gftodvi(1) General Commands Manual gftodvi(1)
NAME
gftodvi - make proof sheets from generic font bitmap files
SYNOPSIS
gftodvi [-overflow-label-offset=real] [-verbose] gf_file[gf]
DESCRIPTION
The gftodvi program converts a generic font (gf) bitmap file output by,
typically, mf(1), to a device independent (DVI) file, which can then be
typeset using the same software that has already been written for TeX.
The characters in the gf file will appear one per page, with labels,
titles, and annotations as specified in Appendix H (Hardcopy Proofs) of
The Metafontbook.
gftodvi uses other fonts in addition to the main gf file. A `gray'
font is used to typeset the pixels that actually make up the character.
(We wouldn't want all the pixels to be simply black, since then labels,
key points, and other information would be lost.) A `title' font is
used for the information at the top of the page. A `label' font is used
for the labels on key points of the figure. A `slant' font is used to
typeset diagonal lines, which otherwise have to be simulated using
horizontal and vertical rules. The default gray, title, and label
fonts are gray, cmr8, and cmtt10, respectively; there is no default
slant font.
To change the default fonts, you can give special commands in your
Metafont source file, or you can change the fonts online. An online
dialog ensues if you end the gf_file with a `/'. For example,
gftodvi cmr10.300gf/
Special font substitution: grayfont black
OK; any more? grayfontarea /home/art/don/
OK; any more? slantfont /home/fonts/slantimagen6
OK; any more? <RET>
will use /home/art/don/black as the `gray' font and
/home/fonts/slantimagen6 as the `slant' font (this name indicates a
font for lines with slope 1/6 at the resolution of an Imagen printer).
The gf_file on the command line must include the resolution, but can
omit the suffix "gf". The output dvi file has same base name as
gf_file, and it is placed in the current working directory with the dvi
suffix replacing gf. For example, the input file
/some/directory/cmr10.2602gf would become cmr10.dvi.
OPTIONS
See tex(1) for details of command-line parsing.
The argument to -overflow-label-offset specifies the distance from the
right edge of the character bounding box at which the overflow
equations (if any) are typeset. The value is given in TeX points. The
default is a little over two inches.
By default, gftodvi operates silently. With the -verbose option, a
banner and progress report are printed on stdout.
The standard -help and -version options are also supported.
ENVIRONMENT
The program looks for gf_file using the environment variables GFFONTS,
GLYPHFONTS, and TEXFONTS, in that order. If none are set, it uses the
system default. See the Kpathsea manual at https://tug.org/kpathsea for
the details of the searching.
FILES
{gray.tfm,slant.tfm,black.tfm,...}
The default fonts.
{gray.mf,slant.mf,black.mf,...}
The Metafont sources.
SEE ALSO
tex(1), mf(1).
Donald E. Knuth, The Metafontbook (Volume C of Computers &
Typesetting).
Donald E. Knuth et al., Metafontware.
Package page on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/gftodvi
Section in the Web2c manual:
https://tug.org/texinfohtml/web2c.html#gftodvi-invocation
Typeset source code, including file format descriptions:
https://ctan.org/pkg/knuth-pdf
AUTHORS
Donald E. Knuth wrote and still maintains the program. It was published
as part of the Metafontware technical report. Paul Richards originally
ported it to Unix.
Public discussion list and bug reports: https://lists.tug.org/tex-k
Web2C 2026 25 January 2026 gftodvi(1)
texlive-bin 2026.78235 - Generated Thu Mar 5 15:37:15 CST 2026