lcal − generate PostScript lunar phase calendars
lcal [−d [day_font]] [−t [title_font]] [−o file] [−l | −p] [−s text_color[/page_bg_color[/moon_dark_color[/moon_light_color]]]] [−z time_zone] [−S] [−O] [−X [x1[/x2]]] [−Y [y1[/y2]]] [−W] [−h | −u | −v] [year]
Lcal generates PostScript to produce lunar phase calendars for any year, in either landscape or portrait orientations. Output can be in any of 3 formats: 2-page (default), compressed 1-page, or odd-days-only (uncompressed, 1-page).
The year argument, if provided, may be specified as either 1 or 2 digits or as the full 4 digit year; if omitted, the calendar for the current year will be generated.
If the environment variable LCAL_OPTS is defined, its contents are parsed as a command line. Flags set via LCAL_OPTS override the program defaults, but are overridden by options set explicitly on the command line.
Any flag which
normally takes an argument may also be specified without an
argument; this resets the corresponding option to its
default. In some cases, like when a parameter follows a flag
without its optional argument, this may lead to ambiguity;
the dummy flag ’-’ (or ’--’) may be
used to separate them, e.g. "lcal -t - 2008".
−d [font]
Specifies the name of the font used to print the (abbreviated) day-of-week names near (or inside) each moon.
The default font is ‘Times-Bold’.
This option may also be set semi-permanently by altering the makefile (‘Makefile’ for most environments, ’Makefile.DOS’ for MS-DOS).
−t [font]
Specifies the name of the font used to print the year, the abbreviated month names, and the days of the month.
The default font is ‘Times-Bold’.
This option may also be set semi-permanently by altering the makefile (‘Makefile’ for most environments, ’Makefile.DOS’ for MS-DOS).
−o file
Directs lcal to write the output to file instead of to stdout.
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−l |
Causes the output to be in landscape orientation (default). |
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−p |
Causes the output to be in portrait orientation. |
−s text_color[/page_bg_color[/moon_dark_color[/moon_light_color]]]]
Overrides the default values for the various colors.
It is acceptable to specify fewer than all 4 colors. That is, you can specify just the text color, for example, by only supplying 1 color value. Multiple color value specifications must be separated by a forward slash (’/’).
The ‘text’ color is used to print all the text (year, month, day-of-month, and day-of-week). The ‘page background’ color will flood the page with the specified color. This is useful, for example, to provide a light grey background (e.g. 0.9) which makes the white in the moons stand out better. The ‘moon dark’ and ‘moon light’ colors specify the colors to be used for the moons. Don’t do something silly like specifying a dark color for the ’moon light color’ and vice versa or you’ll wind up with a very misleading lunar calendar!
The default values will cause black text to appear on a white page background with black for the dark part of the moon and white for the light part of the moon.
For monochrome output/printers, these values must be in the range 0.0 (black) through 1.0 (white). For color output/printers, any or all of the colors may be specified as a set of red:green:blue values; red, green, and blue must in the range 0.0 through 1.0. At least one colon (’:’) must be present for this option to be recognized; omitted values are set to 0.0.
A good example of a highly-colorized calendar (assuming you don’t want to waste the ink/toner to print it!) would be:
lcal -O -s 0:1:1/0:0:0.7/0/1:1:0 | gv - -land
This provides a one-page (odd-days-only) lunar calendar with cyan text (’0:1:1’) on a midnight blue background (’0:0:0.7’) with black/yellow (’0/1:1:0’) moons. The output is piped into the ’GhostView’ PostScript previewer and forced to landscape page orientation.
Or, if you prefer light-grey moons:
lcal -O -s 0:1:1/0:0:0.7/0/0.9 | gv - -land
−z time_zone
Specifies the local time zone, expressed as hours west of UTC.
For example, New York residents (USA Eastern time zone) would use ’-z 5’ while on Eastern Standard Time (winter) and ’-z 4’ while on Eastern Daylight Time (summer). People in India would use ’-z-5.5’. Notice that fractional values are allowed.
This option may also be set semi-permanently by altering the makefile (‘Makefile’ for most environments, ’Makefile.DOS’ for MS-DOS).
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−S |
Compresses the output to fit a full year on a single page. Compare the ’-O’ option. |
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−O |
Display only the odd days of the month, allowing a full year to fit on a single page without compression. Compare the ’-S’ option. |
−X [x1[/x2]]
Specifies the X-axis translation values (page 1 / page 2) for positioning the output on the page. Should only be needed for calendars in landscape orientation.
This option may also be set semi-permanently by altering the makefile (‘Makefile’ for most environments, ’Makefile.DOS’ for MS-DOS).
−Y [y1[/y2]]
Similar to the −X option, but specifies the Y-axis translation values for positioning the output on the page. Should only be needed for calendars in portrait orientation.
By default, lcal will attempt to print 2-page calendars such that the last moons on the first page are immediately adjacent to the first moons on the second page. However, many printers can’t actually print to the edges of the physical page.
The −X and −Y options allow the user to compensate for these printer-to-printer variations in the positioning of output. You may find that the use of -X-20/20 (for landscape-oriented calendars) or -Y20/-20 (for portrait-oriented calendars) improves the situation.
This option may also be set semi-permanently by altering the makefile (‘Makefile’ for most environments, ’Makefile.DOS’ for MS-DOS).
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−W |
Causes lcal to print the (abbreviated) day-of-week names in the center of the moon icons (instead of to the lower left, which is the default). |
Use of this option results in more-complex PostScript output, which is slower when previewing or printing.
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−h |
Displays version information, a brief parameter usage message, and a full explanation of all options. |
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−u |
Displays version information and a brief parameter usage message. |
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−v |
Displays version information only. |
Website for lcal and pcal (a conventional calendar generation application, similar to lcal ):
http://pcal.sourceforge.net
Lcal was inspired by "Moonlight 1996", a 16" x 36" full-color (silver moons against a midnight blue background) lunar phase calendar marketed by Celestial Products, Inc., P.O. Box 801, Middleburg VA 22117 (20118, circa 2007). Send for their catalog to see (and, hopefully, order) this as well as some even more amazing stuff - particularly "21st Century Luna", a 22" x 72" lunar phase calendar for every day of the upcoming century. Or visit their site:
http://www.celestialproducts.com
Lcal was written by Andrew Rogers. It is largely based on pcal , originally written by Patrick Wood (Copyright (c) 1987 by Patrick Wood of Pipeline Associates, Inc.), and authorized for modification and redistribution. The original C version of pcal was created by Ken Keirnan; the moon phase routines were written by Jef Poskanzer and Craig Leres (copyright 1988, with permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute) and modified further by Mark Hanson (PostScript) and Richard Dyson (C). Later changes to lcal (the addition of the odd-days-only [1-page uncompressed] format, enhanced colorization options, various cleanups, design improvements, and bug fixes) were made by Bill Marr.