On Tue, Oct 23, 2007 at 10:58:00AM +0200, Bernhard R. Link wrote: > * Paul E Condon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [071022 19:49]: > > A pdf that I got from the web (and that you can have for testing, if > > desired) > > prints all pages in lower left corner of page. If the pdf is converted to > > .ps, > > it can be printed with text blocks centered without difficulty. > > Yes, I think without that file I'm not even fully understanding what the > problem is. > > > Versions of packages gv depends on: > > ii gs-esp [gs] 8.15.3.dfsg.1-1 The Ghostscript PostScript > > interpr > > You might also want to try with gs-esp deinstalled or changing the gs > default to gs-gpl (via update-alternatives --config gs and then > selectiong gs-gpl), to see if that makes a diference.
I switched to gs-gpl via update-alternatives, and it did make a difference: Now I get numerous error messages that indicate that the input file violates Adobe PDF specification. The messages contain the following text: **** Warning: File has an invalid xref entry: 2. Rebuilding xref table. **** This file had errors that were repaired or ignored. **** The file was produced by: **** >>>> iText 1.3 by lowagie.com (based on itext-paulo-153) <<<< **** Please notify the author of the software that produced this **** file that it does not conform to Adobe's published PDF **** specification. I downloaded the file from JSTOR, which is a large database of published scholarly papers. It is a large organization, and I am one person. Does this error message contain enough information that it is worth my sending it to them? To make the .ps version, that I refer to in my bug report, I used the 'print to file' facility in xpdf. It seems that (1) xpdf contains code that adequately processes this malformation. (2) gs-esp code silently mis-interprets the file. and (3) gs-gpl issues error messages and then mis-interprets the file. I wonder what to suggest at this point. If JSTOR understands the error messages that I send them, and has the technical competence to actually fix their software. They will then be confronted with the prospect of reprocessing tens of thousands of PDF files in their database. They might as an alternative simply respond 'Well, it works with Windows', or some other familiar sentence. OTOH, I can give you the file, so that you can work with it and see the problem. Then you might be able to see how xpdf handles this, grab the code, and drop it into gs. (I know 'drop it into...' is hardly a fair characterization of the amount of work involved, but often words fail me.) The file is 587490 bytes long. I have no web site where I can post it. Would it be permissible for me to send it to you in an email attachment? Or can you tell from the error message what is wrong, and dive into the code on that basis alone? Question: Clearly, it's unlikely that this bug will be resolved soon. While I'm waiting I think I would like to continue running gs-gpl because its error messages will remind me that I need to convert to .ps before printing. But I am also running CUPS and gs-esp is supposed to have patches to provide compatibility with CUPS. Should I also convert to some other print-services manager, if I do decide to continue running gs-gpl? Or are the compatibility issues not important to a naive user? (Printing does seem to be working at least to a level sufficient for checking existence of this bug.) -- Paul E Condon [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
