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| ## page was renamed from ThetexttopdfFilter | |
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| Getting the most out of the texttopdf filter used with CUPS on Jessie and Stretch. | Getting the most out of the texttopdf filter used with CUPS on Debian 9 (stretch) and later. |
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| on the system. Supported font formats are [[WikiPedia:TrueType|TrueType]] (TTF), [[WikiPedia:OpenType|OpenType]] (OTF) and [[WikiPedia:TrueType#TrueType_Collection|TrueType Collection]] (TTC). The font should be monospaced. | on the system. Supported font formats are [[WikiPedia:TrueType|TrueType]] (TTF), [[WikiPedia:OpenType|OpenType]] (OTF) and [[WikiPedia:TrueType#TrueType_Collection|TrueType Collection]] (TTC). The font should be [[WikiPedia:Monospaced_font|monospaced]]. |
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| Font selection is taken care of within the [[DebianPkg:fontconfig|fontconfig]] framework (documented in [[DebianMan:fonts-conf|fonts-conf]]) in conjunction with ''pdf.utf-8'', which is found in ''/usr/share/cups/charsets'' and installed by the [[DebianPkg:cups-filters|cups-filters]] package. By default ''pdf.utf-8'' is symlinked to ''pdf.utf-8.simple'', whose essential content on Debian 8.x (Jessie) is {{{ charset utf8 0000 04FF ltor single FreeMono FreeMono:bold FreeMono:oblique FreeMono:bold:oblique 0500 05FF rtol single FreeMono }}} Note that the font names are not file names but selectors which enable fontconfig to choose a monopaced font. The font used for printing ''will always be'' !FreeMono if fontconfig finds it on the system but otherwise it will conduct a search based on the generic font group which Freemono belongs to. !FreeMono belongs to the monospace group of fonts so fontconfig will search for other fonts that are registered in this group and use the first match it finds. On Debian 9.x (Stretch) ''pdf.utf-8.simple'' [[DebianBug:788048|has been changed]] to contain |
Font selection is taken care of within the [[DebianPkg:fontconfig|fontconfig]] framework, documented in [[DebianMan:fonts-conf|fonts-conf]], in conjunction with ''pdf.utf-8'', which is found in ''/usr/share/cups/charsets'' and installed by the [[DebianPkg:cups-filters|cups-filters]] package. By default, ''pdf.utf-8'' is symlinked to ''pdf.utf-8.simple'', whose essential content is |
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| ''monospace'' is still a selector for fontconfig but the hard-coded request for !FreeMono is changed to the to the generic monospace alias. fontconfig returns the best suitable monospaced font that is available on the system. This might be !FreeMono or !DejaVuSansMono or any other monospaced font. The preference for a particular font can be configured on a [[#system|per-system]] basis by altering which file ''pdf.utf-8'' links to (Jessie and Stretch) or by means of a fontconfig configuration file (Stretch only). | Note that ''monospace'' is a selector that enables fontconfig to choose a monopaced font. fontconfig will search for fonts that are registered in the ''monospace'' group and return what it considers to be the best suitable candidate that is available on the system. This could be [[DebianPkg:fonts-freefont-ttf|FreeMono]] or [[DebianPkg:fonts-dejavu-core|DejaVuSansMono]] or any other monospaced font. A preference for a particular font can be configured on a [[#system|per-system]] basis by means of a fontconfig configuration file. A user with a font preference is [[#user|also catered for]]. |
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| The cups-filters package has [[DebianBug:735223|no dependency on a specific font package]] but it pulls in [[DebianPkg:fontconfig-config|fontconfig-config]] (via [[DebianPkg:libfontconfig1|libfontconfig1]]) because it depends on it. In its turn fontconfig-config has the dependency | The cups-filters package hasn't [[DebianBug:735223|any dependency on a specific font package]] but it pulls in [[DebianPkg:fontconfig-config|fontconfig-config]] (via [[DebianPkg:libfontconfig1|libfontconfig1]]) because it depends on it. In its turn fontconfig-config has a dependency beginning |
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| fonts-dejavu-core | ttf-bitstream-vera | fonts-liberation | fonts-freefont | fonts-dejavu-core | ttf-bitstream-vera | fonts-liberation | fonts-freefont... |
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| All these four packages have a monospaced font. There will consequently always be one monospaced font on the system | This will normally lead to the first in the list being installed. fonts-dejavu-core has a monospaced font. Consequently, there will always be one monospaced font on the system. |
