Ghostscript

free software based on interpreter of the Adobe PostScript and Portable Document Format (PDF) page description languages. It is highly configurable and can be used as:

• Raster Image Processor (RIP) for raster printers, for instance, as an input filter of Line Printer Daemon.
• A RIP engine behind PostScript and PDF viewers.
• File format converter, such as PostScript to PDF converter.
• General purpose programming environment.

Ghostscript has been ported to many operating systems, including most Unix and Unix-like systems, Mac OS X, VMS, Windows, OS/2, and Mac OS classic.

Several Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs) have been written for use with Ghostscript which permit a user to view a PostScript or PDF file on screen, scroll, page forward and backward, and zoom the text as well as print single or multiple pages.

• Ghostview runs under Unix/X11
• GSView runs under Windows and OS/2

Originally developed by L. Peter Deutsch and Aladdin Enterprises and released under the Aladdin Free Public License (AFPL), Ghostview is currently owned and maintained by artofcode LLC, led by Raph Levien. Two versions are released: the first for commercial use with the original AFPL license as AFPL Ghostscript, and another with the GNU General Public License as GPL Ghostscript.

The GPL version is also used as the basis for a Display Ghostscript, which adds the functionality needed to fully support Display PostScript.