thanks. this is just the tool I need. It is a shorter path than doc->html-ps->pdf. while the tool has no perl bindings (to my knowledge) I can just cron a perl (python) script to convert a directory of doc files to pdf via ps.

update: matts (axkit) just left a message on my use.perl journal reporting that he recommends using HTMLDOC for converting html to pdf. It also has an Axkit plugin. I checked out the man and faq. GNU licensing, perl bindings and end user support available.