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(dvips.info)Config file paper sizes

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Configuration file paper size command
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  The `@' command in a configuration file sets the paper size defaults
and options.  The first `@' command defines the default paper size.  It
has three possible parameters:

     @ [NAME [HSIZE VSIZE]]

  If `@' is specified on a line by itself, with no parameters, it
instructs Dvips to discard all previous paper size information (possibly
from another configuration file).

  If three parameters are given, with the first parameter being a name
and the second and third being a dimension (as in `8.5in' or `3.2cc',
just like in the `papersize' special), then the option is interpreted
as starting a new paper size description, where NAME is the name and
HSIZE and VSIZE define the horizontal and vertical size of the sheet of
paper, respectively. For example:

     @ letterSize 8.5in 11in

  If both HSIZE and VSIZE are zero (you must still specify units!) then
any page size will match.  If the `@' character is immediately followed
by a `+' sign, then the remainder of the line (after skipping any
leading blanks) is treated as PostScript code to send to the printer,
presumably to select that particular paper size:

     @ letter 8.5in 11in
     @+ %%BeginPaperSize: Letter
     @+ letter
     @+ %%EndPaperSize

  After all that, if the first character of the line is an exclamation
point, then the line is put in the initial comments section of the final
output file; else, it is put in the setup section of the output file.
For example:

     @ legal 8.5in 14in
     @+ ! %%DocumentPaperSizes: Legal
     @+ %%BeginPaperSize: Legal
     @+ legal
     @+ %%EndPaperSize

  When Dvips has a paper format name given on the command line, it looks
for a match by the NAME; when it has a `papersize' special, it looks
for a match by dimensions.  The first match found (in the order the
paper size information is found in the configuration file) is used.  If
nothing matches, a warning is printed and the first paper size is used.
The dimensions must match within a quarter of an inch.  Landscape mode
for all paper sizes is automatically supported.

  If your printer has a command to set a special paper size, then give
dimensions of `0in 0in'; the PostScript code that sets the paper size
can refer to the dimensions the user requested as `hsize' and `vsize';
these will be macros defined in the PostScript that return the
requested size in default PostScript units.  Virtually all of the
PostScript commands you use here are device-dependent and degrade the
portability of the file; that is why the default first paper size entry
should not send any PostScript commands down (although a structured
comment or two would be okay).  Also, some printers want
`BeginPaperSize' comments and paper size setting commands; others (such
as the NeXT) want `PaperSize' comments and they will handle setting the
paper size.  There is no solution I could find that works for both
(except maybe specifying both).

  The Perl 5 script `contrib/mkdvipspapers' in the distribution
directory may help in determining appropriate paper size definitions.

  If your printers are configured to use A4 paper by default, the
configuration file (probably the global `config.ps' in this case)
should include this as the first `@' command:

     @ A4size 210mm 297mm
     @+ %%PaperSize: A4

so that `A4size' is used as the default, and not `A4' itself; thus, no
PostScript `a4' command is added to the output file, unless the user
explicitly says to use paper size `a4'.  That is, by default, no paper
size PostScript command should be put in the output, but Dvips will
still know that the paper size is A4 because `A4size' is the first (and
therefore default) size in the configuration file.

  Executing the `letter' or `a4' or other PostScript operators cause
the document to be nonconforming and can cause it not to print on
certain printers, so the default paper size should not execute such an
operator if at all possible.