matplotlib · MaddieM4 · Mar 11, 2026 · Mar 11, 2026 · Mar 11, 2026 · Mar 11, 2026
diff --git a/doc/release/next_whats_new/dvi_parsing.rst b/doc/release/next_whats_new/dvi_parsing.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+DVI Parsing enhancements
+------------------------
+
+Matplotlib is capable of reading ``.dvi`` files with `.dviread.Dvi`, which has historically worked well for its existing use cases, but did not provide the granularity to inspect the raw DVI operations in a file, and didn't have a way to report color information upwards to the various backends that might care about color directives.
+
+The new `.dviread.Ops` namespace provides the ability to inspect a DVI file one op at a time, `.dviread.VM` handles state tracking (and can be driven manually with its ``.op_foo(code, **args)`` methods, and the ``.dviread.Text`` and ``.dviread.Box`` classes have been modified to store color information in a backwards-compatible way.
+
+While backends don't render color directives yet, this important groundwork lets them *see* color directives, so that they can be acted on in the future.
+
+>>> import matplotlib.dviread as dr
+>>> for op in dr.Ops.read_file("./some/document.dvi"):
+...     print(op)
+...
+>>> for page in dr.Dvi("./some/document.dvi", 72):
+...     for t in page.text:
+...         print(t.glyph, t.color)