#1149906 ghostscript: description of the ps2pdf(1) man page is incorrect

Package:
ghostscript
Source:
ghostscript
Description:
interpreter for the PostScript language and for PDF
Submitter:
Vincent Lefevre
Date:
2026-10-04 01:53:02 UTC
Severity:
normal
#1149906#5
Date:
2026-10-04 01:50:23 UTC
From:
To:
In the ps2pdf(1) man page:

    ps2pdf - Convert PostScript to PDF using ghostscript
    ps2pdf12  -  Convert  PostScript  to  PDF 1.2 (Acrobat 3-and-later
    compatible) using ghostscript
    ps2pdf13 -  Convert  PostScript  to  PDF 1.3  (Acrobat 4-and-later
    compatible) using ghostscript
    ps2pdf14  -  Convert  PostScript  to  PDF 1.4 (Acrobat 5-and-later
    compatible) using ghostscript

and

    [...] they convert PostScript files to Portable Document Format
    (PDF) files.

First, this isn't actually a converter since information from the input
is not preserved: ps2pdf ignores the DSC comments in the PostScript file
(contrary to viewers like gv and evince), and independently, it may
change the orientation of some pages (unless -dAutoRotatePages=/None
is used, which is not the default).

Moreover, PDF files are also accepted in input, and similarly, there
may be changes, such as:
  * it may change the orientation of some pages;
  * it drops the file's "screen" options (e.g. links), unless
    -dPrinted=false is used (which is not the default), in which
    case it drops the file's "print" options.[*]

[*] https://ghostscript.readthedocs.io/en/latest/Use.html