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* '''Jessie.''' As ''pdf.utf-8.simple'' is written on Jessie, fontconfig will always select [[DebianPkg:fonts-freefont-ttf|FreeMono]] if this font is installed. It will only fall back to one of [[DebianPkg:fonts-dejavu-core|DejaVuSansMono]] or [[DebianPkg:fonts-liberation|LiberationMono]] or [[DebianPkg:ttf-bitstream-vera|VeraMono]] if !FreeMono is not available. To specify exactly what font to use, the file ''pdf.utf-8.defaultfont'' can be created to replace ''pdf.utf-8.simple'' and linked to ''pdf.utf-8''. With the [[DebianPkg:fonts-linuxlibertine|fonts-linuxlibertine]] package it would be sufficient to have ''pdf.utf-8.defaultfont'' as {{{ charset utf8 0000 04FF ltor single /usr/share/fonts/opentype/linux-libertine/LinLibertine_M.otf }}} This bypasses fontconfig and also works on Stretch. Substituting the Stretch ''pdf.utf-8.simple'' for the Jessie version is also something to consider. * '''Stretch.''' The preferred way of using a chosen ''textttopdf_font'' on Stretch would be to create ''/etc/fonts/local.conf'' with the contents |
The preferred way of using a chosen ''textttopdf_font'' would be to create ''/etc/fonts/local.conf'' with the contents |
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| Possibilities for ''textttopdf_font'' are ''Liberation Mono'', ''!FreeMono'', ''Moto Mono'' or ''Inconsolata''. |
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| Filters are always run as a non-privileged user, typically ''lp'', with no connection to the user's desktop. On Jessie and Stretch a user would have to pre-process the text file to produce a PDF which is then sent to the printing system. The PDF would have the chosen font embedded in it. | Filters such as texttopdf are always run by the printing system as a non-privileged user, typically ''lp'', with no connection to the user's desktop. This implies that printing via cups-filters is not an option and that a user would have to execute texttopdf under user privileges to gain control of font selection. |
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| * '''Jessie.''' Create the directory ''$HOME/charsets'' and the file ''pdf.utf-8'' (examples below). Put ''pdf.utf-8'' into ''$HOME/charsets''. Convert the text file to a PDF with |
The conversion of a text file to a PDF is done with with |
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| CUPS_DATADIR=$HOME CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 <text_file> > out.pdf | CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 < <text_file> > out.pdf |
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| ''$CUPS_DATADIR'' would normally be ''/usr/share/cups/'' but texttopdf will now look for the character set in a charsets directory in the home directory. Here are two example ''$HOME/charsets/pdf.utf-8'' files which will override the hard-coded !FreeMono font selection: | ''CHARSET=utf-8'' tells the filter to consult [[#selection|/usr/share/cups/charsets/pdf.utf-8]], where it will find the request for a ''monospace'' font. |
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| fontconfig will now be capable of using what a user wants from the ''monospace'' selector when the xml snippet [[#snippet|above]] is put into ''$HOME/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf''. The user's ''fonts.conf'' will take precedence over the system's ''/etc/fonts/local.conf'' because texttopdf is being run by an ordinary user. The two-step production of a PDF and sending it to the printing system can be automated with [[CUPSTea4CUPS#Text to PDF with a Selected Font|Tea4CUPS]] <<Anchor(freemono)>> === The Case for FreeMono === The choice of a font for printing text files may very well be based on the look of the font. This is a reasonable criterion. However, there are other factors such as the range of [[WikiPedia:Glyphs|glyphs]] in the font and, by implication, the language(s) used in the text. [[http://www.gnu.org/software/freefont/|GNU FreeMono]] has veryfont good coverage of glyphs and caters for characters from many [[WikiPedia:Unicode_blocks|Unicode blocks]]. It can be compared with other monospaced fonts by altering the [[#system| the system]] or [[#user|user-chosen]] font and producing and viewing a PDF of [[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/examples/|UTF-8-demo.txt]] using (respectively) [[ThecupsfilterUtility|cupsfilter]] or texttopdf: * Produce a PDF with |
|
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| charset utf8 0000 04FF ltor single /usr/share/fonts/truetype/noto/NotoMono-Regular.ttf charset utf8 0000 04FF ltor single LiberationMono LiberationMono:bold LiberationMono:oblique LiberationMono:bold:oblique |
/usr/sbin/cupsfilter UTF-8-demo.txt > out.pdf CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 UTF-8-demo.txt > out.pdf |
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| * '''Stretch.''' Use the xml snippet [[#snippet|above]] in ''$HOME/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf''. The user's ''fonts.conf'' will take precedence over the system's ''local.conf'' because texttopdf is being run by an ordinary user. Produce a PDF with |
