The RIP in action
This page applies to Harlequin v13.1r0 and later; and to Harlequin Core but not Harlequin MultiRIP.
This section describes the key features of the core-RIP execution, especially communication with the outside, and also the purpose and organization of the RIP database, the SW directory.
In order to make use of the RIP extensions, it may be helpful to understand the sequence of events that occurs when the RIP is running. While this description is mostly for information, it also indicates where PostScript-language fragments may be placed to customize the RIP.
The sequence of events can be divided into the following stages:
- program initialization
- starting up the core, the short period before PostScript-language interpretation starts
- the PostScript-language bootstrap process
- the server loop responsible for running PostScript-language jobs
- the operation of the
showpageoperator within a job and - shutting down
Each is discussed in more detail in the following sections.
This section also provides information on how to configure the Harlequin Parallel Pages and multithreading features of the Harlequin MultiRIP. For more information see Multi-threading and Harlequin Parallel Pages (HPP).
File names are given in their PostScript-language form. The actual files on disk (if there is one) are platform and version dependent. For instance, FAT filing systems on PCs have shortened names, translated from the PostScript-language names via the file filemap.ps in the SW directory.
File-name mapping gives more information about file name mapping.
The file Sys/HqnOEM is the most appropriate place for OEMs to put their own initialization in non-core-RIP implementations. It is possible to modify other files provided with the RIP, but these may change from release to release, so the same modifications would have to be made again with each version. Sys/HqnOEM is reserved specifically for OEM use, so can be edited without worrying about anything else it may contain. As provided, this file contains only some comments. These need not be retained they have no effect.