GNU Ghostscript
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Ghostscript is the name of a set of software that provides:
- An interpreter for the PostScript language, and
- A set of C procedures (the Ghostscript library) that implement
the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive operations in the
PostScript language, and
- An interpreter for Portable Document Format (PDF) files.
Currently it supports PDF versions 1.0 and 1.1
(PDF 1.2 support is expected by the end of 1998).
Ghostscript was mainly written by Peter Deutsch.
Obtaining GNU Ghostscript
GNU Ghostscript is a copyrighted work (Aladdin Enterprises owns the
copyright); it is distributed under the
GNU General Public License.
You can get the current version of GNU Ghostscript by Internet FTP
from
ftp://ftp.cs.wisc.edu/pub/ghost/gnu/ghostscript*NNNN*
or
/afs/cs.wisc.edu/public/pub/ghost/gnu/ghostscript*NNNN*
or from any of the
GNU distribution sites; you can also
get GNU Ghostscript from the
Free Software Foundation (FSF)
on the
Source Code CD-ROM.
The Ghostscript source code distribution includes a library written by
the Independent JPEG Group (IJG). This library does NOT fall under
the GNU License; it comes with its own license, which is more
permissive. For more information, please see the README file in the
jpeg subdirectory of the Ghostscript source code. The executable
versions of Ghostscript are based in part on the work of the
Independent JPEG Group.
What platforms does Ghostscript run on?
Ghostscript is written entirely in C (with some optional
assembly-language accelerators for MS-DOS platforms), with special
care taken to make it run properly on systems of either byte order and
of various word lengths.
GNU Ghostscript is known to run on the following platform families:
- A wide variety of Unix systems using X Windows version 11,
release 4, 5, and 6, including Sun-3, Sun-4, Sun-386i, and
Sun SPARCStation; generic 80386/486/Pentium machines running
GNU/Linux, 386/ix, ISC Unix, SCO Unix, and Solaris; H-P
9000/300 and 9000/800; DECStation 2100 and 3100; VAX running
Ultrix and OSF/1; Sequent Symmetry; Convex C1 and C2;
Tektronix 4300; SGI Iris Indigo;
- Sun workstations (Sun-3, SPARC, Sun-386i) running SunView;
- VAX or AXP systems running VMS with X11R4/5 and DEC C or gcc.
Newsgroups for GNU Ghostscript
Discussion about GNU Ghostscript and Ghostview can be found in the
USENET gnu.ghostscript.bug newsgroup.
Additional information
Links to other Ghostscript-related resources
Return to GNU's home page.
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Copyright (C) 1997, 1998 Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111, USA
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is
permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved.
Updated:
11 Dec 1999 jonas