[Scribus] (perhaps a bug?) one eps file exported from scribus could not insert into oowriter

[Plinnell]

On Wednesday 08 December 2004 03:40, Zhang Weiwu wrote:
> Here is the eps I exported from scribus, views okay with ghostview, if
> open with gsview, gsview crash:
>

Which version of gsview ?
Which version of ghostscript ?

> gopher://realss.com/99/this_week/Realss_International_Publication_backgroun
>d.eps.gz (file 670KB)
>
> This eps file, when inserted into openoffice (ximian version 1.1.1),
> display as a graphic with three lines of words: Title:
> 	Creator:Scribus 1.2cvs
> 	LanguageLevel:3
> Screenshot here:
> gopher://realss.com/I9/this_week/openoffice_graphic_fail.png
>

Known issue: The EPS importer in OO does not import EPS 3.0, as far as I can 
tell. I've not had good luck in general with EPS import in OO or SO7 for that 
matter.


> I tried to use ps2ps(1) to down-level this eps, and obtained another file:
>
> gopher://realss.com/99/this_week/Realss_International_Publication_backgroun
>d_ps2.eps.gz (warning: 4MB)
>
> This graphic when inserted into openoffice, the result is nothing happend
> (no graphic inserted)
>
> I am not sure if this is an openoffice problem or an scribus problem. What
> do you think?
>
> All the URI reference keeps for a week ^_^

I grabbed all the files and found some interesting results. Most certainly is 
*not* a Scribus issue:

The Scribus EPS exported was about 1.3 Mb

I ran that through Acrobat Distiller 5.0.5 and it created a perfect PDF: 500 
kb with "Print" settings in Acrobat. No warnings from Acrobat.

Exporting directly from Scribus perfect PDF: 395kb

I then re-exported the Acrobat Created PDF from Acrobat into EPS: 6.2 Mb

I've opened both the EPS files from Acrobat and Scribus with:

AFPL GS 8.33 beta
GSview 4.61 beta

Zero warnings or crashes from GSview/GS on any Scribus file: ps, eps or PDF

Opening the EPS and PDF from Acrobat throws several warnings in GSview, but 
displays.

To my mind the Scribus output is as correct as possible and shows no problems 
in any of the files.

<sopabox>

> Here is the eps I exported from scribus, views okay with ghostview, if
> open with gsview, gsview crash:

It is my experience and strong opinion that gv, ghostview and the rest are 
old, obsolete and invalid for checking Scribus files. I do not even bother 
installing them any more. Similarly, using the command line pstools can be 
very tricky and are not optimal for using with Scribus files. Exception, 
latest GS 8.x versions.

Admittedly, I am using some bleeding edge stuff, but remember AFPL GS is a 
commercial app and does have some fairly rigorous QA. 8.33 is the last beta 
before GS 8.50. GSview is a mature app. 4.61 is purely a bug fix release.

One of the problems we face, is that Scribus is really pushing the edge in 
terms of PS3/PDF capability. Scribus could have PDF 1.5 ability in next to no 
time, but nothing in OSS/linuxland except for the latest GS releases supports 
it. Xpdf is supposed to, but I've not been terribly succesful.

I added a whole Toolbox section in the docs, just to outline my preferred apps 
and their capabilties.