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Encyclopedia > Ghostscript
Ghostscript
Author: L. Peter Deutsch
Developer: Artifex Software
Initial release: August 11, 1988[1]
Latest release: 8.57 / 12 May 2007
OS: Cross-platform
Genre: PostScript and PDF interpreter
License: GNU General Public License, Aladdin Free Public License
Website: http://ghostscript.com/

Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for Adobe Systems' PostScript and Portable Document Format (PDF) page description languages. Image File history File links Ghostscript Logo (available on the official site) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Software design is the process that starts from a problem for which there is currently no acceptable (software) solution, and ends when such a solution has been created. ... L. Peter Deutsch is the founder of Aladdin Enterprises and creator of Ghostscript, a free software PostScript interpreter. ... Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a software product. ... is the 223rd day of the year (224th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link displays 1988 Gregorian calendar). ... A software release is the distribution, whether public or private, of an initial or new and upgraded version of a computer software product. ... May 12 is the 132nd day of the year (133rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... // An operating system (OS) is a set of computer programs that manage the hardware and software resources of a computer. ... A cross-platform (or platform independent) programming language, software application or hardware device works on more than one system platform (e. ... Computer software can be organized into categories based on common function, type, or field of use. ... PostScript (PS) is a page description language and programming language used primarily in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. ... Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for desktop publishing use. ... A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on a Web server, usually accessible via the Internet or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML, that is almost always accessible... Computer software (or simply software) refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of a computer for some purpose. ... Adobe Systems (pronounced a-DOE-bee IPA: ) (NASDAQ: ADBE) (LSE: ABS) is an American computer software company headquartered in San Jose, California, USA. Adobe was founded in December 1982[1] by John Warnock and Charles Geschke, who established the company after leaving Xerox PARC in order to develop and sell... PostScript (PS) is a page description language and programming language used primarily in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. ... Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for desktop publishing use. ... A page description language (PDL) is a language that describes the contents of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap. ...

Contents

Features

Ghostscript can be used as a raster image processor (RIP) for raster computer printers - for instance, as an input filter of line printer daemon - or as the RIP engine behind PostScript and PDF viewers. A raster image processor (RIP) is a component used in a printing system which produces a bitmap. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ... This article or section should include material from LPR. In computers, lpr creates a printer job in a spooling area for subsequent printing as facilities become available. ...


Ghostscript can also be used as a file format converter, such as PostScript to PDF converter; this is often combined with a PostScript printer driver in "virtual printer" PDF creators.


As it takes the form of a language interpreter, Ghostscript can also be used as a general purpose programming environment.


Ghostscript has been ported to many operating systems, including most Unix and Unix-like systems (including Linux), Mac OS X, OpenVMS, Microsoft Windows, OS/2, and Mac OS classic. In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed (e. ... Filiation of Unix and Unix-like systems Unix (officially trademarked as UNIX®) is a computer operating system originally developed in the 1960s and 1970s by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Douglas McIlroy. ... Diagram of the relationships between several Unix-like systems A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. ... Linux (IPA pronunciation: ) is a Unix-like computer operating system. ... Mac OS X (official IPA pronunciation: ) is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... OpenVMS[1] (Open Virtual Memory System or just VMS) is the name of a high-end computer server operating system that runs on the VAX[2] and Alpha[3] family of computers developed by Digital Equipment Corporation of Maynard, Massachusetts (DIGITAL was then purchased by Compaq, and is now owned... Microsoft Windows is the name of several families of proprietary software operating systems by Microsoft. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...


Frontends

Several graphical user interfaces have been written for use with Ghostscript which permit a user to view a PostScript or PDF file on screen, scroll, page forward and backward, and zoom the text as well as print single or multiple pages. A graphical user interface (GUI) is a type of user interface which allows people to interact with a computer and computer-controlled devices which employ graphical icons, visual indicators or special graphical elements called widgets, along with text labels or text navigation to represent the information and actions available to...

  • Ghostview runs under Unix/X11. Ghostview has an unusual (and arguably counter-intuitive) user interface feature: dragging the mouse over the image pans the image in the opposite direction (the mouse moves the viewport over the image, rather than the image underneath the viewport). The effect is similar to having invisible scroll bars all over the image and is approximately the opposite of panning in Google Maps and other applications.
  • gv runs under Unix/X11. gv is a visually improved version of Ghostview. Its behaviour is similar to Ghostview.
  • mgv runs under Unix/X11. It is an OSF/Motif based front-end to Ghostscript. It features a more conventional user interface, with regular menus, a toolbar, and scrollbars.
  • GSView runs under Windows, OS/2, and UNIX-like operating systems. It is best known for its Windows and OS/2 versions. On UNIX it uses the GTK+ toolkit.

