dvips

dvips
Name	dvips
Developer	Tomas Rokicki
Released	1987
Operating system	Unix-like, DOS, Windows
Genre	Typesetting, Printing
License	GNU General Public License

dvips

dvips is a widely used PostScript output driver that converts DVI (DeVice Independent) files produced by Donald Knuth's TeX into PostScript for printing and inclusion in publishing workflows. Historically created by Tomas Rokicki, dvips became a standard component of many TeX Live and MiKTeX distributions and is invoked in publishing chains alongside tools such as Ghostscript, Adobe Acrobat, and PDFTeX. Its role bridges the output of systems like LaTeX and ConTeXt to raster and vector printers from manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard and Epson, and to workflows used by publishers including Elsevier and Springer.

History

dvips originated in the late 1980s when Tomas Rokicki sought to provide a reliable route from TeX to PostScript for Unix systems. It emerged in the same era as NeXTSTEP and the rise of desktop publishing tools like Aldus PageMaker and QuarkXPress. The program was influenced by the proliferation of PostScript printers by Adobe Systems and fit into printing environments already using X Window System and UNIX System V or BSD derivatives. Over the 1990s dvips was distributed with TeX distributions maintained by projects such as TeX Users Group and commercial vendors, surviving transitions in desktop publishing from SGML-based systems to XML standards like DocBook and TEI.

Functionality and Features

dvips translates DVI, an output of TeX and LaTeX, into PostScript, supporting features required by major publishers and print shops such as font embedding compatible with Type 1 fonts and handling of PK bitmaps. It provides virtual font mapping aligned with Adobe Font Metrics and implements specials used by macro packages like graphics and graphicx to include images produced by MetaPost and EPS files. dvips offers support for paper sizes common in international printing standards, including those used in ISO documents and the North American Pica formats, and works in tandem with RIPs employed by print houses such as those operated by New York Times and The Guardian.

Usage and Options

Typical invocation of dvips within build systems such as make or continuous integration for publishing calls options to specify resolution, paper size, and font handling. Command-line switches control conversion of DVI pages to encapsulated PostScript for inclusion in workflows for Adobe InDesign or Scribus and options allow selective page ranges used by editors at houses like Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. Users integrate dvips with utilities such as Ghostscript for rasterization, or with ps2pdf when producing documents for distribution via arXiv or institutional repositories at universities like Stanford University or Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

File Formats and Output

dvips consumes the DVI format created by TeX engines and emits PostScript conforming to standards recognized by printers from Canon and Ricoh as well as software renderers like Ghostscript. It can produce encapsulated PostScript (EPS) suitable for inclusion in documents prepared by LaTeX packages, and when paired with font conversion tools supports Type 1 embedding required by professional houses such as Macmillan Publishers and Taylor & Francis. Output can be tailored for color models used by Pantone-dependent workflows and for halftoning techniques established in Heidelberg Druckmaschinen presses.

Implementation and Architecture

Implemented primarily in C, dvips parses DVI opcodes defined by Donald Knuth and maps glyph positioning into PostScript drawing operators while consulting font maps and metric files such as TFM (TeX Font Metric). Its architecture modularly separates DVI interpretation, font handling, and PostScript emission, enabling extensions used by packages like hyperref for linking in later stages with tools such as pdfTeX and LuaTeX. The codebase interacts with system font directories found on Unix-like systems and Windows environments, and historically employed utilities like mktexpk and updmap to manage bitmap and scalable fonts in distributions maintained by TeX Live maintainers.

Integration with TeX Live and Related Tools

dvips is distributed with major TeX distributions including TeX Live and MiKTeX, and is scripted into format-generation and packaging utilities used by maintainers at organizations such as the TeX Users Group and institutional teams at CERN and NASA who automate typesetting pipelines. It is commonly invoked by front-ends and editors such as TeXworks, TeXstudio, and WinEdt, and interoperates with converters like dvipdfm/dvipdfmx and psutils used in archival workflows at repositories like PubMed Central.

Licensing and Distribution

dvips is distributed under the GNU General Public License and is included in open-source distributions maintained by communities around projects such as TeX Live and CTAN. Its licensing facilitates integration into free software stacks alongside utilities like Ghostscript (under AGPL/MPL dual licensing history) and encourages contributions from volunteers connected to institutions such as Stanford University and organizations like the Free Software Foundation. dvips binaries and sources are packaged for major operating systems and curated by maintainers at package repositories like those for Debian and Fedora.

Category:Typesetting software Category:TeX