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  • From: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] new problem with display of pdf's
  • Date: Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:42:22 +0000 (UTC)

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008, baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

On Wed, 26 Mar 2008, Sindi wrote:

The older xpdf probably used the X instead of the gs fonts.

See /usr/local/etc/xpdfrc or ~/.xpdfrc

"X fonts section has been omitted. This package is designed to use
the included ghostscript fonts instead."
I uploaded my modified xpdfrc to my BL site just now.

The original xpdfrc from xpdf is posted as sample-xpdfrc.

I looked at both those files but I don't see the statement "X fonts
section has been omitted. This package is designed to use the included
ghostscript fonts instead." Maybe that comes from some other file like a
README or something.

I may have added that section myself. Is it in the sample-xpdfrc too?


Anyway, this problem of blank pdf's persists. No pdf I've tried to view so
far displays properly, and most are simply blank, showing no text at all.
I went ahead and added the gsfonts from Slack4, though rather than pkg'ing
them, I simply unpacked and hand-copied them to
/usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts. That made no difference at all: I
still get mostly blank pdf's. When I start xpdf from a terminal and open a
pdf, I see line after line of error messages of the type "Error: Failed to
open font: '-*-times-medium-r-normal-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1." So I
downloaded your sample-xpdfrc and copied it to my root and user home
directories, renaming it .xpdfrc. Then I edited it and uncommented all

If there is an xpdfrc in /etc/ (/usr/local/etc?) it may be getting used instead of your .xpdfrc. (I am at the public library and cannot check right now. I had a problem with svgalib because I had libraries in two places and was changing the one that was not being used).

lines in the display fonts section, checked that the paths there were
valid for this system and also checked to see that each font listed was
actually in the directory pointed to. That all checks out fine. But I
still get mostly blank pdf's when I try to view them with xpdf. And I
still get the error messages in the terminal, as indicated above. So I'm
still stuck as far as viewing pdf's is concerned.

Why did it all work on the testbed laptop? Because of the fuller set of
fonts I installed from Slack4? I can't rule out the possibility that I
installed there your noX xpdf--I just don't recall. If I did, could that
have had an effect? I'm a bit stumped at the moment. Further input will be
appreciated.

If you installed the no-X xpdf it would have used the newer xpdfrc (in /usr/local/etc?). Did you install that before or after the SW40 xpdf?

Putting xpdfrc in an /etc is easier than copying .xpdfrc to /root and /user/* and keeping track of all the copies.

Anyway, look for an xpdfrc.
Maybe next I'll simply try your modified .xpdfrc and see what the results
are.

That is unlikely to help if you have an xpdfrc in /etc/ or /usr/local/etc/ which is telling it to use X fonts.


If you want the xfnts.tgz for other purposes, don't both with the newer xpdfrc.

If you install the newer non-X xpdf components, make sure you get the xpdfrc correct.
Sindi

Thanks,
James




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