DVITYPE(1)

📦
version 77830 · 6 versions
, in alpine 3.24, fedora 44, opensuse-leap 16.0, ubuntu resolute

💖 DVITYPE — okay bestie, let's translate some DVI 💖

so like. this is the manual page for dvitype and odvitype, and their whole entire job is translating a DVI file so that actual humans can read it. no cap. ✨

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

dvitype dvi_name[.dvi]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay first things first, real talk: this manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. the complete documentation for this version of TeX lives in the info file or the manual Web2C: A TeX implementation. so if you need the deep lore, go there, bestie. 💅

so what does dvitype actually do? it takes a DVI (DeVice Independent) file — like the kind that comes out of tex(1) or gftodvi(1) — and translates it into a file that humans can read. it's giving translator, it's giving glow-up. 🫶

but that's not all, because dvitype is also:

  • a DVI file-validating program — like, if dvitype can read it, it's correct. that's the vibe check. if it passes, it slays.
  • an example of a DVI-reading program for future device drivers. so it's iconic and educational. main character energy fr fr.

the output file can include all commands, just the important ones, or none at all — and in that last case, only errors get reported. 😭

you can also pick a subinterval of pages for transliteration, and change the magnification and resolution of the ``output device''. and so on. the possibilities?? endless.

all options are specified with an on-line dialog. yes literally, you just talk to it.

if you leave off the .dvi extension from dvi_name, it gets supplied for you. 🎀 and the output goes to stdout.

✨ OPTIONS ✨

one bullet per option, no skipping, we're thorough in this house:

  • -dpi=REAL — set the resolution to REAL pixels per inch. default is 300.0. yes with the decimal. 🍓
  • -magnification=NUMBER — override whatever existing magnification was already there with NUMBER. out with the old, in with the new. 💅
  • -max-pages=NUMBER — process NUMBER pages, then stop. default is one million (1000000). a million pages?? okay go off. 🔥
  • -output-level=NUMBER — verbosity level, from 0 to 4. default is 4. turn it down if you want less yapping, turn it up if you want the full tea. ⭐
  • -page-start=PAGE-SPEC — start at PAGE-SPEC. for example `2' or `5.*.-2'. yes those are the exact formats, copy them exactly bestie. 🙈
  • -show-opcodes — show numeric opcodes, in decimal. nerdy and we love that for you. 👑

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

the environment variable TEXFONTS is used to search for the TFM files that get used in the DVI file. 💖

see tex(1) for the details of the searching, because that's where the whole saga is written down.

if TEXFONTS is not set, it uses the system default. simple as that. 🧚

💜 SEE ALSO 💜

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Donald E. Knuth wrote the program. it was published as part of the TeXware technical report, available from the TeX Users Group. 📚

Howard Trickey and Pavel Curtis originally ported it to Unix. absolute legends, honestly. 🫶

and that's the whole page, bestie!! you ate. periodt. 💅✨

okay so the cute little sign-off: this was Web2C 2025, dated 16 June 2015. so like, an oldie but a goodie. 💖 bye bestie, go read your DVI files 🦋

📦 where this page comes from