Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!caen!uwm.edu!uwvax!astroatc!vidiot!brown
From: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.postscript
Subject: Re: including postscript files in troff files
Message-ID: <1612@vidiot.UUCP>
Date: 14 Apr 91 01:42:45 GMT
References: <5353@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> <1595@vidiot.UUCP> <1383@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca>
Reply-To: brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot)
Organization: Vidiot's Hangout
Lines: 81

In article <1383@ecicrl.ocunix.on.ca> clewis@ferret.ocunix.on.ca (Chris Lewis) writes:
<In article <1595@vidiot.UUCP> brown@vidiot.UUCP (Vidiot) writes:
<>In article <5353@ns-mx.uiowa.edu> papalacharla@icaen.uiowa.edu (Paparao Palacharla) writes:
<><Does anyone know how to include postscript files in troff files? If so
<><how and where can I get the software.
<
<>You don't say which troff you are using.  If it is a troff text processor that
<>provides output for the C/A/T phototypesetter, then the answer is you can't.
<
<You lie beagle breath! ;-) ;-)  Well, you can't if you're driving a C/A/T
<phototypesetter, which wouldn't make any sense because it ain't postscript.
<In order to use that old version of troff, you need a CAT to <something>
<converter (postscript in this case).  Such as psroff, thack or pscat (from
<Transcript).
<
<>Not easily anyway.  The old troff produces very specialized output that can't
<>contain any kind of special code that can be sent to the post processor that
<>converts C/A/T output to PostScript.
<
<Psroff (1.0 thru 3.0) can do this with CAT troff when driving Postscript.
<It even works with psfig in psroff 3.0.  I don't think any of the other CAT
<troff to (anything) converters can do this - though you imply that pscat
<might be able to.  (psroff 3.0 does this by faking \X'').  

All the troff books that I have read say that C/A/T troff output cannot contain
any special codes.  Because it cannot contain anything that a postprocessor
can use, how can it possibly pass information that can be used by a program
like psroff (non-Adobe)?  I was not implying that pscat can.  I'm saying that
it can't, which is why I ended up playing the games that I did to get it to do
what I did.

<>But, if you are using a post-processor, like the pscat program from the Adobe
<>TranScript package, you can put a special keyword into the text.  You can then
<>find that keyword in the PostScript output and manually edit in the PostScript.
<>The keyword is just some normal text that will never be in the document, some
<>unique word in caps will do.  Normal 10pt text is preferred, since that will
<>keep if from being kerned.  The complete PostScript line that contains the
<>keyword will be replaced with your PostScript data.  You must surround the
<>included text with the following:
<
<Many ditroff-to-<something> converters have support for \X'f...' and
<\X'p...' (or similar).  Where these are converted into file includes and
<raw postscript passthru.  This is what psfig uses, and psroff supports
<it, along with later versions of psdit (which is what comes in Transcript
<I think).  Versions of tpscript can support this too.  There are other
<conventions for this, so you may have to consult your manuals.

There must be something that I am missing.  Is your psroff a troff replacement
or a postprocessor of troff output?  If it is a troff replacement, this is a
whole different story, making CAT troff discussion moot.  If psroff is a
post-processor to CAT troff, then how the Hell can psroff be told to include
PostScript since things like \! and \X do not work.  Is there something in
troff that I don't know about?  Is there a game that you are playing.

<Using your method, or the other \! approach, or using \X directly requires
<you to do a lot more about allocating space in troff, scaling/placing the
<object, and making sure you don't blow up the "imaging model" that the
<postscript driver is trying to use.  (Eg: scales/rotates/translates buggering
<up subsequent troff output).

If the original poster is using ditroff, then things like \! and \X can be
made to work, since the output of ditroff is totally different than CAT troff.
The "imaging model" is secured by the MB and PE procedures that I had in the
reply that I did.

<>To make all of this easier, get the groff text handling package.  It has
<>PostScript inclusion built in.
<
<Psroff 3.0 has it built in for both CAT troff and ditroff, and is a bit
<easier to get into a machine than groff.  It also has a lot of other
<interesting "side" mechanisms.  Also does a pretty good job with Laserjets.

Like I asked above, how can CAT troff be told to do something that it wasn't
built to do?

I replied with the information that I had and the software that I have been
using.
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