MGP2PS(1)

📦 version 1.13a, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 MGP2PS — the glow-up your MagicPoint slides deserved 💖

okay so bestie, listen. This is the manual for mgp2ps, a member of the General Commands Manual family, and honestly? It's giving "tiny utility, huge main character energy." Let's get into it. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

mgp2ps — generate PostScript file from MagicPoint file 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

mgp2ps [-cirtV] [-f psfile] [-p papersize] [-x xmargin] [-y ymargin]
       mgpfile

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

So basically mgp2ps is a converter, and what it converts is a MagicPoint file called mgpfile into a PostScript file. That's the whole vibe. 🔥

If you pass the -f option, the PostScript gets generated into psfile. And if you don't? It just gets printed to the standard output, no drama, no cap. 💅

Here's a cute lil detail: if there's a foo.eps sitting there corresponding to foo.gif (or whatever — literally whatever, bestie), then that encapsulated PostScript file gets included into the PostScript file instead. ✨ Sneaky. Iconic.

The following options are available, and I need you to read all of them because they're all kinda useful:

  • -c — Generate a color PostScript file (experimental, so like... be aware 👀). By default mgp2ps generates a monochrome postscript file, which is lowkey the safe choice.
  • -i — Paint inside the icon symbols. Like filling in the little shapes. 🎨
  • -r — Stack the paper in reverse order. Flip it and reverse it. 🔄
  • -V — Be verbose. She will talk. She will tell you things. 🗣️
  • -f psfile — Pathname to put the PostScript output. This is where your file goes. 📁
  • -p papersize — papersize specifies the size of the paper to be used. And the roster is LONG, bestie, we love a full cast: a3, a4, a5, b5, A3, A4, A5, B5, letter, legal, ledger, tabloid, statement, executive, folio, quarto and 10x14 are available. Default size is a4. 👑
  • -x xmargin
  • -y ymargin — xmargin and ymargin specify the length of the margin area around the edge of the paper. So like, the breathing room. The personal space. 🌸
  • -t — Use truetypefont instead of psfont (ASCII font only). ⭐
  • -e — Specify encodings. At this moment, "iso-8859-1", "latin1", "iso-8859-2" "and latin-2" are supported as encodings. Yes, that quoting is exactly how it came to us, we're not touching it. 🫶
  • -m — emulate "%pause" directive. ⏸️
  • -X engine — Do not use the rendering engine specified by engine. And engine can be only FreeType so far. That's it. That's the whole list. 💀
  • -g level — specify the distance level between lines. If level is 0, the result will be close to the result of xft2 rendering. If others, it will be close to the result of other rendering engines. So 0 is the xft2-flavored one, and everything else is giving "other rendering engines." 🌈
🫶 quick vibe check: -c is marked experimental in the original, so don't come for me if the colors do something weird. I'm just the messenger.

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

  • mgp(1) — go say hi to her sister, she's lovely 💜

✨ HISTORY ✨

Not me getting emotional over this one 😭 — mgp2ps was created so that Kazu Yamamoto could submit his tutorial document to the committee of Internet Week '97. Like, this whole tool exists because one person needed to hand in homework. That's so real. Main character origin story, fr fr. 🧚

and that's the whole page, bestie!! This little love letter shipped out from the Debian crew back in November 1997, and it's still out here converting slides for us. Obsessed. Periodt. 💖✨🎀🦋🌸💅🫶

📦 where this page comes from