mpost --dvitomp dvifile[.dvi] [mpxfile[.mpx]]
MetaPost is normally used with a set of basic macros, and it will use its executable name as the name of the preload file to use. For example, when called as mpost the mpost.mp file is used, which simply reads plain.mp. When the --ini option is given, preloading does not happen.
The commands given on the command line to the MetaPost program are passed to it as the first input line. (But it is often easier to type extended arguments as the first input line, since UNIX shells tend to gobble up or misinterpret MetaPost's favorite symbols, like semicolons, unless you quote them.) The normal usage is to say mpost figs to process the file figs.mp. The basename of figs becomes the ``jobname'', and is used in forming output file names. If no file is named, the jobname becomes mpout. The default extension, .mp, can be overridden by specifying an extension explicitly.
When the --dvitomp option is given, MetaPost acts as DVI-to-MPX converter only. See dvitomp (1) for details.
The pmpost program is a variant with Japanese support, and upmpost has Unicode-enabled Japanese support, analogous to ptex and uptex.
All three variants are also installed with an `r-' prefix, that is, r-mpost, r-pmpost, r-upmpost, which implicitly specify the --restricted option to make MetaPost safe to run on unknown input; the tex, makempx, and editor commands are disabled.
This manual page is a mere skeleton. For a list of all command line options, run --help.
The main documentation for this version of MetaPost can be found in the User Manual that should have been installed along with the program and is also available from https://tug.org/metapost.
The MetaPost language is similar to Metafont, but the manual assumes no knowledge of Metafont. MetaPost does not have bitmap output commands or Metafont's online display mechanism.
Ulrik Vieth adapted MetaPost to take advantage of the advanced path searching features in more recent versions of web2c and worked towards fully integrating MetaPost into the canonical Unix TeX distribution.
The primary author of the current MetaPost was Taco Hoekwater, with assistance from Hans Hagen and many others. It is currently maintained by Luigi Scarso.