
DownScript README
=================

Last updated: 19th April 1999


Introduction
------------

DownScript is an interactive tool for converting postscript files "down"
into normal text formats like ASCII and HTML, using LibGGI for the user
interface.  It accomplishes this task by using some postscript code
(ps2ascii.ps, a part of Ghostscript) which extracts the text information
from the PS file, and a bunch of heuristics for determining boundaries
of words, lines, paragraphs, etc...  Note that there is no OCR involved.


Features
--------

When converting to HTML, DownScript can retain some of the styling in
the original PS file: bold, italics, monospace, superscript, subscript,
and relative font sizes.  When converting to ASCII, bold and underline
can be rendered using the pseudo-standard ^H sequences.


Limitations
-----------

Some documents are impossible to convert, since they are little more
than bitmap images wrapped up in postscript code -- Ugh.  Other ones
produce bad results, sometimes because the spacing between lines (or,
for two-sided documents, between columns) is too small or large, other
times because the document has hard-to-recognize things (like little
chunks of text in the margins).  And of course, images cannot be
converted, and tables generally don't work either.  But on the whole,
most documents produce good results.


Requirements
------------

DownScript requires Ghostscript to do the grunt work (extracting the
text from Postscript (TM) files).  I don't know exactly what versions
will work, but FYI my version is 3.33.  DownScript also requires GZIP to
handle compressed files, and LibGGI for the user interface.  Note that
Ghostscript will be intolerably slow unless your computer has an FPU.


Copyright
---------

DownScript is Copyright (c) 1998-1999 Andrew Apted, and is under the GNU
General Public License (GPL).  For more details, see the file `COPYING'
which comes in this archive.  In particular, DownScript comes with
absolutely NO WARRANTY of any kind.  USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.


Installation
------------

First edit `Makerules' to your liking, and then run your eye over
`Makefile'.  When satisfied, type `make' which will make the executable.
If all goes well, type `make install' (as root) which installs the
DownScript executable into the location given by `Makerules'.


Using DownScript
----------------

Read the file `MANUAL' which comes in this archive.

Like all good utilities, invoking DownScript with the `--help' option
will give a summary of all the options that DownScript supports.


Enjoy,

    Andrew Apted   <ajapted@netspace.net.au>
