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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