* Check the font used with |
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| CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 <text_file> > out.pdf | pdffonts out.pdf |
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| The two-step production of a PDF and sending it to the printing system can be automated with [[Tea4CUPS#Text to PDF with a Selected Font|Tea4CUPS]] <<Anchor(case)>> === The Case for FreeMono === The choice of a font for printing text files may very well be based on the look of the font. This is a reasonable criterion. However, there are other factors such as the range of glyphs in the font and, by implication, the language(s) used in the text. [[http://www.gnu.org/software/freefont/|GNU FreeMono]] has very good coverage of glyphs and caters for characters from many Unicode blocks. It may be compared with other monospaced fonts by [[#system|altering the system font]] and producing and viewing a PDF of the [[http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/ucs/examples/|UTF-8-demo.txt]] using [[ThecupsfilterUtility|cupsfilter:]] * Produce a PDF with ''/usr/sbin/cupsfilter UTF-8-demo.txt > out.pdf'' * Check the font used with ''pdffonts out.pdf'' * View the PDF with ''your_favourite_pdf_viewer out.pdf'' <<Anchor(difference)>> === A Difference Between TrueType and OpenType Fonts When Printing === Install [[DebianPkg:fonts-freefont-ttf|fonts-freefont-ttf]] and convert a text file to a PDF with [[DebianMan:cupsfilter|cupsfilter.]] The outputs below were obtained from a Jessie machine with a default install. |
* View the PDF with |
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| /usr/sbin/cupsfilter /etc/services > services.pdf | your_favourite_pdf_viewer out.pdf |
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Find the size of services.pdf and run [[DebianMan:pdffonts|pdffonts]] to analyse the fonts it uses: {{{ brian@jessie:~$ ls -l services.pdf -rw-r--r-- 1 brian brian 239047 Jun 9 16:35 services.pdf brian@jessie:~$ pdffonts services.pdf name type encoding emb sub uni object ID --------------- ------------ ---------- --------------------- SHXZNP+FreeMono CID TrueType Identity-H yes yes no 41 0 }}} Remove fonts-freefont-ttf, replace it with [[DebianPkg:fonts-freefont-otf|fonts-freefont-otf]] and repeat. {{{ brian@jessie:~$ ls -l services.pdf -rw-r--r-- 1 brian brian 755004 Jun 9 16:23 services.pdf brian@jessie:~$ pdffonts services.pdf name type encoding emb sub uni object ID ----------------------- ----------- ---------- --------------------- FreeMonoBold-Identity-H CID Type 0C Identity-H yes no no 40 0 FreeMono-Identity-H CID Type 0C Identity-H yes no no 45 0 }}} The second file has the fonts embedded but not subset. In other words, the complete font has been included in the file produced by texttopdf. This results in a much larger file to be sent to the printer and might result in a longer printing time. This is not necessarily a problem but it is as well to be aware that using OTF is not yet equivalent to using TTF for the monospaced font. |
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| The primary purpose of cups-filters is to process files (often in conjunction with CUPS) to produce an end product of toner or ink being put on a medium such as paper. However, it didn't take long for people to realise the CUPS+cupsfilters combination gave a way of capturing a PDF file without sending it to a printer. This opens up a way of archiving text files and scripting batch production of PDFs from them using something which is probably on the system already. |
The primary purpose of [[PrintingGlossaryandIndex#cupsfilters|cups-filters]] is to process files (in conjunction with [[PrintingGlossaryandIndex#cups|CUPS]]) to produce an end product of toner or ink being put on a medium such as paper. However, it didn't take long for people to realise the CUPS+cupsfilters combination gave a way of capturing a PDF file without sending it to a printer. This opens up a way of archiving text files and scripting batch production of PDFs from them using something that is probably on the system already. |
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| The command to use has been [[#difference|given earlier]]. Please look again at both pdffonts outputs in that section and note that ''uni'' is ''no''. This means there is no !ToUnicode map in the PDF file and this in turn implies the text in the PDF is not searchable or capable of being copied. Should this does not matter to you you have a decent method to produce a PDF from a text file. |
Either of the two commands [[#freemono|given previously]] may be used to produce a PDF. An issue that may arise is that the PDFs do not have searchable or extractable test. This is a consequence of the design of the texttopdf filter. If it matters, the situation may be rectified with some post-processing. |
