purifyeps - Man Page

purifyeps --help

purifyeps --version

purifyeps [--fontmap=.fmp file] [.eps input file [.eps output file]]

purifyeps --make-man[=filename] [--section=section]

purifyeps --make-ps-man[=filename] [--section=section]

While pdflatex has a number of nice features, its primary shortcoming relative to standard latex+dvips is that it is unable to read ordinary Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files, the most common graphics format in the LaTeX world.  pdflatex can read only the following types of graphics files:

PDF

Most people who use pdflatex convert their documents to PDF using a utility such as epstopdf.  This works well and preserves the vector nature of the original EPS.  Unfortunately, dvips does not read PDF, so two versions of the graphic must be maintained if the document is to be processed with both latex+dvips and pdflatex.

PNG

PNG is a bitmap format and therefore scales poorly.  Also, dvips does not read PNG, so two versions of the graphic must be maintained if the document is to be processed with both latex+dvips and pdflatex.

JPEG

JPEG is a bitmap format and therefore scales poorly.  Also, dvips does not read JPEG, so two versions of the graphic must be maintained if the document is to be processed with both latex+dvips and pdflatex.

MPS

This is probably the least-used pdflatex-compatible graphics format.  MPS is actually a stylized version of EPS that MetaPost outputs.  Like PDF, MPS is a vector format and remains as such when imported into a pdflatex document.  Also like PDF, dvips does not read MPS, so two versions of the graphic must be maintained if the document is to be processed with both latex+dvips and pdflatex.

The insight behind purifyeps is that there are only a few, small differences between MPS and EPS and that a file can be converted into a format that matches both the MPS and EPS specifications simultaneously.  purifyeps inputs an EPS file, uses pstoedit's mpost filter to convert the file to MetaPost (.mp), runs mpost on the file to convert it to MPS, and finally performs some touchups on the result to convert the file back to EPS, while preserving its ability to be parsed by pdflatex.

--help

Display “Usage” and “Options” from the purifyeps documentation.

-V,  --version

Display the purifyeps version number, copyright, and license.

--fontmap=.fmp file

Specify the name of a file that tells purifyeps how to map from TeX font names to PostScript font names.  [Default: mpost.fmp]

--make-man [=filename]] [--section=section]

Automatically create a Unix man page for purifyeps.  section specifies the section [default: 1 (User Commands)].  filename defaults to purifyeps.1 or an analogous filename if section is specified.

--make-ps-man [=filename]] [--section=section]

Automatically create a PostScript version of the purifyeps documentation.  The documentation is formatted like a Unix man page. section specifies the section [default: 1 (User Commands)]. filename defaults to purifyeps.ps.

In normal operation (i.e., when not run with --help, --make-man, or --make-ps-man), purifyeps takes the name of an input file and output file.  The same filename can safely be used for both files.  If the output filename is omitted, output will go to the standard output device.  If the input filename is omitted, purifyeps will read from the standard input device.

Create a PostScript version of the purifyeps documentation, but call it happydoc.ps instead of the default, purifyeps.ps:

    purifyeps --make-ps-man=happydoc.ps

Create a Unix man page for purifyeps (in the usual roff format), but indicate that it belongs in section LOCAL instead of the default of section 1:

    purifyeps --make-man --section=LOCAL

Purify sample.eps (mpost.fmp is in the current directory):

    purifyeps sample.eps sample.eps

Purify sample.eps (mpost.fmp is in a different location):

    purifyeps --fontmap=/usr/share/pstoedit/mpost.fmp sample.eps sample.eps

Rename the purified version while purifying:

    purifyeps sample.eps sample-pure.eps

Do the same, but in a Unix pipeline:

    cat sample.eps | purifyeps > sample-pure.eps

When you run purifyeps, you should see the output from both pstoedit and mpost, followed by a success message from purifyeps:

    % cat sample.eps | purifyeps > sample-pure.eps
    pstoedit: version 3.30 / DLL interface 107 (build Mar 14 2002) :
    Copyright (C) 1993 - 2001 Wolfgang Glunz
    Interpreter finished. Return status 0
    This is MetaPost, Version 0.641 (Web2C 7.3.1)
    (/tmp/purifyeps-jdeGPkh9.mp [1] )
    1 output file written: purifyeps-jdeGPkh9.1
    Transcript written on purifyeps-jdeGPkh9.log.

    File seems to have been purified successfully.

mpost.fmp

File containing mappings between TeX and PostScript font names.  See “Notes” for a description of this file's contents.

Error reporting could definitely stand to be improved.  Error messages produced by pstoedit and mpost are sometimes silently ignored. Also, errors sometimes cause purifyeps to leave temporary files (purifyeps-#####) lying around.

purifyeps is subject to all of the limitations that affect pstoedit and especially the mpost backend to pstoedit.  As a result, purifyeps ignores certain PostScript constructs, such as nonuniformly scaled text.

purifyeps needs a file that tells it how to map from TeX font names to PostScript font names.  This file must contain two, space-separated columns.  The first lists a PostScript font name, and the second lists the TeX equivalent.  Blank lines and lines that start with % are ignored.  The following is a sample .fmp file:

    % This is a sample font map for purifyeps.
    Times-Bold                           ptmb
    Times-Italic                         ptmri
    Times-Roman                          ptmr
    Helvetica                            phvr
    Helvetica-Bold                       phvb
    Helvetica-Oblique                    phvro
    Courier                              pcrr
    Courier-Bold                         pcrb
    Courier-Oblique                      pcrro

Note that this is exactly the same format that pstoedit uses.  By default, purifyeps looks in the current directory for a font map called mpost.fmp.  The --fontmap command-line option tells purifyeps to use a different font map, which will typically be the mpost.fmp file that comes with pstoedit.

Once you create purified EPS files with purifyeps, you need to instruct pdflatex to use them.  The pdfLaTeX configuration of the graphics and graphicx packages (pdftex.def) normally ignores .eps files.  Putting the following LaTeX code in your document's preamble tells pdflatex that all .eps files are in MPS format:

    % Tell pdfLaTeX that all .eps files were produced by MetaPost.
    \usepackage{graphicx} % or graphics
    \usepackage{ifpdf}
    \ifpdf
      \DeclareGraphicsRule{.eps}{mps}{*}{}
      \makeatletter
        \g@addto@macro\Gin@extensions{,.eps}
      \makeatother
    \fi

dvips(1), epstopdf(1), latex(1), mpost(1), pdflatex(1), pstoedit(1)

Scott Pakin, scott+peps@pakin.org