DESC File Format (The GNU Troff Manual)

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6.2.1 `DESC` File Format

+ + + + +

The DESC file contains a series of directives; each begins a +line. Their order is not important, with two exceptions: (1) the +res directive must precede any papersize directive; and +(2) the charset directive must come last (if at all). If a +directive name is repeated, later entries in the file override previous +ones (except that the paper dimensions are computed based on the +res directive last seen when papersize is encountered). +Spaces and/or tabs separate words and are ignored at line boundaries. + + + +Comments start with the ‘#’ character and extend to the end of a +line. Empty lines are ignored. +

family fam ¶

The default font family is fam. +

fonts n F1 … Fn ¶

Fonts F1, …, Fn are mounted at font positions +m+1, …, m+n where m is the number of +styles (see below). This directive may extend over more than one +line. A font name of 0 causes no font to be mounted at the +corresponding position. +

hor n ¶

+ + + + +

The horizontal motion quantum is n basic units. All +horizontal quantities are rounded to multiples of n. +

image_generator program ¶

+ +

Use program to generate PNG images from PostScript input. Under +GNU/Linux, this is usually gs, but under other systems (notably +Cygwin) it might be set to another name. The grohtml driver uses +this directive. +

paperlength n ¶

The vertical dimension of the output medium is n basic units +(deprecated: use papersize instead). +

papersize format-or-dimension-pair-or-file-name … ¶

The dimensions of the output medium are as according to the +argument, which is either a standard paper format, a pair of dimensions, +or the name of a plain text file containing either of the foregoing. +

Recognized paper formats are the ISO and DIN formats +A0–A7, B0–B7, C0–C7, +D0–D7; the U.S. paper types letter, +legal, tabloid, ledger, statement, and +executive; and the envelope formats com10, monarch, +and DL. Matching is performed without regard for lettercase. +

Alternatively, the argument can be a custom paper format in the format +length,width (with no spaces before or after the +comma). Both length and width must have a unit appended; +valid units are ‘i’ for inches, ‘c’ for centimeters, ‘p’ +for points, and ‘P’ for picas. Example: ‘12c,235p’. An +argument that starts with a digit is always treated as a custom paper +format. +

Finally, the argument can be a file name (e.g., /etc/papersize); +if the file can be opened, the first line is read and a match attempted +against each of the other forms. No comment syntax is supported. +

More than one argument can be specified; +each is scanned in turn and the first valid paper specification used. +

paperwidth n ¶

The horizontal dimension of the output medium is n basic +units (deprecated: use papersize instead). +

pass_filenames ¶

Direct GNU troff to emit the name of the source file being +processed. This is achieved with the intermediate output command +‘x F’, which grohtml interprets. +

postpro program ¶

Use program as the postprocessor. +

prepro program ¶

Use program as a preprocessor. The html and xhtml +output devices use this directive. +

print program ¶

Use program as a spooler program for printing. If omitted, the +-l and -L options of groff are ignored. +

res n ¶

+ +

The device resolution is n basic units per inch. +

sizes s1 … sn 0 ¶

The device has fonts at s1, …, sn scaled points (see +below). The list of sizes must be terminated by 0. Each +si can also be a range of sizes m–n. The list can +extend over more than one line. +

sizescale n ¶

A typographical point is subdivided into n scaled points. +The default is 1. See Using Fractional Type Sizes. +

styles S1 … Sm ¶

The first m mounting positions are associated with styles +S1, …, Sm. +

tcommand ¶

The postprocessor can handle the ‘t’ and ‘u’ intermediate +output commands. +

unicode ¶

The output device supports the complete Unicode repertoire. This +directive is useful only for devices that produce character entities +instead of glyphs. +

If unicode is present, no charset section is required in +the font description files since the Unicode handling built into +groff is used. However, if there are entries in a font +description file’s charset section, they either override the +default mappings for those particular characters or add new mappings +(normally for composite characters). +

The utf8, html, and xhtml output devices use this +directive. +

unitwidth n ¶

Quantities in the font description files are in basic units for fonts +whose type size is n scaled points. +

unscaled_charwidths ¶

Make the font handling module always return unscaled character widths. +The grohtml driver uses this directive. +

use_charnames_in_special ¶

GNU troff should encode special characters inside device control +commands; see Postprocessor Access. The grohtml driver +uses this directive. +

vert n ¶

+ + + + +

The vertical motion quantum is n basic units. All vertical +quantities are rounded to multiples of n. +

charset ¶

This line and everything following it in the file are ignored. It is +recognized for compatibility with other troff implementations. +In GNU troff, character set repertoire is described on a +per-font basis. +

+ + + + +

GNU troff recognizes but ignores the directives spare1, +spare2, and biggestfont. +

The res, unitwidth, fonts, and sizes lines +are mandatory. Directives not listed above are ignored by GNU +troff but may be used by postprocessors to obtain further +information about the device. +

+ +

6.2.1 DESC File Format

6.2.1 `DESC` File Format