For other information, see the Ghostscript overview and "How to build Ghostscript from source code".
You must have three things to run Ghostscript:
The usage documentation describes the search algorithms used to find initialization files and font files. The per-platform descriptions that follow tell you where to install these files.
Ghostscript uses the common configure, build and install method common to many modern software packages. In general the following with suffice to build ghostscript:
./configureand then it may be installed in the default location with:
make
make installThis last command may need to be performed with super user privileges.
You can set the installation directory by adding --prefix=path to the configure invocation in the first step. The default prefix is /usr/local, which is to say the gs executable is installed as /usr/local/bin/gs.
A list of similar configuration options is available via ./configure --helpFor more detailed information on building Ghostscript see how to build Ghostscript on Unix in the documentation on building Ghostscript, especially regarding information on using the older hand edited makefile approach. Whatever configuration method you use, execute "make install" to install the executable and all the required and ancillary files after the build is complete.
The makefile installs all the files except fonts under the directory defined in the makefile as prefix. Fonts need to be installed separately. The fonts should be installed in {prefix}/share/ghostscript/fonts. (That is, /usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts/ if you used the default configuration above.)
If you have Adobe Acrobat installed, you can use the Acrobat fonts in place of the ones distributed with with Ghostscript by adding the Acrobat fonts directory to GS_FONTPATH and removing these fonts from Fontmap.GS:
Courier, Courier-Bold, Courier-BoldOblique, Courier-Oblique, Helvetica, Helvetica-Bold, Helvetica-BoldOblique, Helvetica-Oblique, Symbol, Times-Bold, Times-BoldItalic, Times-Italic, Times-Roman, ZapfDingbats
Similarly, you can have ghostscript use other fonts on your system by adding entries to the fontmap or adding the directories to the GS_FONTMAP environment variable. See the usage documentation for more information. For example, many linux distributions place fonts under /usr/share/fonts.
For Linux, you may be able to install or upgrade Ghostscript from precompiled RPM files using:
rpm -U ghostscript-N.NN-1.i386.rpm
rpm -U ghostscript-fonts-N.NN-1.noarch.rpm
However, please note that we do not create RPMs for Ghostscript, and we take no responsibility for RPMs created by others.
We usually distribute Ghostscript releases for Windows as self-extracting archive files, since this is the most convenient form for users. These files can also be unpacked as if they were plain zip files.
The last version to run on 16-bit Windows 3.1 was Ghostscript 4.03.
The self-extracting archive is normally named gs###w32.exe, where ### is the release number (e.g., 650 for Ghostscript 6.50, 700 for Ghostscript 7.00).
The x64 self-extracting archive is normally named gs###w64.exe This is for 64-bit Windows operating systems based on the x64 instruction set. Do not use this on 64-bit processors running 32-bit Windows.
To install a self-extracting Ghostscript archive on Windows, you need just this self-extracting archive file. Run this file to install Ghostscript.
Alternatively, if you have the zip file, unzip it to a temporary directory then run the included setupgs.exe. After the setup program has finished, remove the temporary files.
After installing Ghostscript, it is strongly recommended that you install the GSview previewer, which provides an easier to use graphical interface for Ghostscript. Information on GSview is available from:
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/
The archive includes files in these subdirectories:
gs#.##\bin
gs#.##\examples
gs#.##\lib
gs#.##\doc
gs#.##\Resource
fonts
The actual executable files, in the gs#.##\bin subdirectory, are:
GSWIN32C.EXE Ghostscript as a command line Windows program. This is usually the preferred executable. GSWIN32.EXE 32-bit Ghostscript using its own window for commands GSDLL32.DLL 32-bit dynamic link library containing most of Ghostscript's functionality
See "Using fonts from Adobe Type Manager" below for information about using Adobe Type Manager, Adobe Type Basics, or Adobe Acrobat fonts. If your system uses TrueType fonts, you can get them converted to a Ghostscript-compatible format at the time you select your "printer" by doing the following:
- Open control panel and double-click on the "Printers" icon.
- Select your PostScript printer.
- Choose Setup.
- Choose Options.
- Choose Advanced.
- At the top of the dialog box you will see TrueType Fonts Send to Printer As: Choose (drop-down menu) Adobe Type 1.
- Uncheck Use Printer Fonts for All TrueType Fonts and Use Substitution Table.
- OK.
- OK etc.
That's it! Your TrueType fonts will automatically be downloaded in your PostScript file for Ghostscript to use.
For printer devices, the default output is the default printer. This can be modified as follows.
- -sOutputFile="%printer%printer name"
- Output to the named printer. If your printer is named "HP DeskJet 500" then you would use -sOutputFile="%printer%HP DeskJet 500".
If Ghostscript fails to find an environment variable, it looks for a registry value of the same name under the key
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\GPL Ghostscript\#.##
or if that fails, under the key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\GPL Ghostscript\#.##
where #.## is the Ghostscript version number.
Ghostscript will attempt to load the Ghostscript dynamic link library GSDLL32.DLL in the following order:
The Ghostscript setup program will create registry values for the environment variables GS_LIB and GS_DLL.
