Introduction to Ghostscript
Ghostscript is a versatile
processor for PostScript data with the ability to render PostScript
to different targets.
This package is known to build and work properly using an LFS-7.0
platform.
Package Information
-
Download (HTTP):
http://downloads.ghostscript.com/public/ghostscript-9.04.tar.bz2
-
Download MD5 sum: 9f6899e821ab6d78ab2c856f10fa3023
-
Download size: 28.5 MB
-
Estimated disk space required: 297 MB (includes installing
libgs.so and both font tarballs)
-
Estimated build time: 2.5 SBU (includes building and
installing libgs.so)
Additional Downloads
Ghostscript Dependencies
Recommended
expat-2.0.1, FreeType-2.4.8, JasPer-1.900.1
libjpeg-8c, libpng-1.5.7,
LibTIFF-4.0.0, and little cms-1.19
Optional
cairo-1.10.2, Fontconfig-2.8.0, gtk+-2.24.8, Cups-1.5.0,
libidn-1.22, X Window
System, and libpaper.
User Notes: http://wiki.linuxfromscratch.org/blfs/wiki/gs
Installation of Ghostscript
Install GPL Ghostscript by running
the following commands:
![[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
install the released versions of these libraries and then configure
GPL Ghostscript to link to them.
If you have installed these dependencies on your system, remove the
copies of expat, freetype, JasPer, lcms,
libjpeg, libpng, libtiff and zlib:
rm -rf expat freetype jasper lcms jpeg libpng tiff zlib
Run the configure command:
./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-dynamic --with-system-libtiff
To ensure the build is able to use the system versions of
expat, freetype, and zlib it is necessary to make some changes and
an addition to the Makefile before
building the package:
sed -i '/^EXTRALIBS/s# -ldl# -lfreetype -lz#;/=imdi/aSHARE_EXPAT=1' Makefile &&
make
![[Warning]](../images/warning.png)
Warning
If you have a multiprocessor computer and try to run make with
multiple jobs (eg, -j4) then the build may fail due to race
conditions in the Ghostscript
build system.
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. However, you may test
the operation of the newly built gs program by issuing the
following command (issue from an X Windows terminal):
bin/gs -Ilib -dBATCH examples/tiger.eps
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 install the documentation:
cp -rf doc /usr/share/ghostscript/9.04 &&
ln -sv ../ghostscript/9.04/doc /usr/share/doc/ghostscript-9.04
To finish the installation, unpack all fonts you've downloaded 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
Command Explanations
--without-jasper: If you know you do
not wish to print any JPEG2000 files,
this switch (and removing the jasper
folder in the source) will disable JPEG2000 support in Ghostscript.
--without-jbig2dec: The JBIG2 decompression code (used for some faxes) can
be disabled by using this switch and removing the jbig2dec/ source.
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 -sv ../ghostscript-9.04/doc
...: This puts a symbolic link to the documentation
where it is expected to be found.
ln -v -s ghostscript
/usr/include/ps: Some packages expect to find the
interface headers in an alternate location.
Contents
Installed Programs:
bdftops, dumphint, dvipdf, eps2eps,
fixmswrd.pl, font2c, gs, gsbj, gsc (from soinstall), gsdj,
gsdj500, gslj, gslp, gsnd, gsx (from soinstall), lprsetup.sh,
pdf2dsc, pdf2ps, pdfopt, pf2afm, pfbtopfa, printafm, ps2ascii,
ps2epsi, ps2pdf, ps2pdf12, ps2pdf13, ps2pdf14, ps2pdfwr, ps2ps,
ps2ps2, pv.sh, unix-lpr.sh, and wftopfa
Installed Library:
libgs.so
Installed Directories:
/usr/include/ghostscript,
/usr/lib/ghostscript, /usr/share/ghostscript, and
/usr/share/doc/ghostscript-9.04
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.