gropdf - PDF driver for groff
SYNOPSIS
gropdf [-dels] [-F dir] [-I dir] [-p paper-size] [-u [cmapfile]]
[-y foundry] [file ...]
gropdf -v
gropdf --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 pro-
duces 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, usu-
ally 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 direc-
tory 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 pa-
persize, 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 mul-
tiple 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 sup-
ported 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 charac-
ter 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 se-
quence 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/de-
vpdf/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 de-
fault 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 re-
verses 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 sup-
ported.
\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 functional-
ity.
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: transi-
tion’ 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 com-
mand. 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 propor-
tion 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 re-
peat 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 bound-
ary, otherwise any text output by the heading or footing macro
will be marked as part of the ‘hot spot’. To stop this happen-
ing 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 verti-
cal, 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 di-
rection 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 speci-
fied by the direction entry.
R - The new page simply replaces the old one with no spe-
cial transition effect; the direction entry shall be ig-
nored.
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 direc-
tion 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 oc-
cur: H Horizontal, or V Vertical.
motion (Optional; Split, Box and Fly transition styles only) The
direction of motion for the specified transition effect: I In-
ward 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 counter-
clockwise 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 start-
ing or ending scale at which the changes shall be drawn. If mo-
tion 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 us-
ing 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 ig-
nored.
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 out-
puts 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 in-
side 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 pre-
ceded 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 sec-
tion “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 be-
longs 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 direc-
tory in addition to the default ones. If, in the download file,
the font file has been specified with a full path, no directo-
ries are searched. See troff(1) and groff_font(5) for more de-
tails.
GROPDF_NOSLIDE
If this is set true, gropdf will ignore all commands which pro-
duce 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)
groff 1.22.4 7 March 2023 GROPDF(1)
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