Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!apple!voder!pyramid!infmx!cortesi
From: cortesi@infmx.UUCP (David Cortesi)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: Help with eroff and postscript
Message-ID: <1893@infmx.UUCP>
Date: 23 Jul 89 20:24:21 GMT
References: <374@gizzmo.UUCP>
Reply-To: cortesi@infmx.UUCP (David Cortesi)
Organization: Informix, Menlo Park, Ca. U.S.A.
Lines: 35

In article <374@gizzmo.UUCP> mark@gizzmo.UUCP (mark hilliard) writes:
>
>Ok,  I have a standard text file written with the mm macros, pic, and tbl
>sections.  Now, I would like to include a postscript segment at the TOP
>of my file, and then send the entire thing through eroff to a postscript
>printer.
>   [details elided]
>Can I add my postscript file into header file (must be there for eroff
>somewhere) that eroff (must?) send to the postscript printer...?

I had the same need, to add a new function definition to the postscript
prolog that eroff puts at the head of the output file.  After battling
Chapter 2 of the eroff manual a while I called Elan tech support and was
given this undocumented gimmick:

      \!!prologcode@pathname...

for example

      \!!prologcode@/usr/fred/personal.ps.defs

This has to be processed before any text; i.e. it can follow macro
definitions and other dot commands so long as it comes before any output
data is generated.  Write the output file to disk instead of the printer
and examine it to make sure the code goes where you want it go.

By the way, since this IS undocumented, don't blame me if they drop
it next release - but for now it works pretty well.

///////   /     David Cortesi               {pyramid|uunet}!infmx!cortesi
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