Subject: [netatalk-admins] Postscript and Netatalk problem

From: [email-masked] (Lee Blevins)
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 07:14:24 -0500

If I save a postscript file from mac, using lw 8.x's "save as file"
option to a netatalk vol, my Scitex rip can't rip the file.

Doing the same thing to an NT vol and the file is fine.

I suspect something with text file translation. I have the conf file on
default settings.

It was suggested that papd could be an issue here, but since I'm saving
a file and not printing to the spooler, does that come into play?

The error is an offending commad error. The particular command could
show up as anything from a string of garbled text to an actual command.

My instinct tells me this is cr/lf related since the ps file is a text
file.

tia

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From: PayPC System Mail Subscriber <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1998 00:14:07 +1000

Lee Blevins said in [netatalk-admins] Postscript and Netatalk problem at 
06/Nov/1998 (Fri) 22:14:24.

> My instinct tells me this is cr/lf related since the ps file is a text

I strongly suspect your instincts are correct.  Try configuring your netatalk 
to NOT convert cr/lfs on any TEXT files....  If your scitex is expecting (at 
least) CRs as line terminators, it could be very cranky.

=R=

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From: Les Barstow <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1998 10:46:52 -0500

PayPC System Mail Subscriber wrote:
> Lee Blevins said in [netatalk-admins] Postscript and Netatalk problem
 
> > option to a netatalk vol, my Scitex rip can't rip the file.
[...]
> least) CRs as line terminators, it could be very cranky.

Far worse, in fact - the Macintosh LW driver outputs binary PostScript,
so
images and fonts are quite likely to contain CRs.  I imagine all RIPs
would
fail on these files when run through a CR/LF translation - I know ours
do.

--
Les Barstow
System Administrator
ENTIRE/UFO Systems, divisions of AHT
[email-masked]

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From: Andras Kadinger <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1998 17:24:24 +0100

> least) CRs as line terminators, it could be very cranky.

Also don't forget please, a PostScript stream is not necessarily a text
file, but _can_ contain binary parts (images, sometimes font
definitions, etc.). However, line-endings themselves are not a concern,
since the PostScript language can freely accept and mix all three
popular line ending conventions: LF (unix), CR (Mac), CR/LF (DOS); even
LF/CR should be supported now. I don't know what 'cranky' means, but I
would argue that an implementation which doesn't support all variations
is broken. CR/LF conversion usually causes problems only, when it
happens in binary data; ASCII streams should survive.

PostScript interpreters usually emit error messages similar to this:

error: <error type> offending command: <command or text causing the
error>

example:

error: undefined offending command: this_is_undefined

Here, the error is 'undefined' (undefined command, that is a command not
known to the interpreter), and the offending command (the command/text
causing the error) is 'this_is_undefined'.

Sincerely,
Andras Kadinger
[email-masked]

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From: Sak Wathanasin <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 18:43:16 +0000

In reply to Lee Blevins's message of the 06/11/98 at 07:14 -0500,

> My instinct tells me this is cr/lf related since the ps file is a text

All PS RIPs (at least the ones sourced from Adobe) can handle CR, LF or CR/LF
as line-endings. However, you will probably have embedded binary in the PS file
unless you checked the "ASCII" button. The trouble is that the LW creates such
files as type "TEXT", so that when you drag the file over to the netatalk
server, it will attempt to do CR/LF conversion mangling any embedded binary.

Your options are:

a) generate ACSII-only PS (see option in LW print dialogue)
b) set the file type to be non-TEXT (eg "????" or "DATA" or anything except
TEXT) using whatever means at your disposal before copying the file over.

Sak Wathanasin
Network Analysis Limited
178 Wainbody Ave South, Coventry CV3 6BX, UK

Internet: [email-masked]
Phone: (+44) 1203 419996                    Fax: (+44) 1203 690690