(A copy of this chapter is in the distribution file `dvipsk/INSTALL'.)
Installing Dvips is mostly the same as installing any Kpathsea-using program. Therefore, for the basic steps involved, see section `Installation' in Kpathsea. (A copy is in the file `kpathsea/INSTALL'.)
For solutions to common installation problems and information on how to report a bug, see the file `kpathsea/BUGS' (see section `Bugs' in Kpathsea). For solutions to Dvips-specific problems, see section Debug options. Also see the Dvips home page at @url{http://www.radicaleye.com/dvips}.
Dvips does require some additional installation, detailed in the sections below. Also, to configure color devices, see section Color device configuration.
Dvips has its own configuration files: a file `config.ps' for
sitewide defaults, and a file `config.printer' for each
printer (output device). Since these are site-specific, make
install does not create them; you must create them yourself.
(These Dvips configuration files are independent of the Kpathsea onfiguration file `texmf.cnf' (see section `Config files' in Kpathsea).
Dvips configuration files contents and searching are described fully in section Dvips configuration files. The simplest way to create a new configuration file is to copy and modify the file `dvipsk/contrib/config.proto', seasoning with options to your taste from section Dvips configuration files. Here is `config.proto' for your reading pleasure:
% Prototype Dvips configuration file.
% How to print, maybe with lp instead lpr, etc.
o |lpr
% Default resolution of this device, in dots per inch.
D 600
% Metafont mode. (This is completely different from the -M command-line
% option, which controls whether MakeTeXPK is invoked.) Get
% @url{ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/modes.mf} for a list of mode names. This mode
% and the D number above must agree, or MakeTeXPK will get confused.
M ljfour
% Memory available. Download the three-line PostScript file:
% %! Hey, we're PostScript
% /Times-Roman findfont 30 scalefont setfont 144 432 moveto
% vmstatus exch sub 40 string cvs show pop showpage
% to determine this number. (It will be the only thing printed.)
m 3500000
% Correct printer offset. You can use testpage.tex from the LaTeX
% distribution to find these numbers. Print testpage.dvi more than once.
O 0pt,0pt
% Partially download Type 1 fonts by default. Only reason not to do
% this is if you encounter bugs. (Please report them to
% @email{tex-k@mail.tug.org} if you do.)
j
% Also look for fonts at these resolutions.
R 300 600
% With a high resolution and a RISC cpu, better to compress the bitmaps.
Z
% Uncomment these if you have and want to use PostScript versions of the
% fonts.
%p +cmfonts.map
%p +lafonts.map
%p +cyrfonts.map
%p +eufonts.map
% You will also want definitions for alternative paper sizes -- A4,
% legal, and such. Examples in `contrib/papersize.level2' and
% `contrib/papersize.simple'.
To use PostScript fonts with TeX and Dvips, you need both metric files (`.tfm' and `.vf') and the outlines (`.pfa' or `.pfb'). See section Font concepts.
To support the basic PostScript font set, the recommended (and simplest)
approach is to retrieve @url{ftp://ftp.tug.org/tex/psfonts.tar.gz} and
unpack it in your $(fontdir) directory
(`/usr/local/share/texmf/fonts' by default). This archive contains
metrics, outlines, and bitmaps (for previewing) for the 35 de facto
standard fonts donated by URW and the additional high-quality freely
available PostScript fonts donated by Adobe, Bitstream, and URW,
including geometrically-created variants such as oblique and small caps.
`CTAN:/fonts/psfonts' contains support for many additional fonts for which you must buy outlines (Adobe, Bigelow & Holmes, Monotype, Softkey, Y&Y). `psfonts.tar.gz' is a small extract from this directory. (For CTAN info, see section `unixtex.ftp' in Kpathsea; a copy is in the top-level file `INSTALL'.)
If you have additional PostScript fonts, you can make them available to Dvips by (1) giving them with appropriate filenames; and (2) running Afm2tfm (see section Making a PostScript font available) to make TFM and VF metrics for TeX and Dvips to use. Also add them to `psfonts.map' if necessary (see section `psfonts.map': PostScript font catalog); it contains everything contained in `psfonts.tar.gz' and most fonts that come with Unix systems.
Following are locations for vendor-supplied fonts. Please mail @email{tex-k@mail.tug.org} if you find fonts elsewhere on your system.
The NeXT system supplies more fonts than any others, but there's a lot of overlap.
Finally, if you have an Hewlett-Packard printer, you should be able to get Type 1 font files for the standard 35 fonts from HP, if the freely available URW Type 1's do not satisfy for whatever reason. The phone number for HP Printer Drivers is (in the United States) 303-339-7009. The driver set to ask for is Adobe Type Manager 2.51, and the disk set number is `MP210en3'. Mentioning anything other than Microsoft Windows when you ask for the driver set will likely lead to great confusion on the other end.