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| If it does matter there is | * With the [[#system|system]] text font: |
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| /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 input.txt > out.pdf | /usr/sbin/cupsfilter <input.txt> | pdftocairo -pdf - out.pdf |
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| out.pdf is searchable and copiable. If you use pdffonts it can be seen there are no fonts embedded in it, so printing it would have to rely on whatever fonts the printer provides. It should be viewable on any machine because the font is courier. |
* With a [[#user|user's]] text font: |
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| Alternatively, the pdf produced by texttopdf can be post-processed with [[DebianMan:pdftocairo|pdftocairo]]: * '''With the [[#system|system]] text font.''' |
|
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| /usr/sbin/cupsfilter input.txt | pdftocairo -pdf - out.pdf | CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 <input.txt> | pdftocairo -pdf - out.pdf |
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| * '''With a [[#user|user's]] text font on Stretch.''' | You may want to look at the [[CUPSTea4CUPS|Tea4CUPS page]] for ideas on creating a searchable PDF with chosen embedded fonts as part of the printing system workflow. === Text Orientation === texttopdf handles a text file such as ''/etc/services'' by producing a [[pdftopdfandPageRotation#portrait|PDF portrait page]] with the text parallel to the short edge. If either ''landscape'' or ''orientation-requested=4'' is given as an option to texttopdf, the PDF is a [[pdftopdfandPageRotation#portrait|landscape page]] and the text is placed parallel to the long edge. The second PDF is [[pdftopdfandPageRotation#autorotate|processed by pdftopdf]] to print correctly. |
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| CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 input.txt | pdftocairo -pdf - out.pdf | lp -d <queue> /etc/services lp -d <queue> -o landscape /etc/services +------------+ +----------------------+ |AAAAAAAAAAAA| |BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB| | | | | | | | | | | +----------------------+ | | | | +------------+ |
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You might want to look at the [[Tea4CUPS|Tea4cups page]] for ideas on creating a searchable PDF with chosen embedded fonts as part of the printing system workflow. |
|
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| <<MailTo(smilingthax SPAMFREE AT googlemail DOT com,Tobias Hoffman)>> under the auspices of the [[https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting|OpenPrinting]] group. Significant work has been done in [[https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=662660| bug #662660]] and [[https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=663070|bug #663070]] by <<MailTo(fabian SPAMFREE AT debian DOT org,Fabian Greffrath)>> to integrate the use of fontconfig into the filter. | <<MailTo(smilingthax SPAMFREE AT googlemail DOT com,Tobias Hoffmann)>> under the auspices of the [[https://wiki.linuxfoundation.org/en/OpenPrinting|OpenPrinting]] group. Significant work has been done in [[https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=662660| bug #662660]] and [[https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=663070|bug #663070]] by <<MailTo(fabian SPAMFREE AT debian DOT org,Fabian Greffrath)>> to integrate the use of fontconfig into the filter. |
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| === See Also === * [[Printing|The Debian Printing Portal]] |
|
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| ## If this page belongs to an existing Category, add it below. ## CategorySomething | CategoryAnother |
CategoryPrinter |
Translation(s): none
Getting the most out of the texttopdf filter used with CUPS on Debian 9 (stretch) and later.
Contents
Font Selection and fontconfig
Printing a text file requires at least one suitable font to be available on the system. Supported font formats are TrueType (TTF), OpenType (OTF) and TrueType Collection (TTC). The font should be monospaced.
Font selection is taken care of within the fontconfig framework, documented in fonts-conf, in conjunction with pdf.utf-8, which is found in /usr/share/cups/charsets and installed by the cups-filters package. By default, pdf.utf-8 is symlinked to pdf.utf-8.simple, whose essential content is
charset utf8 0000 04FF ltor single monospace monospace:bold monospace:oblique monospace:bold:oblique 0500 05FF rtol single monospace
Note that monospace is a selector that enables fontconfig to choose a monopaced font. fontconfig will search for fonts that are registered in the monospace group and return what it considers to be the best suitable candidate that is available on the system. This could be FreeMono or DejaVuSansMono or any other monospaced font.
