a2ps does not suport input file using utf-8 encoding

[Jerome Abela]

Binary package hint: a2ps

"a2ps --encoding=NAME" supports ASCII, EUC-JP, HPRoman, IBM-CP437, IBM-CP850, ISO-8859-1 to -15, JOI8, MS-CP1250 and Macintosh.

But utf-8, the default text file encoding for ubuntu, is neither the default nor even supported.

WORKAROUNDS:

* use iconv or recode to convert to a supported encoding:

recode UTF-8..Latin-1 | a2ps

* http://developer.berlios.de/projects/u2ps

However, it doesn't seem to be packaged in Debian/Ubuntu, and it requires adding some extra Perl libraries. The installer doesn't work out-of-the-box.

* paps, however, it does not support most features of a2ps. It cannot be used as a drop-in replacement.

* gnome-a2ps. Beware, it pulls lots of gnome libraries.

[Frank Lichtenheld (djpig)]

# Automatically generated email from bts, devscripts version 2.8.4
severity 254507 normal
merge 254507 180236

[Juliusz Chroboczek (jch)]

... and probably will never be.

[Side note: I'm the author of the internationalisation code in a2ps.]

The assumption that a byte is a glyph runs pretty deep throughout
a2ps. A2ps does a lot of stuff in PostScript (PS) code, and all of
that would need to be redesigned.

I think that rewriting a2ps from scratch would be easier than adapting
it for Unicode. I've been experimenting with that, and you can find
the results as Cedilla on

  http://www.pps.jussieu.fr/~jch/software/cedilla/

Cedilla currently has way fewer features than a2ps. Please let me
know which features of a2ps that you use are missing in Cedilla, and
I'll see if they can be implemented easily.

[Masayuki-san: would you be interested in packaging Cedilla for
Debian? It compiles out-of-the box.]

                                        Juliusz Chroboczek

[Adrian von Bidder (avbidder)]

On Friday 31 December 2004 17.31, Juliusz Chroboczek wrote:

> [Masayuki-san: would you be interested in packaging Cedilla for
> Debian? It compiles out-of-the box.]

I certainly don't want to step on anyone's toes, but I'd offer to try to
package it.

Disclaimer:

 - I'm currently in NM, waiting on the DAM. It seems the NM queue is
finally moving again, so I might not need a sponsor much longer.
 - my Debian load is quite small so far, just a few perl scripts.
 - I'd be interested in packaging a arch-any package for a change.
 - I don't know anything lisp nor about postscript, so I'd need to work
together closely with you (Juliusz) when bugs are discovered.
 - I don't know anything about font handling in Debian, so again it'd
certainly be a learning experience. (But obviously, since I'm speaking up,
I'd be interested in learning.)

For these reasons, co-maintenance would probably be a good idea, too.

Disclaimer #2: I haven't looked at cedilla at all so far - I'm writing this
in the assumption that it really is intended to do more or less the same as
the other ascii-to-ps renderers that are out there, but in a better way.

greetings
-- vbi

[I've sent an ITP just now, btw, so please add further commentary there.]

--
Protect your privacy - encrypt your email: http://fortytwo.ch/gpg/intro

[Adrian von Bidder (avbidder)]

retitle 288769 RFP: cedilla -- ascii to postscript renderer
thanks

Hi,

Some of you might be aware that I intended to package cedilla, the
Unicode-aware text renderer (and possible a2ps etc. replacement).
Unfortunately, I don't see that I can spend the time to really know this
package well enough to be able to package it - I'd have to learn at least
enough about Lisp and the runtime framework to not embarass myself with
trivial bugs on every update..., and frankly I don't care too much about
Lisp.

I still feel that cedilla (or some other Unicode aware text renderer) is
needed in Debian, so I'm really sorry to leave this.

greetings
-- vbi

--
The moon is made of green cheese.
  -- John Heywood

[Martin (debacle)]

The problem becomes worse: Fortunately, with etch Debian becomes
UTF-8 by default, but neither a2ps nor enscript can handle it.
cedilla needs nearly 12 MB of CLisp plus 25 MB TeX stuff, which
makes it a little bit heavy-weight, but at least it works...

[Per Olofsson (pelle)]

merge 389239 180236
thanks

Dan Jacobson:
> $ cd /usr/share/doc/a2ps; zegrep -nH -i unicode\|utf *
> shows no mention.
> $ w3m -dump http://jidanni.org/index.html|a2ps -o /tmp/f.ps
> just gives a mess. a2ps should support UTF-8.
> $ ls /usr/share/a2ps/encoding
> shows just what isn't available.

And it probably never will support UTF-8. See #180236.

Try paps instead.

--
Pelle

[Jerome Abela (jerome-abela)]

Binary package hint: a2ps

"a2ps --encoding=NAME" supports ASCII, EUC-JP, HPRoman, IBM-CP437, IBM-CP850, ISO-8859-1 to -15, JOI8, MS-CP1250 and Macintosh.

But utf-8, the default text file encoding for ubuntu, is neither the default nor even supported.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

This is a known issue for many years now... :-<

A workaround is to use iconv or recode to convert to a supported encoding.

Since this bug has enough information provided for a developer to begin work, I'm going to mark it as confirmed and let them handle it from here. Thanks for taking the time to make Ubuntu better!

[madduck (madduck)]

merge 180236 505110

[Manuel López-Ibáñez (manuellopezibanez)]

A possible replacement of a2ps? http://developer.berlios.de/projects/u2ps

It doesn't seem to be packaged in Ubuntu.

[Manuel López-Ibáñez (manuellopezibanez)]

A possible replacement of a2ps? http://developer.berlios.de/projects/u2ps

However, it doesn't seem to be packaged in Debian/Ubuntu, and it requires adding some extra Perl libraries. The installer doesn't work out-of-the-box.

paps does not support most features of a2ps. It cannot be used as a drop-in replacement.

gnome-a2ps pulls too many gnome libraries. (gvfs? libbonobo? wtf!)