[SOLVED] Is this a troff file, and if so how do I convert to ps or pdf?

Is this a troff file, and if so how do I convert to ps or pdf?

I have a file with the following heading:

.PS
.ps 8.5

boxht = 1/6
boxwid = 0.3

moveht = 1/12
movewid = 0.15

linethick = 0

It looks like a troff file, at least that's what Linux file tells me (I have not been able to simply open it with, say, Evince). However, if I simply groff -Tps somefile > somefile.ps, it simply gives me the text of the file: it does not create the ps file following the code in it.

The question is, how do I convert this type of file into ps or pdf?

Solution

You have to tell groff which set of macros to use in formatting the document. For example, man-pages use the "an" macros, with the command-line option "-man".

To see what macros would apply, you have to look at more than just the slice that you have quoted. xterm for instance has a file (ctlseqs.ms) which is formatted using the "s" ("-ms") macros.

The "-Tps" option may be redundant; most groff configurations appear to default to PostScript output.