If you have Adobe Type Manager (ATM) fonts installed on your system, and you wish to use them with Ghostscript, you may wish to replace the FONTMAP file with FONTMAP.ATM, and to add to the environment variable GS_LIB the name of the directory where the fonts are located (see Use.htm for more information about GS_LIB). Before you do this, please read carefully the license that accompanies the ATM fonts; we take no responsibility for any possible violations of such licenses. Similarly, if you have Adobe Type Basics, you may wish to replace FONTMAP with FONTMAP.ATB. Finally, if you have neither ATM nor ATB but you have Adobe Acrobat installed, you can use the Acrobat fonts in place of the ones provided with Ghostscript by adding the Acrobat fonts directory to GS_FONTPATH and removing these fonts from FONTMAP:
Courier, Courier-Bold, Courier-BoldOblique, Courier-Oblique, Helvetica, Helvetica-Bold, Helvetica-BoldOblique, Helvetica-Oblique, Symbol, Times-Bold, Times-BoldItalic, Times-Italic, Times-Roman, ZapfDingbats
To uninstall Ghostscript, use the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and remove "Ghostscript #.##" and "Ghostscript Fonts". (The entries may be called "GPL Ghostscript" or "AFPL Ghostscript", rather than just "Ghostscript", depending on what version of Ghostscript was installed.)
You need the file GS.EXE to run Ghostscript on OpenVMS, and installing Ghostscript on an OpenVMS system requires building it first: please read how to build Ghostscript on VMS in the documentation on building Ghostscript.
The following installation steps assume that the Ghostscript directory is DISK1:[DIR.GHOSTSCRIPT]. Yours will almost certainly be in a different location so adjust the following commands accordingly.
$ set file/prot=w:re DISK1:[DIR]GHOSTSCRIPT.dir $ set file/prot=w:re DISK1:[DIR.GHOSTSCRIPT...]*.*
$ lib/help sys$help:HELPLIB.HLB DISK1:[DIR.GHOSTSCRIPT.DOC]GS-VMS.HLP
$ define gs_exe DISK1:[DIR.GHOSTSCRIPT.BIN] $ define gs_lib DISK1:[DIR.GHOSTSCRIPT.EXE] $ gs :== $gs_exe:gs.exe
If you have DECWindows/Motif installed, you may wish to replace the FONTMAP.GS file with FONTMAP.VMS. Read the comment at the beginning of the latter file for more information.
The last version to run on DOS was Aladdin Ghostscript 5.10, which used a 386 DOS extender.
If you are running MS Windows, then use the MS Windows Ghostscript command line executable GSWIN32C.EXE.
The Ghostscript OS/2 implementation is designed for OS/2 2.1 or later. You need these files to run Ghostscript on OS/2:
GSOS2.EXE A text application that will run windowed or full screen GSDLL2.DLL A dynamic link library that must be in the same directory as GSOS2.EXE or on the LIBPATH. GSPMDRV.EXE An "external driver" used by the display device, which is normally the default device and which displays output in a Presentation Manager window; GSPMDRV.EXE must be located in the same directory as GSOS2.EXE or on the PATH
GSOS2.EXE, GSDLL2.DLL and GSPMDRV.EXE are compiled using EMX/GCC 0.9d. You must have the EMX DLLs on your LIBPATH; they are available in a package emxrt.zip from many places on the Internet.
The system menu of the Ghostscript Image window includes a "Copy" command to copy the currently displayed bitmap to the Clipboard.
OS/2 comes with some Adobe Type Manager fonts. If you wish to use these with Ghostscript, you should replace the FONTMAP file with FONTMAP.OS2, and add to the environment variable GS_LIB (see Use.htm for more information about GS_LIB) the name of the directory where the fonts are located, usually C:\PSFONTS. Before you do this, please read carefully the license that accompanies the ATM fonts; we take no responsibility for any possible violations of such licenses.
Since GSOS2.EXE is not a PM application, it cannot determine the depth of the PM display. You must provide this information using the -dBitsPerPixel option. Valid values are 1, 4, 8 (the default), and 24.
Use For
-dBitsPerPixel=1 VGA monochrome -dBitsPerPixel=4 VGA standard -dBitsPerPixel=8 SVGA 256 colors
Standard VGA is very slow because it uses double buffering to avoid bugs and because of 1-plane to 4-plane conversion; it's better to use a 256-color display driver. Many display drivers have bugs which cause 1 bit-per-pixel bitmaps to be displayed incorrectly.
GSOS2.EXE and GSPMDRV.EXE will stay in memory for the number of minutes specified in the environment variable GS_LOAD.
For printer devices, output goes to the default queue. To print to a specified queue, use -sOutputFile=\\spool\NullLPT1, where NullLPT1 is the queue's physical name.
Copyright © 2000-2006 Artifex Software, Inc. All rights reserved.
This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or implied. This software is distributed under license and may not be copied, modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under the terms of that license. Refer to licensing information at http://www.artifex.com/ or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 7 Mt. Lassen Drive - Suite A-134, San Rafael, CA 94903, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861, for further information.
Ghostscript version 8.63, 28 July 2008