[Info-vax] GS convert PDF to PS.

[Jan-Erik Söderholm]

Den 2022-03-15 kl. 16:36, skrev Mark Berryman:
> On 3/14/22 10:15 AM, Mark Berryman wrote:
>> On 3/13/22 9:13 AM, Jan-Erik Söderholm wrote:
>>> Hi.
>>>
>>> I'm new to Ghostscript.
>>> I try to convert a PDF file to a PS file.
>>>
>>> And yes, this a step in the "print a PDF file" project.
>>> I had some issues with getting the Xerox printer to print
>>> a plain PDF file so I thought about converting i to to PS...
>>>
>>> Have tried with:
>>>
>>> $ gs "-dNOPAUSE" "-sDEVICE=ps2write" "-sOutputFile=out.ps" "-fOUT.PDF"
>>>
>>> The input file OUT.PDF only contains one page with 6-7 text lines
>>> and one Code128 barcode. File created from the Python tool Reportlab.
>>> And "out" refers to the Python step, it is the "input" file to GS.
>>>
>>> The PDf file opens fine on any other environment, also when put in
>>> a VMS directory served by WASD.
>>>
>>> I have checked that the file org is as required by GS:
>>>
>>>   Record format:      Stream_LF, maximum 0 bytes, longest 16384 bytes
>>>   Record attributes:  Carriage return carriage control
>>>
>>>
>>> GS just hangs and consumes 100% cpu until I end it with ctrl-C.
>>> Does it wait for some SYS$INPUT input? Any switch I'm missing?
>>>
>>> $ gs "-dNOPAUSE" "-sDEVICE=ps2write" "-sOutputFile=out.ps" "-fOUT.PDF"
>>> GPL Ghostscript 9.55.0 (2021-09-27)
>>> Copyright (C) 2021 Artifex Software, Inc.  All rights reserved.
>>> This software is supplied under the GNU AGPLv3 and comes with NO WARRANTY:
>>> see the file COPYING for details.
>>> HV04JES_01 16:01:48 GS        CPU=00:04:01.95 PF=48109 IO=152495 MEM=1369
>>> HV04JES_01 16:01:51 GS        CPU=00:04:04.56 PF=48109 IO=152496 MEM=1369
>>> HV04JES_01 16:01:53 GS        CPU=00:04:06.37 PF=48109 IO=152497 MEM=1369
>>>   Interrupt
>>>
>>> $
>>>
>>> One empty OUT.PS file is created and some empty TMPDIR files.
>>>
>>> _TEMP_T45404.;1       1/52        13-MAR-2022 16:01:45.84
>>> _TEMP_U45404.;1       0/0         13-MAR-2022 16:01:45.85
>>> _TEMP_V45404.;1       0/0         13-MAR-2022 16:01:45.85
>>> _TEMP_W45404.;1       0/0         13-MAR-2022 16:01:45.85
>>>
>>> Any ideas? Some simple example for a GS command line to convert
>>> a PDF file to a PS file?
>>
>> You have found a bug.  There is an infinite loop in the code caused by a 
>> member of a linked list pointing to itself.  Debugging now.
>>
>> In the meantime, you might consider downloading XPDF from the VSI 
>> products site (https://vmssoftware.com/products/list/).  It includes a 
>> pdftops executable that may do what you want.
>>
>> Alternatively, I have found there are a number of printers that cannot 
>> print PDF files if simply sent to the raw port, or even via LPR, but 
>> which can print them if the file is sent via IPP.  If you have Multinet, 
>> try setting up an IPP queue to your printer.  If not, you can try my IPP 
>> command-line utility.
> 
> The problem has been found and fixed.  A new kit has been posted.  The 
> following is an example command that will convert a PDF file to postscript.
> 
> gs -q -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -dSAFER -sDEVICE=ps2write -sOutputFile=xx.ps -f 
> sys$login:v1000_specs.pdf
> 
> No quotes are needed in the command line because the images are built with 
> the appropriate DECC feature logicals already set.
> 
> Mark Berryman
> 
> 

Did not work without the quotes. I get:

$ gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=ps2write -sOutputFile=out.ps -fOUT.PDF
GPL Ghostscript 9.55.0 (2021-09-27)
Copyright (C) 2021 Artifex Software, Inc.  All rights reserved.
This software is supplied under the GNU AGPLv3 and comes with NO WARRANTY:
see the file COPYING for details.
GPL Ghostscript 9.55.0: Cannot open X display `(null)'.
**** Unable to open the initial device, quitting.
%SYSTEM-E-BADPARAM, bad parameter value
$