.TH GFTODVI 1 "25 January 2026" "Web2C 2026"
.\"=====================================================================
.if n .ds MF Metafont
.if t .ds MF Metafont
.if t .ds TX \fRT\\h'-0.10m'\\v'0.17v'E\\v'-0.17v'\\h'-0.06m'X\fP
.if n .ds TX TeX
.\"=====================================================================
.SH NAME
gftodvi \- make proof sheets from generic font bitmap files
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B gftodvi
.RB [ -overflow-label-offset=\fI\,real\/\fP ]
.RB [ -verbose ]
.IR gf_file [gf]
.\"=====================================================================
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B gftodvi
program converts a generic font
.RI ( gf )
bitmap file output by, typically,
.BR mf (1),
to a device independent (DVI) file, which can then be typeset using the same
software that has already been written for \*(TX. The characters in the
.I gf
file will appear one per page, with labels, titles, and annotations
as specified in Appendix H (Hardcopy Proofs) of
.IR "The \*(MFbook" .
.PP
.B gftodvi
uses other fonts in addition to the main
.I 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
.IR gray ,
.IR cmr8 ,
and
.IR cmtt10 ,
respectively; there is no default slant font.
.PP
To change the default fonts, you can give
.B special
commands in your
\*(MF source file, or you can change the fonts online. An online dialog
ensues if you end the
.I gf_file
with a `/'. For example,
.br
.ti +2
gftodvi cmr10.300gf/
.br
.ti +2
Special font substitution: grayfont black
.br
.ti +2
OK; any more? grayfontarea /home/art/don/
.br
.ti +2
OK; any more? slantfont /home/fonts/slantimagen6
.br
.ti +2
OK; any more? <RET>
.br
will use
.I /home/art/don/black
as the `gray' font and
.I /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).
.PP
The
.I 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
.IR gf_file ,
and it is placed in the current
working directory with the
.B dvi
suffix replacing
.BR gf .
For example, the input file
.I /some/directory/cmr10.2602gf
would become
.IR cmr10.dvi .
.\"=====================================================================
.SH OPTIONS
See
.BR tex (1)
for details of command-line parsing.
.PP
The argument to
.B -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 \*(TX points. The default is a little over two
inches.
.PP
By default,
.B gftodvi
operates silently. With the \fB-verbose\fP option, a banner and progress
report are printed on stdout.
.PP
The standard
.B -help
and
.B -version
options are also supported.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH ENVIRONMENT
The program looks for
.I 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.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH FILES
.TP
.I {gray.tfm,slant.tfm,black.tfm,.\|.\|.}
The default fonts.
.TP
.I {gray.mf,slant.mf,black.mf,.\|.\|.}
The \*(MF sources.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR tex (1),
.BR mf (1).
.br
Donald E.\& Knuth,
.I "The \*(MFbook"
(Volume C of
.IR "Computers & Typesetting" ).
.br
Donald E.\& Knuth et al.,
.IR \*(MFware .
.PP
Package page on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/gftodvi
.br
Section in the Web2c manual:
https://tug.org/texinfohtml/web2c.html#gftodvi-invocation
.br
Typeset source code, including file format descriptions:
https://ctan.org/pkg/knuth-pdf
.\"=====================================================================
.SH AUTHORS
Donald E.\& Knuth wrote and still maintains the program. It was
published as part of the
.I \*(MFware
technical report. Paul Richards originally ported it to Unix. 
.PP
Public discussion list and bug reports: https://lists.tug.org/tex-k