Installing & Using Ghostcript

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Installing & Using Ghostcript

Ghostscript, a postscript and PDF processor, used to be included in the Apple OS X package that came on disks and from online.

You would open the terminal app, run a few lines of code and it would install. In my version of Sierra this no longer appears to be true.

I there a place on the Apple website that you can download and then install Ghostscript or a trusted site for the same? I tried the Apple App Store, no results.

Thank you.

MacBook Pro (15-inch, Late 2016), iOS 10.3.3

Posted on Oct 14, 2018 2:52 PM

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Answer 1

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VikingOSX

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Oct 14, 2018 4:37 PM in response to Garrett Cobarr

I do not recall Apple ever including Ghostscript in the operating system. Not in my Snow Leopard machine.

If you want Ghostscript now, you must use a package manager to install it, so that any dependencies are resolved. I use homebrew and once it is installed by following the instructions on that site, you can run these sequences of commands in the Terminal. If you follow this sequence on a periodic basis, you will always have the most recent version of Ghostscript, and homebrew. The cleanup command purges prior, but not the current, installed versions of installed packages.

brew update

brew upgrade

brew install ghostscript

brew cleanup

That will install Ghostscript 9.25 or later as /usr/local/bin/gs. The usual Ghostscript tools are installed there too.

The online Ghostscript documentation is here.

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Answer 2

Nov 1, 2018 11:43 AM in response to VikingOSX

VikingOSX, much thanks.

You were correct, my friend had had Ghostscript for so long on his Mac that he could not remember where it came from. He eventually realized that it was part of his MacTex installation.

Thank you for the 4 line Ghostscript Haiku, once I had Homebrew installed, I ran those commands and Ghostscript installed. My only hesitation was security, I had concerns about loading software remotely, in the background but during the installs, I was asked for the admin password before the install would complete after the download.

So, now I have a complete workflow: Calibre converts EPUB to PDF and Ghostscript processes the PDF into a searchable, text selectable document. Magnífico.

Thanks again.

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Installing & Using Ghostcript

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