Introduction to Ghostscript
Ghostscript is a versatile
processor for PostScript data with the ability to render PostScript
to different targets. It is a mandatory part of the cups printing
stack.
This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-8.1
platform.
Package Information
Additional Downloads
If you wish, you can download additional fonts.
Ghostscript Dependencies
Recommended
FreeType-2.8, libjpeg-turbo-1.5.2, libpng-1.6.31, LibTIFF-4.0.8,
and Little CMS-2.8
Optional
Cairo-1.14.10, Cups-2.2.4 (required for building the
“cups” device backend, which
is needed by cups-filters),
Fontconfig-2.12.4 (required, if you are
installing any suggested font), GTK+-3.22.18, libidn-1.33, libpaper-1.1.24+nmu5, Little
CMS-1.19 (not used by default, nor if lcms2 is present or
found), and X Window
System
User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/gs
Installation of Ghostscript
![[Note]](../images/note.png)
Note
The Ghostscript build system is
not user-friendly. In order to use system copies of various
graphics libraries, you must do it using unconventional methods.
GPL Ghostscript includes (old)
copies of several libraries. Some of these seem to have been
patched to fix known vulnerabilities, but others of these copies
are less-well maintained. To ensure that any future fixes are
applied throughout the whole system, it is recommended that you
first install the released versions of these libraries and then
configure GPL Ghostscript to link
to them.
If you have installed the recommended dependencies on your system,
remove the copies of freetype,
lcms2, libjpeg, and libpng:
rm -rf freetype lcms2 jpeg libpng
Compile Ghostscript:
rm -rf zlib &&
./configure --prefix=/usr \
--disable-compile-inits \
--enable-dynamic \
--with-system-libtiff &&
make
To compile the shared library libgs.so, run the following additional command as
an unprivileged user:
make so
This package does not come with a test suite. A set of example
files may be used for testing, but it is only possible after
installation of the package.
Now, as the root user:
make install
If you want the shared library too:
make soinstall &&
install -v -m644 base/*.h /usr/include/ghostscript &&
ln -v -s ghostscript /usr/include/ps
Now make the documentation accessible from the normal place:
ln -sfvn ../ghostscript/9.21/doc /usr/share/doc/ghostscript-9.21
If you have downloaded any fonts, unpack them to /usr/share/ghostscript and ensure the ownerships
of the files are root: root. Substitute <font-tarball> appropriately
in the command below for the fonts you wish to install:
tar -xvf ../<font-tarball> -C /usr/share/ghostscript --no-same-owner &&
fc-cache -v /usr/share/ghostscript/fonts/
You can now test the rendering of various postscript and pdf files
from the /usr/share/ghostscript/9.21/examples , for
example (you need an X window system display):
gs -q -dBATCH /usr/share/ghostscript/9.21/examples/tiger.eps
Command Explanations
rm -rf zlib :
zlib was installed as part of LFS.
--disable-compile-inits:
This option makes gs
and libgs.so slightly smaller.
--with-system-libtiff:
Remove this option if you've not installed LibTIFF-4.0.8.
install -v -m644
base/*.h... : Some packages (ImageMagick is one) need the Ghostscript interface headers in place to link
to the shared library. These commands install the headers.
ln -v -s ghostscript
/usr/include/ps: Some packages expect to find the
interface headers in an alternate location.
ln -sfv ../ghostscript-9.21/doc
... : This puts a symbolic link to the
documentation where it is expected to be found.
--disable-cups: this option will save a
tiny amount of space by not linking gs and libgs.so to the Cups-2.2.4 libraries if you have installed
those.
Contents
Installed Programs:
dvipdf, eps2eps, font2c, gs, gsbj, gsc
(from soinstall), gsdj, gsdj500, gslj, gslp, gsnd, gsx (from
soinstall), lprsetup.sh, pdf2dsc, pdf2ps, pf2afm, pfbtopfa,
pphs, printafm, ps2ascii, ps2epsi, ps2pdf, ps2pdf12, ps2pdf13,
ps2pdf14, ps2pdfwr, ps2ps, ps2ps2, unix-lpr.sh, and
wftopfa
Installed Library:
libgs.so and
/usr/lib/ghostscript/9.21/X11.so
Installed Directories:
/usr/include/ghostscript,
/usr/lib/ghostscript, /usr/share/ghostscript, and
/usr/share/doc/ghostscript-9.21
Short Descriptions
|
gs
|
is an interpreter for Adobe Systems' PostScript(tm) and
Portable Document Format (PDF).
|
|
libgs.so
|
provides Ghostscript
functionality to other programs, such as GSView, ImageMagick, and libspectre.
|
GPL Ghostscript provides many
different scripts used to convert PostScript, PDF, and other
formats. Please refer to the HTML documentation or the man pages
for information about the capabilities provided.