View source for Dvips

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{{Notability|date=August 2011}}
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{{lowercase|title=dvips}}
'''dvips''' is a [[computer program]] that converts the [[DVI file format|Device Independent file format (DVI)]] output of [[TeX]] [[typography]] into a printable or otherwise presentable form.  {{mono|dvips}} was written by [[Tomas Rokicki]] to produce printable [[PostScript]] files from DVI input, and is now commonly used for general DVI conversion.

The TeX typesetting system outputs DVI files which are intended to be [[device independent|independent of the output device]]. In particular, they are not understood by [[computer printer|printer]]s and lack information such as [[font]] shapes.  Thus, a converter (i.e., a [[Front and back ends|backend]]) is needed to translate from a DVI file to a printer language.  Although other DVI backends such as [[dvilj]] exist, {{mono|dvips}} is one of the most common ways of printing DVI files. Another, more recent solution is the use of [[pdfTeX]] to directly generate [[Portable Document Format|PDF]] files, which have readers for most platforms.  Given its importance, {{mono|dvips}} is a standard part of most TeX distributions, such as [[teTeX]], and [[TeX Live]].

By using TeX <code>\special</code> commands, it is possible to directly insert "literal PostScript" into the DVI file and have such snippets of PostScript appear in the final file generated by {{mono|dvips}}. This flexibility allows the user to include, say, watermarks on his document (especially via the use of proper packages<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/eso-pic/|title=CTAN: /tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/eso-pic|website=Ctan.org|accessdate=9 October 2018}}</ref>) or further postprocess the PostScript file.

When producing postscript files, dvips embeds fonts inside the file. Most recent distributions will normally embed scalable fonts, also known as [[Type 1 font]]s. Files generated with older distributions, however, may embed raster fonts. To substitute raster for scalable fonts in a postscript file in a situation where the original dvi file is unavailable use a utility called [[pkfix]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.radicaleye.com/dvips.html Official website]

[[Category:PostScript]]
[[Category:Free TeX software]]


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