On Tuesday 09 September 2008 12:54:38 pm Ernesto Posse wrote:
> This question is not a LyX-only question, but I thought maybe someone
> here could have an idea on this issue.
>
> Has anyone succeeded in producing a PDF/A file (PDF for archival) from
> LyX/LaTeX? I've tried tools that claim to generate PDF/A from
> PostScript files or PDF files (both for Windows and Linux) but I
> haven't been successful in generating a file which is considered PDF/A
> compliant by at least two different validators, even with the
> following minimal file (in LaTeX) via dvips:
>
> === file a.tex ===
> \documentclass{article}
> \begin{document}
> Just this line...
> \end{document}
> === end of file ===
>
> I've tried generating through dvips:
>
> dvips -o a.ps a.dvi
>
> or
>
> dvips -Ppdf -o a.ps a.dvi
>
> then through ghostscript/ps2pdf as described in
> http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/cvs/Ps2pdf.htm (I tried it on both
> Windows Vista and Ubuntu)
>
> I also tried generating with dvipdf and pdflatex, and then using a PDF
> to PDF/A converter.
>
> I've tried Acrobat 9 Pro (Distiller on Windows Vista), as well as
> PDF2PDF from pdf-tools.com (On Windows Vista, XP and Ubuntu), PDF
> Quick Master (On Windows XP), and PDF Appraiser (On Windows Vista and
> XP)
>
> Acrobat Distiller produces a PDF file and claims it is PDF/A
> compliant, but when I run the compliance test within Acrobat, it
> fails! (An Acrobat generated PDF/A file fails the Acrobat PDF/A test!)
>
> Any ideas on how to generate PDF/A from LaTeX would be welcome...
>
> ThanksHi Ernesto, This isn't responsive to your question, but maybe, just maybe, it's responsive to your situation. I see nothing but heartache in PDF/A. PDF/A test notwithstanding, I contend you don't REALLY know it it will render accurately (or at all) years from now. Things happen. Of all the ways to define data, PDF is one of the most complex. I've modified PDFs with pdftk, and (ugh) with Vim. It's ugly, unless you know the whole standard by heart. It's not human readable. More to the point, over years and decades, "standards" come and go. Those QIC tapes I so joyously used in 1994 are unreadable today unless I go out and buy a QIC tape drive and somehow get the matching software. Do you really think the ISO9660 standard so ubiquitous today will exist in 2050? Me neither. My prediction -- .tgz and .zip will be the stuff of old-timer reminiscences by then, the way Kaypro computers are today. And PDF, I doubt it will exist. If something's really important to have throughout the ages, print it to nice, acid free paper, and store it appropriately. That will last at least 200 years. I called the US trademark office and asked whether I could submit my Ebooks' copyright specimens on paper in addition to electronically on CD. They said yes, they prefer it that way, because paper stands the test of time, and digital representations don't necessarily. I have handwritten journal pages from the mid 1970's, written in ballpoint pen on cheap notebook paper, that are perfectly readable over 30 years later. I dare you to read a magtape from 1975. If you have a lot of docs that must be archived, and space is a concern, perhaps microfiche is the way to go. I'd guess that will last at least 30 years, always assuming they keep making microfiche readers. If you MUST go digital, I recommend plain text. In 1987, when I first started making invoices for customers, I made a very savvy choice. All my invoices, from 1987 through the present, have been plain text. Formatting was done by inserting space characters. No tabs, which of course can be redefined by the rendering software. If you absolutely must go digital with data meant to survive a century, plain text is the way to do it. As long as ASCII exists (or a codepage that maps to old ASCII), and as long as I keep copying those invoices to media that can be read by newly current technologies, my invoices will be readable. Personally, when I hear the words "PDF" and "archive" in the same sentence, I become very skeptical. SteveT Steve Litt Recession Relief Package http://www.recession-relief.US
