Re: [Groff] Setting page and paper size

[Cedric Sodhi]

Thank you, I'll put it on my todo list together with the EQN manpage.
But as with the latter it could take a while before I get arround to do
it. And first I have to understand how exactly .device works.

So far I've understood that .device is a native roff macro that passes
its argument through to the output roff wrapped in something that
designates the postprocessor that this is a "raw passed through
argument" (I should be able to confirm
this by simply looking at the roff output). Then the postprocessor picks
this up (for instance grops picks it up, but only accepts it with a ps:
prefix) and acts accordingly.

So the change would actually be needed in grops to account for a
sequence such as "ps:papersize" and write out the according
ps-instructions that you more or less mentioned).

Is there perhaps a generic (for all sorts of devices) groff
command/sequence that passes the data through as a binary blob, meaning
that it goes untouched by both, roff AND the postprocessor? So one could
eventually specify the PS-sequence in the groff sourcecode (like a
stronger \X)?

Sorry for the stupid questions, maybe some could relief Werner of me and
reply instead.

Thanks anyway

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 10:28:00PM +0100, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> 
> > I should add: I read that passing -p to grops can change the paper
> > size, so PS must support it.
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > I wonder though whether it supports setting it through the .device
> > command or another "raw passthrough" command.
> 
> No.  It shouldn't be too difficult to add another \X'ps: ...' sequence
> which inserts the proper `/setpagedevice' command, `%%PageMedia'
> `%%DocumentMedia', and/or `%%PageBoundingBox' lines.
> 
> Since I don't have the time and expertise: Volunteers are highly
> welcomed.
> 
> 
>     Werner