The user interface is the part of a system exposed to users. ... A typical vertical scrollbar (from Windows XP) A scrollbar, or slider, is a graphical widget in a GUI with which continuous text, pictures or anything else can be scrolled, i. ... Screenshot of Google Maps showing a route from Toronto to Ottawa on the 400-Series highways. ...

History

Ghostscript was originally written by L. Peter Deutsch for the GNU project, and released under the GNU General Public License; later, Deutsch formed Aladdin Enterprises to license Ghostscript under a proprietary licence. It is currently owned by artofcode LLC, led by Raph Levien, and maintained by the user community and Artifex Software, the exclusive licensing agent for Ghostscript technology. L. Peter Deutsch is the founder of Aladdin Enterprises and creator of Ghostscript, a free software PostScript interpreter. ... The GNU logo, drawn by Etienne Suvasa The GNU Project was announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... L. Peter Deutsch is the founder of Aladdin Enterprises and creator of Ghostscript, a free software PostScript interpreter. ... Proprietary software is software with restrictions on using, copying and modifying as enforced by the proprietor. ... Raph Levien is an influential member of the free software developer community, through his creation of the Advogato virtual community and his work with the free software branch of Ghostscript. ...


Variants of Ghostscript

  • GPL Ghostscript is the canonical leading version available under the GNU General Public License, which is a free software license. Before June 2006, the leading edge of Ghostscript development was distributed as AFPL Ghostscript (formerly named Aladdin Ghostscript) under the Aladdin Free Public License, which restricts commercial use. The AFPL version is now abandoned [1].
  • GNU Ghostscript is part of the GNU project and is now derived from GPL Ghostscript.
  • ESP Ghostscript is distributed by Easy Software Products under the GPL. It is based on GPL Ghostscript and contains several modifications to improve compatibility with ESP's Common Unix Printing System. This version is no longer developed and is being merged with GPL Ghostscript [2].
  • Ghostscript is the current commercial proprietary version licensed by Artifex Software for inclusion in closed-source products.

The GPL version is also used as the basis for a Display Ghostscript, which adds the functionality needed to fully support Display PostScript. The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... Free software is software which grants recipients the freedom to modify and redistribute the software. ... The GNU logo, drawn by Etienne Suvasa The GNU Project was announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman. ... Easy Software Products are the vendors who originally invented the Common Unix Printing System (CUPS). ... The Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) is a modular computer printing system for Unix-like operating systems that allows a computer to act as a powerful print server. ... Proprietary software is software with restrictions on using, copying and modifying as enforced by the proprietor. ... NeXT Computer Inc. ...


See also

Free software Portal

Image File history File links Portal. ... The Common Unix Printing System (CUPS) is a modular computer printing system for Unix-like operating systems that allows a computer to act as a powerful print server. ... PostScript Printer Description (PPD) files are created by vendors to describe the entire set of features and capabilities available for their PostScript printers. ... In computers, a printer driver or a print processor is a piece of software that converts the data to be printed to the form specific to a printer. ... Foomatic is a configurable printing filter. ... CutePDF is a proprietary Portable Document Format converter application, developed by Acro Software. ... PDFCreator is an application for converting documents into Portable Document Format (PDF) format on Microsoft Windows operating system. ... Pstoedit is an open source computer program that converts Post Script files to other vector formats. ...

References

Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ... is the 100th day of the year (101st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
Ghostscript - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (244 words)
Ghostscript is a suite of free software based on an interpreter of the Adobe PostScript and Portable Document Format (PDF) page description languages.
Ghostscript has been ported to many operating systems, including most Unix and Unix-like systems, Mac OS X, VMS, Windows, OS/2, and Mac OS classic.
Two versions are released: the first for commercial use with the original AFPL license as AFPL Ghostscript, and another with the GNU General Public License as GPL Ghostscript.
ghostscript - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF) (384 words)
Ghostscript was originally written by Peter Deutsch and is now maintained by a team of programmers; Raph Levien is the current maintainer.
GNU Ghostscript is a copyrighted work (artofcode LLC owns the copyright); it is distributed under the GNU General Public License.
Ghostscript is written entirely in C, with special care taken to make it run properly on systems of either byte order and of various word lengths.
  More results at FactBites »


 
 

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