[arch-general] (groff+)ghostscript/us letter/paper size problems

[Mike Bishop]

I have just spent a happy hour PULLING MY HAIR OUT over misformatted 
troff documents on my printers ... which printed perfectly several
months ago.  

The problem is that recent versions of ghostscript will (often)
assume a4 paper size, regardless of /etc/paper.  This applies
after ghostscript 8.64-5 but I am not sure which version (8.70 has
the problem).

If you use ISO standard paper sizes you are probably okay.

The solution is described here--
http://ghostscript.com/pipermail/gs-devel/2009-September/008565.html
and consists of passing an explicit "-P-pletter" when formatting
your groff source; "groff -pletter ..." doesn't make it on my
system.  Neither did modifying "gs_init.ps" (?)

Other postscript generating programs may do this explicitly
(evince does).  surf/zathura users may wish to take note.

Hoping this saves you hair,

Rgds,
--
Mike (baldy) Bishop 
Willow, Alaska