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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: KDE4 printing: results of IRC meeting
From:       Kurt Pfeifle <k1pfeifle () gmx ! net>
Date:       2007-09-14 9:36:18
Message-ID: 46EA5612.7040405 () gmx ! net
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John Layt wrote:

> Pre/Post Filters:
> =================
> Filter scripts that can be applied to the print job before or after rendering 
> but before sending to the Print System (???).  KDE3 supports both, Qt unsure 
> but almost certainly not pre-filters.  Used for things like pamphlets and 
> posters.  Problem is most filters are ps based, so not cross-platform.  Would 
> loose some nice features, but could work with trolls to regain.

Rendering doesn't play any role here. But it is fully correct: the pre-
filters are filters (not necessarily scripts), which are run by KDEPrint
to process the file *it* (KDEPrint) received and whose result will go
to the real print subsystem (or the print preview).

Post-filters we don't have.

The pre-filtering system is *not* tied to PostScript. It can be used for
*any* file format that you have filter programs for (either as input for,
or as output from the pre-filters). Currently we ship pre-filters that
take text and output PS (enscript); take PDF, output PS; take PS, output
PDF; take image, output PS. -- And pre-filters may be chained/stacked,
where one's output becomes input for the next one.

Also, the current KDEPrint(3) is not at all limited to the set of pre-
filters which are shipped. A user can add any other pre-filter he wants.


-- 
Kurt Pfeifle
System & Network Printing Consultant ---- Linux/Unix/Windows/Samba/CUPS
Infotec Deutschland GmbH  .....................  Hedelfinger Strasse 58
A RICOH Company  ...........................  D-70327 Stuttgart/Germany

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