README

tumble: build a PDF file from image files
Copyright 2003 Eric Smith <eric@brouhaha.com>
$Id: README,v 1.1 2003/03/16 07:37:16 eric Exp $

Tumble is a utility to construct PDF files from one or more image
files.  Currently the only input image format supported is black &
white TIFF files, which may be either single- or multi-page files.  In
the future additional file formats will be supported, including gray
scale and color.  Black and white images will be encoded in the PDF
output using lossless Group 4 fax compression (ITU-T recommendation
T.6).  This provides a very good compression ratio for text and line
art.

The current version of Tumble will only work on little-endian systems,
such as x86, VAX, and Alpha.  The byte order dependencies will be fixed
in a later release.

The input and output files can be specified on the command line.
Alternatively, a control file, typically with a ".tum" suffix, may be
used which allows for more control over the files and options.

The general command line syntax is:

    tumble [options] <input.tif>... -o <output.pdf>

The options in this mode are:

    -v        verbose
    -b <fmt>  create bookmarks

If the "-b" option is given, bookmarks will be created using the
format string, which may contain arbitrary text and/or the following
format specifiers:

    %F  file name, sans suffix  e.g., "foo.tif" will just appear as "foo"
    %p  page number of input file, useful for multipage TIFF files

There is currently no documentation for the control file syntax, as it
is still being refined, and many of the options planned for use in
control files are not yet fully implemented.  Features that will be
available in control files include:

    image resolution specification - useful for input files with
        unspecified resolution, or to override
    image rotation, in units of 90 degrees
    image cropping
    grouping to allow different specifications for individual pages
        or groups of consecutive pages (e.g., chapters)
    ability to control operations independently on even and odd pages
        (e.g., different rotation or cropping)
    more flexible bookmark control
    page labels, so that the PDF file can present the actual document
        page numbers such as xvii or 3-27


This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as
published by the Free Software Foundation.  Note that permission is
not granted to redistribute this program under the terms of any other
version of the General Public License.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111 USA