[pdftex] Replacing pk fonts with type1 in third party ps files

[Heiko Oberdiek]

At 17:50 12.04.2001 -0400, Y&Y Support wrote:
>
>At 04:04 PM 4/12/2001 +0200, Berthold Crysmann wrote:
>
>>is there a tool which allows one to replace the cm pk fonts included in
>>some ps file with their type1 equivalents? I have to fix some third
>>party ps file for inclusion in one of my documents. I remember having
>>seen something like that a long time ago, but I do not recall where. Any
>>pointers are most wellcome.
>
>This would not be too hard with recent PS from DVIPS, since it now includes
>comments telling you what each font is.

Because I also had this problem the last year often, I have
tried a solution and have put it CTAN today:
  CTAN:support/pkfix/

>From the README:

Often PostScript files with embedded pk fonts are available that
were generated by dvips. If these files are converted to pdf,
the quality is very poor because of the bitmapped fonts.
But what can be done, if the sources dvi or tex are not available?
  This project pkfix tries a solution by replacing the used
pk fonts by the type 1 ones.
  It scans the file for the pk fonts by searching the comments,
introduced by not too old dvips versions. For each detected bitmap
font pkfix generates a tex file that uses this font. Then it runs
dvips with option setting for pdf and hopes, that the corresponding
type 1 font is found and included in the temporary PostScript file.
So this font will be extracted and replaces the bitmapped font of
the original PostScript file.

CAUTION: The state is experimental. Tests are only done with teTeX.

Yours sincerely
  Heiko <oberdiek at ruf.uni-freiburg.de>