Copyright (C) 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994 Aladdin Enterprises. All rights reserved. This file is part of Aladdin Ghostscript. Aladdin Ghostscript is distributed with NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. No author or distributor accepts any responsibility for the consequences of using it, or for whether it serves any particular purpose or works at all, unless he or she says so in writing. Refer to the Aladdin Ghostscript Free Public License (the "License") for full details. Every copy of Aladdin Ghostscript must include a copy of the License, normally in a plain ASCII text file named PUBLIC. The License grants you the right to copy, modify and redistribute Aladdin Ghostscript, but only under certain conditions described in the License. Among other things, the License requires that the copyright notice and this notice be preserved on all copies. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - **************************************************** * This file describes version 3.12 of Ghostscript. * **************************************************** ******** ******** An overview of Ghostscript ******** ******** Ghostscript is the name of a set of software that provides: - An interpreter for the PostScript (TM) language, and - A set of C procedures (the Ghostscript library) that implement the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive operations in the PostScript language. How is Ghostscript licensed? Where can I find it? -------------------------------------------------- Ghostscript is a copyrighted work (Aladdin Enterprises owns the copyright); it is not shareware or in the public domain. Different versions of it are distributed with three different licenses: - Versions entitled "Aladdin Ghostscript" are distributed with a license called the Aladdin Ghostscript Free Public License that allows free use, copying, and distribution by end users, but does not allow commercial distribution. You can always get the current version of Aladdin Ghostscript with this license by Internet FTP from ftp.cs.wisc.edu:/pub/ghost/aladdin/ghostscript*NNNN* or /afs/cs.wisc.edu/public/pub/ghost/aladdin/ghostscript*NNNN* where NNNN is the version number. If you do not have convenient access to the Internet, Aladdin Enterprises can send you Aladdin Ghostscript on PC-compatible diskettes for a small fee; please contact Aladdin for more information. The address and phone number are given later on in this document. Please note that this is not "commercial licensing"; you are still getting free software, with no support and no warranty. - Versions entitled "GNU Ghostscript" are distributed with the GNU General Public License, which allows free use, and free copying and redistribution under certain conditions (including, in some cases, commercial distribution). GNU Ghostscript versions are released approximately a year after the corresponding Aladdin Ghostscript version. You can always get the current version of GNU Ghostscript by Internet FTP from ftp.cs.wisc.edu:/pub/ghost/gnu/ghostscript*NNNN* or /afs/cs.wisc.edu/public/pub/ghost/gnu/ghostscript*NNNN* or from any of the GNU distribution sites, such as ftp.uu.net:/systems/gnu or gatekeeper.dec.com:/pub/GNU; you can also get GNU Ghostscript on tape or CD-ROM from the Free Software Foundation. For a more complete list of sites, including sites outside the U.S., send e-mail to gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu. - Versions of Ghostscript are also available for commercial licensing. See the next section for details. Aladdin Ghostscript and GNU Ghostscript come with NO WARRANTY and NO SUPPORT. If you have a question or a bug to report, please see the section "If you need help" below for information about what to do. The Ghostscript source code distribution includes a library written by the Independent JPEG Group (IJG). This library does NOT fall under either the GNU License or the Aladdin Ghostscript Free Public License; it comes with its own license, which is less restrictive. For more information, please see the README file in the jpeg subdirectory of the Ghostscript source code. The executable versions of Ghostscript are based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. What about commercial use? -------------------------- GNU Ghostscript may not be incorporated into commercial products which forbid copying or for which customers cannot obtain source code for no more than the cost of reproduction, although it may be distributed ("aggregated") with commercial products; Aladdin Ghostscript may not be incorporated into commercial products at all, and may only be distributed commercially under extremely limited circumstances. However, Ghostscript is also available for commercial licensing, which in addition to the right to incorporate Ghostscript into commercial products includes support, a limited warranty, high-quality fonts, and other benefits. For more information about commercial licensing of Ghostscript, please contact Aladdin Enterprises' commercial distribution partners, which are the only entities legally authorized to distribute Ghostscript per se on any terms other than the GNU or Aladdin free licenses: In the U.S. and all parts of the world except Europe: Miles Jones Director of Marketing Artifex Software Inc. 454 Las Gallinas Ave., suite 108 San Rafael, CA 94903 U.S.A. voice +1-415-492-9861 fax +1-415-492-9862 e-mail: dir.mktg@arsoft.com In Europe, as a representative of Artifex Software: quick System Service Christoph Strozyk Sprockhoeveler Str. 55 58455 Witten Germany Tel. +49-2302-28133-0 Fax. +49-2302-28133-6 e-mail: chris@quicksys.net Currently, Artifex does not offer commercial support as a separate service; support is available only to OEM licensees. quickSys, however, does provide commercial support for Aladdin and GNU Ghostscript in Europe. What platforms does Ghostscript run on? --------------------------------------- Ghostscript is written entirely in C (with some optional assembly-language accelerators for MS-DOS platforms), with special care taken to make it run properly on systems of either byte order and of various word lengths. GNU Ghostscript is known to run on the following platform families: - A wide variety of Unix systems using X Windows version 11, release 4 and 5, including Sun-3, Sun-4, Sun-386i, Sun SPARCStation 1 and 2; generic 80386 machines running 386/ix, ISC Unix, and SCO Unix; H-P 9000/300 and 9000/800; DECStation 2100 and 3100; VAX running Ultrix; Sequent Symmetry; Convex C1 and C2; Tektronix 4300; SGI Iris Indigo; - Sun workstations (Sun-3, SPARC, Sun-386i) running SunView; - VAX or AXP systems running VMS with X11R4/5 and DEC C or gcc. Aladdin Ghostscript is known to run on all of the above, and additionally the following platform families: - IBM PC and compatibles with EGA, VGA, SuperVGA, or compatible graphics under MS-DOS 3.1, 3.3, 5.0, or 6.22, with or without