dvispc -d input_dvi_file
dvispc -s [-p..] input_dvi_file [output_text_file]
dvispc -a [-ltv] [-J..] [-p..] [-r..] input_dvi_file [output_text_file]
dvispc -x[..] [-ltv] [-r..] [input_text_file] output_dvi_file
Mode option -c (default):
correct an input DVI to be page-independent in specials (default)
Mode option -d:
dry run to check if an input DVI is page-independent in specials
Mode option -s:
show all specials in the input DVI
Mode option -a:
translate DVI into a Text (like dv2dt in dtl)
Mode option -x:
translate Text into a DVI (like dt2dv in dtl)
(1) The main feature of dvispc is the first one, to make a page-independent DVI file.
A "pure" DVI file must be actually page-independent. However in recent years, DVI files with lots of \special's (color, annotation etc.) are commonly used, and they are not always page-independent. In such case, for example, dviselect or dvidvi fails to preserve \special's (e.g. page color might be lost).
The program dvispc corrects such page-"dependent" DVI files to be page-independent, which can be safely processed by dviselect or dvidvi and then properly converted to other formats such as PostScript and PDF.
(2) To know whether such a correction is needed or not, dvispc -d will suffice.
(3) The mode -s lists all specials found in the input DVI as-is, with a preceding number which denotes the page where it appears. For example,
This feature is equivalent to a program dvispecials in TeX-Guy package <http://www-masu.ist.osaka-u.ac.jp/%7Ekakugawa/TeX-Guy/> and dvii -s <https://ctan.org/pkg/dvii>.
(4) The mode -a and -x correspond to dv2dt and dt2dv in the dtl (= DVI Text Language) package respectively. By default dvispc -a formats the output text in its own style, but DTL-compatible format is available with -t option. Also, dvispc -x can accept DTL-compatible text input.
dvips-compatible specials
color push, color pop, background
dvipdfm(x) specials
pdf:bcolor, pdf:ecolor, pdf:bgcolor, pdf:bann, pdf:eann
tpic specials:
pn
Other specials might be supported in the future if needed.