Problem postscript files

[Evan Leibovitch]

Neil Watson wrote:
> I've been given some files from a third party.  They claim that these
> files are postscript files.  The will print in Windows using the CLI
> 'print' command.  They will not print to any postscript printers on a
> Linux server.  The Linux 'file' command reports that the files are
> postscript.  Is this some sort of 'embrace and extend' example?
Probably not, broken PS isn't usually deliberate.

Ghostscript/ghostview are fairly complete implementations; it's been a
while since I used them to debug bad PS but it can certainly do that.
Most GUI systems will have ghostview, and KDE and GNOME both have their
own customizations (Kghostview and Ggv, respectively).

When you say they won't print to postscript printers on a Linux server,
that _might_ be because the Linux print systems are introducing their
own garbage, so it's important to set your printing flags to ensure that
extra file-processing is disabled. I've occasionally encountered
situations in which the Linux print system, in a misguided attempt to be
helpful, thinks the PS code is actually a source file, and prints the PS
instructions rather than executing them!

This means that, for instance, if you're using 'lpr' to print the file
on a postscript printer under Linux make sure to use the "-l" flag.

HTH.

- Evan

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