Ghostscript is a PostScript interpreter freely available to end-users, written by Peter Deutsch. It can read the PostScript produced by Dvips and render it on your monitor, or for another device (e.g., an Epson printer) that does not support PostScript, or in PDF format. The latest version is available via @url{http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.html} and @url{ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/pub/ghost/aladdin/}.
A somewhat older version of Ghostscript is available under the GNU General Public License, free to everyone. You can get that from @url{ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/}.
The program Ghostview, written by Tim Theisen, provides typical previewing capabilities (next page/previous page, magnification, etc.). It requires Ghostscript to run, and files in structured Postscript, specifically with `%%Page' comments (no `N' in `config.ps'). You can get Ghostview from the same places as Ghostscript.
You've gone through all the trouble of installing Dvips, carefully read all the instructions in this manual, and still can't get something to work. The following sections provide some helpful hints if you find yourself in such a situation.
For details on effective bug reporting, common installation problems,
and mktexpk problems, see section `Bugs' in Kpathsea.
The `-d' flag to Dvips helps in tracking down certain errors. The
parameter to this flag is an integer that tells what errors are
currently being tracked. To track a certain class of debug messages,
simply provide the appropriate number given below; if you wish to track
multiple classes, sum the numbers of the classes you wish to track. To
track all classes, you can use -1. Another useful value is
3650, which tracks everything having to do with file searching
and opening.
Some of these debugging options are actually provided by Kpathsea (see section `Debugging' in Kpathsea).
The classes are:
stat calls
If you are not getting any output at all, even from the simplest one-character file (for instance, `\ \bye'), then something is very wrong. Practically any file sent to a PostScript laser printer should generate some output, at the very least a page detailing what error occurred, if any. Talk to your system administrator about downloading a PostScript error handler. (Adobe distributes a good one called `ehandler.ps'.)
It is possible, especially if you are using non-Adobe PostScript, that your PostScript interpreter is broken. Even then it should generate an error message. Dvips tries to work around as many bugs as possible in common non-Adobe PostScript interpreters, but doubtless it misses a few. PowerPage Revision 1, Interpreter Version 20001.001, on a Mitsubishi Shinko CHC-S446i color thermal dye sublimation printer is known to be unable to print with any but builtin fonts.
If Dvips gives any strange error messages, or compilation on your machine generated a lot of warnings, perhaps the Dvips program itself is broken. Try using the debug options to determine where the error occurred (see section Debug options).
It is possible your spooler is broken and is misinterpreting the structured comments. Try the `-N' flag to turn off structured comments and see what happens.
If some documents come out inverted or too small, probably your spooler is not supplying an end of job indicator at the end of each file. (This commonly happens on small machines that don't have spoolers.) You can force Dvips to do this with the `-F' flag (or `F' config file option), but this generates files with a terminating binary character (control-D). You can also try using the `-s' flag (or `s' config file option) to enclose the entire job in a save/restore pair. See section Command-line options, and section Dvips configuration files.
If your printer returns error messages, the error message gives very good information on what might be going wrong. One of the most common error messages is `bop undefined'. This is caused by old versions of Transcript and other spoolers that do not properly parse the setup section of the PostScript. To fix this, turn off structured comments with the `-N' option, but it'd be best to get your spooling software updated.
Another error message is `VM exhausted'. Some printers indicate this error by locking up, others quietly reset. This is caused by Dvips thinking that the printer has more memory than it actually does, and then printing a complicated document. To fix this, try lowering the `m' parameter in the configuration file; use the debug option to make sure you adjust the correct file.
Other errors may indicate you are trying to include graphics that don't nest properly in other PostScript documents, among other things. Try the PostScript file on a QMS PS-810 or other Adobe PostScript printer if you have one, or Ghostscript (see section Ghostscript installation); it might be a problem with the printer itself.
This is usually caused by incorrectly specifying the amount of memory the printer has in the configuration file; see the previous section.
The most common problem with including graphics is an incorrect bounding box (see section The bounding box comment). Complain to whoever wrote the software that generated the file if the bounding box is indeed incorrect.
Another possible problem is that the figure you are trying to include does not nest properly; there are certain rules PostScript applications must follow when generating files to be included. The Dvips program includes work-arounds for such errors in Adobe Illustrator and other programs, but there are certainly applications that haven't been tested.
One possible thing to try is the `-K' flag which strips the comments from an included figure. This might be necessary if the PostScript spooling software does not read the structured comments correctly. Use of this flag will break graphics from some applications, though, since some applications read the PostScript file from the input stream, looking for a particular comment.
Any application which generates graphics output containing raw binary (not ASCII hex) will probably fail with Dvips.