A preference for a particular font can be configured on a per-system basis by means of a fontconfig configuration file. A user with a font preference is also catered for.
Altering the System-wide Default Font for Printing
The cups-filters package hasn't any dependency on a specific font package but it pulls in fontconfig-config (via libfontconfig1) because it depends on it. In its turn fontconfig-config has a dependency beginning
fonts-dejavu-core | ttf-bitstream-vera | fonts-liberation | fonts-freefont...
This will normally lead to the first in the list being installed. fonts-dejavu-core has a monospaced font. Consequently, there will always be one monospaced font on the system.
The preferred way of using a chosen textttopdf_font would be to create /etc/fonts/local.conf with the contents
<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>
<fontconfig>
<alias>
<family>monospace</family>
<prefer>
<family>textttopdf_font</family>
</prefer>
</alias>
</fontconfig>Possibilities for textttopdf_font are Liberation Mono, FreeMono, Moto Mono or Inconsolata.
User Control of the Default Printing Font
Filters such as texttopdf are always run by the printing system as a non-privileged user, typically lp, with no connection to the user's desktop. This implies that printing via cups-filters is not an option and that a user would have to execute texttopdf under user privileges to gain control of font selection.
The conversion of a text file to a PDF is done with with
CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 < <text_file> > out.pdf
CHARSET=utf-8 tells the filter to consult /usr/share/cups/charsets/pdf.utf-8, where it will find the request for a monospace font.
fontconfig will now be capable of using what a user wants from the monospace selector when the xml snippet above is put into $HOME/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf. The user's fonts.conf will take precedence over the system's /etc/fonts/local.conf because texttopdf is being run by an ordinary user.
The two-step production of a PDF and sending it to the printing system can be automated with Tea4CUPS
The Case for FreeMono
The choice of a font for printing text files may very well be based on the look of the font. This is a reasonable criterion. However, there are other factors such as the range of glyphs in the font and, by implication, the language(s) used in the text.
GNU FreeMono has veryfont good coverage of glyphs and caters for characters from many Unicode blocks. It can be compared with other monospaced fonts by altering the the system or user-chosen font and producing and viewing a PDF of UTF-8-demo.txt using (respectively) cupsfilter or texttopdf:
- Produce a PDF with
/usr/sbin/cupsfilter UTF-8-demo.txt > out.pdf CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 UTF-8-demo.txt > out.pdf
- Check the font used with
pdffonts out.pdf
- View the PDF with
your_favourite_pdf_viewer out.pdf
Using texttpdf to Produce PDFs
The primary purpose of cups-filters is to process files (in conjunction with CUPS) to produce an end product of toner or ink being put on a medium such as paper. However, it didn't take long for people to realise the CUPS+cupsfilters combination gave a way of capturing a PDF file without sending it to a printer. This opens up a way of archiving text files and scripting batch production of PDFs from them using something that is probably on the system already.
Either of the two commands given previously may be used to produce a PDF. An issue that may arise is that the PDFs do not have searchable or extractable test. This is a consequence of the design of the texttopdf filter. If it matters, the situation may be rectified with some post-processing.
With the system text font:
/usr/sbin/cupsfilter <input.txt> | pdftocairo -pdf - out.pdf
With a user's text font:
CHARSET=utf-8 /usr/lib/cups/filter/texttopdf 1 1 1 1 1 <input.txt> | pdftocairo -pdf - out.pdf
You may want to look at the Tea4CUPS page for ideas on creating a searchable PDF with chosen embedded fonts as part of the printing system workflow.
Text Orientation
texttopdf handles a text file such as /etc/services by producing a PDF portrait page with the text parallel to the short edge. If either landscape or orientation-requested=4 is given as an option to texttopdf, the PDF is a landscape page and the text is placed parallel to the long edge. The second PDF is processed by pdftopdf to print correctly.
lp -d <queue> /etc/services lp -d <queue> -o landscape /etc/services
+------------+ +----------------------+
|AAAAAAAAAAAA| |BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB|
| | | |
| | | |
| | +----------------------+
| |
| |
+------------+
Credits
The texttopdf filter is based on CUPS' texttops filter and written by Tobias Hoffmann <smilingthax SPAMFREE AT googlemail DOT com> under the auspices of the OpenPrinting group. Significant work has been done in bug #662660 and bug #663070 by Fabian Greffrath <fabian SPAMFREE AT debian DOT org> to integrate the use of fontconfig into the filter.
See Also