Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

# Andreas K. Hüttel <dilfridge@gentoo.org> (27 Jan 2012)
# Has developed into an unmaintainable mess, and everyone who
# knows about it is either retired or missing in action.
# Several minor bugs and one ugly security issues (#386271).
# Masked for removal because of lack of maintainer.

--

Andreas K. Huettel
Gentoo Linux developer
dilfridge@gentoo.org
http://www.akhuettel.de/

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

120127 Andreas K. Huettel wrote:
> # Andreas K. Hüttel <dilfridge@gentoo.org> (27 Jan 2012)
> # Has developed into an unmaintainable mess, and everyone who
> # knows about it is either retired or missing in action.
> # Several minor bugs and one ugly security issues (#386271).
> # Masked for removal because of lack of maintainer.

I use Xpdf frequently & have no problem with it.
The security bug you cite says there is a newer version 3.03
which fixes at least some of the security problems.
If you limit yourself sensibly to PDFs from known reliable sites,
you won't run into the problem in Bug 386271 AFAIK.
The bug I submitted is minor & has a workaround, which I use.

Is there an alternative which doesn't require eg 'kdelibs' or similar ?
In my netbook, Xpdf is the only method I have of reading PDFs,
as I use Fluxbox & don't have KDE installed at all.

There is a fork of some kind at https://github.com/rbrito/xpdf-poppler ,
which is given as the contact by 'eix'.

I very much hope there is at least an alternative
or otherwise some reconsideration of removing Xpdf from Gentoo.

--
========================,,======================== ====================
SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb
ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 9:58 PM, Philip Webb <purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:
> 120127 Andreas K. Huettel wrote:
>> # Andreas K. Hüttel <dilfridge@gentoo.org> (27 Jan 2012)
>> # Has developed into an unmaintainable mess, and everyone who
>> # knows about it is either retired or missing in action.
>> # Several minor bugs and one ugly security issues (#386271).
>> # Masked for removal because of lack of maintainer.
>
> I use Xpdf frequently & have no problem with it.
> The security bug you cite says there is a newer version 3.03
> which fixes at least some of the security problems.
> If you limit yourself sensibly to PDFs from known reliable sites,
> you won't run into the problem in Bug 386271 AFAIK.
> The bug I submitted is minor & has a workaround, which I use.
>
> Is there an alternative which doesn't require eg 'kdelibs' or similar ?
> In my netbook, Xpdf is the only method I have of reading PDFs,
> as I use Fluxbox & don't have KDE installed at all.
>
> There is a fork of some kind at *https://github.com/rbrito/xpdf-poppler ,
> which is given as the contact by 'eix'.
>
> I very much hope there is at least an alternative
> or otherwise some reconsideration of removing Xpdf from Gentoo.

I use evince, myself.

--
:wq

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

On Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:58:16 -0500, Philip Webb wrote:

> I very much hope there is at least an alternative
> or otherwise some reconsideration of removing Xpdf from Gentoo.

One of the reasons for the 30 day warning is to give you time to copy the
ebuild to a local overlay if you want to continue running the software at
your own risk. But leaving unmaintained software in the tree, especially
with security holes, is at best pointless and at worst dangerous.


--
Neil Bothwick

For security reasons, all text in this mail
is double-rot13 encrypted.

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

120128 Neil Bothwick wrote:
> One of the reasons for the 30 day warning
> is to give you time to copy the ebuild to a local overlay
> if you want to continue running the software at your own risk.

I've already copied /usr/portage/app-text/xpdf/ to /usr/local/src/ :
is there anything else I will need, if I decide to go that route ?

--
========================,,======================== ====================
SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb
ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

On Saturday 28 Jan 2012 10:03:42 Philip Webb wrote:
> 120128 Neil Bothwick wrote:
> > One of the reasons for the 30 day warning
> > is to give you time to copy the ebuild to a local overlay
> > if you want to continue running the software at your own risk.
>
> I've already copied /usr/portage/app-text/xpdf/ to /usr/local/src/ :
> is there anything else I will need, if I decide to go that route ?

I'm reluctant to go down this route. Things that xpdf depends may or many not
be updated, then I'll have to keep an eye out for the latest xpdf code and
download and update this manually, as well as any dependencies which may fall
out of the tree. This will create a maintenance liability for me.

I'd like to continue using xpdf, but unless a maintainer shows up it'll have
to bite the dust. :-(

Anyhow, another alternative may be mupdf - it opens files when called from
another application (e.g. a browser) but unlike xpdf I have not found a way of
saving a file once opened without having to redownload it with the browser.
--
Regards,
Mick

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

2012/1/28 Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com>:
> On Saturday 28 Jan 2012 10:03:42 Philip Webb wrote:
...
> another application (e.g. a browser) but unlike xpdf I have not found a way of
> saving a file once opened without having to redownload it with the browser.

I'd look into /tmp, it'll probably be there.

--
Jesús Guerrero Botella

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

> Is there an alternative which doesn't require eg 'kdelibs' or similar ?
> In my netbook, Xpdf is the only method I have of reading PDFs,
> as I use Fluxbox & don't have KDE installed at all.

It should not stop you from trying okular (kdelibs based)
and evince (libgnome based). They are really neat.

For lightweight variants you might like to look at
app-text/epdfview and app-text/gsview or at some
pdf->something converter.

--

Sergei

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

120128 Sergei Trofimovich wrote:
>> Is there an alternative which doesn't require eg 'kdelibs' or similar ?
>> In my netbook, Xpdf is the only method I have of reading PDFs,
>> as I use Fluxbox & don't have KDE installed at all.
> It should not stop you from trying okular (kdelibs based)

Well no ! -- I don't want to have any KDE in my netbook :
I use a lot of KDE apps on my desktop, incl Okular, but not in the netbook.

> and evince (libgnome based). They are really neat.
> For lightweight variants you might like to look
> at app-text/epdfview and app-text/gsview.

Thanks for this & other comments + advice.

I've installed Evince Epdfview Zathura. Evince looks as usable as Xpdf
& Epdfview is also simple & effective; Zathura works, but relies largely
on keys (ok) & the index toggles, which is not quite as usable.
Epdfview has the advantage over Evince that it needs no deps,
so that's what I may use in my netbook.

I also noticed a note in my homemade list of installed pkgs
that I had to patch Xpdf to avoid the slow-start problem,
so I'm satisfied that it cb consigned to history.

--
========================,,======================== ====================
SUPPORT ___________//___, Philip Webb
ELECTRIC /] [] [] [] [] []| Cities Centre, University of Toronto
TRANSIT `-O----------O---' purslowatchassdotutorontodotca

Last rites: app-text/xpdf
 

On 01/27/2012 07:24 PM, Michael Mol wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 9:58 PM, Philip Webb <purslow@ca.inter.net> wrote:

>> I very much hope there is at least an alternative
>> or otherwise some reconsideration of removing Xpdf from Gentoo.
>
> I use evince, myself.

Me too, but it does require some cruft from gnome.