File: groff.info,  Node: Device and Font Description Files,  Prev: gtroff Output,  Up: File Formats

6.2 Device and Font Description Files
=====================================

The 'groff' font and output device description formats are slight
extensions of those used by AT&T device-independent 'troff'.  In
distinction to the AT&T implementation, 'groff' lacks a binary format;
all files are text files.(1)  (*note Device and Font Description
Files-Footnote-1::) The device and font description files for a device
NAME are stored in a 'devNAME' directory.  The device description file
is called 'DESC', and, for each font supported by the device, a font
description file is called 'F', where F is usually an abbreviation of a
font's name and/or style.  For example, the 'ps' (PostScript) device has
'groff' font description files for Times roman ('TR') and Zapf Chancery
Medium italic ('ZCMI'), among many others, while the 'utf8' device (for
terminal emulators) has only font descriptions for the roman, italic,
bold, and bold-italic styles ('R', 'I', 'B', and 'BI', respectively).

   Device and font description files are read both by the formatter, GNU
'troff', and by output drivers.  The programs delegate these files'
processing to an internal library, 'libgroff', ensuring their consistent
interpretation.

* Menu:

* DESC File Format::
* Font Description File Format::