tower@WHEATIES.AI.MIT.EDU (Leonard H. Tower Jr.) (10/12/88)
Forwarded-For: hack@wheaties.ai.mit.edu ghostscript.tar.Z is now in /u/emacs on prep. hack [ a little more background. To: Sun-Spots@Rice.edu Date: Thu, 8 Sep 88 14:22:59 PDT From: (Peter Deutsch) Subject: PostScript GNUware GhostScript, a GNU project implementation of a language and graphics library with a remarkable similarity to PostScript(tm), will be released by the Free Software Foundation as soon as one or two pieces of paper get signed. GhostScript consists of a language interpreter for a language that is essentially identical to PostScript, and a graphics library that provides C-callable routines for all the graphics capabilities of PostScript, so you can have the graphics without the language if you prefer. The interpreter is implemented on top of the graphics library. GhostScript currently has two device drivers: one for the EGA, which works quite well, and one for X11, which is seriously brain-damaged because the machine on which it was written had a badly buggy X server. (I hope someone will write a good X11 driver.) It should be trivial to write a PostScript previewer using GhostScript by changing the top level of the interpreter a little. GhostScript is covered by the same license as GNU Emacs, gcc, etc. Roughly speaking, anyone can have it as long as they agree not to charge (beyond reproduction costs) for redistributing it, and agree to always redistribute it in source form. Read the GNU Standard License for the full and accurate story. L. Peter Deutsch dba Aladdin Enterprises P. O. box 60264 Palo Alto, CA 94306 (no e-mail address for GhostScript-related correspondence yet, please don't use deutsch@parcplace.com -- I'll probably get an account on portal) enjoy -len ]