Ghostscript
Ghostscript è una collezione di programmi liberi basata su un interprete dei linguagi di descrizione di pagina PostScript e Portable Document Format, entrambi della Adobe.
È molto configurabile e può essere usato come:
- Processore di mmagini raster (RIP), per le stampanti raster, ad esempio come filtro di input per il line printer demon della Berkley (lpd).
- Motore RIP da far girare dietro i visualizzatori di documenti PostScript e PDF.
- Convertitore di formato dei files (ad esempio da PostScript a PDF e vice versa).
- Ambiente di programmazione generico.
Ghostscript è stato portato per vari sistemi operativi, compresi i sistemi Unix e derivati, Mac OS X, VMS, Windows, OS/2, e Mac OS classico.
Sono state scritte varie interfaccie grafiche per essere utilizzate con Ghostscript, in modo da permettere all'utente di vedere un file PostScript o PDF sullo schermo, di scorrerlo, di andare alle pagine precedente e successiva e di zoomare sul testo così come se fosse una stampata di una o più pagine.
- Ghostview runs under Unix/X11. Ghostview (also known as gv) has a very interesting and unusual user interface: clicking and dragging the mouse on the image moves the image in the opposite direction to the mouse. The effect is similar to having invisible scroll bars all over the image and is approximately the opposite of the well-known Google Maps interface.
- GSView runs under Windows and OS/2
Ghostscript was originally written by L. Peter Deutsch for the GNU project, and released under the GNU General Public License; later, Deutsch formed Aladdin Enterprises to commercially license Ghostscript. It is currently owned by artofcode LLC, led by Raph Levien, and maintained by the user's community and Artifex Software, the exclusive licensing agent for Ghostscript technology.
There are several variants of Ghostscript:
- AFPL Ghostscript (formerly Aladdin Ghostscript) is the current version distributed by Artifex Software and artofcode LLC, available under the Aladdin Free Public License, which allows modification and redistribution for non-commercial purposes. Commercial licenses for AFPL Ghostscript are also available.
- GPL Ghostscript (formerly GNU Ghostscript; it is no longer part of the GNU project) is available under the GNU General Public License. Generally, each version of AFPL Ghostscript is rereleased as GPL Ghostscript one year after its initial release.
- GNU Ghostscript is part of the GNU project and is based on GPL Ghostscript.
- ESP Ghostscript is distributed by Easy Software Products under the GPL. It is based on GPL Ghostscript and contains several modifications to improve compatibility with ESP's Common Unix Printing System.
The GPL version is also used as the basis for a Display Ghostscript, which adds the functionality needed to fully support Display PostScript.
Software based on Ghostscript
External links
- Ghostscript community site, mailing lists, Bugzilla, CVS
- Ghostscript copyright holder
- Ghostscript licensing and commercial support
Ghostscript software (viewers)