diff --git a/genex/pdf.c b/genex/pdf.c
index e8a7b69..0600a39 100644
--- a/genex/pdf.c
+++ b/genex/pdf.c
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@
 #define	_GNU_SOURCE
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <stdio.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
 
 #include "comp.h"
 #include "pdf.h"
@@ -95,7 +96,6 @@ static void make_title(FILE *file, const struct node *node, int unit)
 	fprintf(file, " show\n");
 
 	fprintf(file, "grestore\n");
-	fflush(file);
 }
 
 
@@ -119,7 +119,35 @@ static void print_comment(FILE *file, const struct line *comment)
 		fprintf(file, " show\n");
 	}
 	fprintf(file, "grestore\n");
-	fflush(file);
+}
+
+
+static void cat(FILE *out, const char *name)
+{
+	FILE *in;
+	char buf[10000]; /* pick any good size */
+	size_t got, wrote;
+
+	in = fopen(name, "r");
+	if (!in) {
+		perror(name);
+		exit(1);
+	}
+	while (1) {
+		got = fread(buf, 1, sizeof(buf), in);
+		if (!got)
+			break;
+		wrote = fwrite(buf, 1, got, out);
+		if (wrote != got) {
+			perror("fwrite");
+			exit(1);
+		}
+	}
+	if (ferror(in)) {
+		perror(name);
+		exit(1);
+	}
+	fclose(in);
 }
 
 
@@ -129,7 +157,7 @@ static void convert_comp(const struct node *node, FILE *out)
 	int i, res;
 
 	for (i = 0; i != node->units; i++) {
-		make_title(stdout, node, i);
+		make_title(out, node, i);
 		if (!i && node->comment)
 			print_comment(out, node->comment);
 		if (asprintf(&tmp, "./sym2xps '%s' '%s' %d '%s' '%s'", 
@@ -146,8 +174,7 @@ static void convert_comp(const struct node *node, FILE *out)
 			fprintf(stderr, "sym2xps returned %d\n", res);
 			exit(1);
 		}
-		fflush(out);
-		system("cat tmp.ps");
+		cat(out, "tmp.ps");
 	}
 }