There are certainly pdf files that I cannot convert, for two main reasons. Either, there are some unknown character sets that pdftotext can't figure out how to deal with, or printing is not allowed. The problem is, that if printing isn't allowed, then we can't even convert them to display at all and therefore, we can't read them. I will try and find out how to get around this restriction, because it does not apply in our case, anyway. Brian On Sat, 2 Mar 2002, Janina Sajka wrote: > Brian: > > The XPDF home page at http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/cracking.html says the > following: > > > "If any security features are turned on by the creator of a PDF > document, the PDF file will be encrypted. These > security features let an author disallow printing, copying > text/graphics, editing, and/or adding annotations. > > "The Xpdf package honors these permission settings. Specifically: > * xpdf will not copy/paste from a PDF file which disallows copying > text/graphics > * xpdf and pdftops will not print (convert to PostScript) a PDF file > which disallows printing > * pdftotext will not convert a PDF file which disallows copying > text/graphics > * pdfimages will not extract images from a PDF file which disallows > copying text/graphics > > "I occasionally get email asking if I can explain how to crack a PDF > file, or if I can help decrypt a PDF file. I won't > help these people because I believe that an author's requests relating > to the use of his/her work should be honored." > > Of course, there are patches out there to inhibit these restrictions and a > soon to be published paper from AFB will demonstrate that people who are > blind have the legal right in the U.S. to circumvent such measures. Some > of these patches are referenced at the page entitled "A Gallery of Adobe > Remedies," which is at http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Adobe/Gallery/, though > I have not succeeded in getting the ones I've tried to work. > > Are you saying that the Debian distribution of XPDF inhibits these > restrictions by default? > > > On Sat, 2 Mar 2002, Brian Borowski wrote: > > > There are no problems in converting this book. Here's an easy recipe. > > > > * Assume you are running that most superb distribution of linux known as > > debian; there's been a couple of nasty things said about debian recently by > > a couple of people on here... > > > > * and you don't have xpdf installed, then do: > > apt-get install xpdf > > > > * then: > > xpdf 1893115852_xx.pdf > > for each chapter. > > > > * You will end up with .txt files which are quite readable; though, they > > have a little bit of leading space at the start of the lines, but > > then: > > > > you could strip these with a one-line perl script like > > > > perl -pe 's/^\s+//;' input-file >output-file > > > > or something like that... > > > > Brian Borowski > > > > > > On Fri, 1 Mar 2002, Janina Sajka wrote: > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > > > From: Hollie Fischer <hollie_fischer at apress.com> > > > > > > Good Afternoon from Apress! > > > > > > We have made available for free download "A Programmer's Introduction to PHP > > > 4.0" by Jason Gilmore. To download a copy of the book for FREE, please > > > visit www.apress.com/books/electronic/1893115852/. > > > > > > Forward this email to anyone in your user group, circle of friends, or place > > > of business who would find a free copy of this book useful and, feel free to > > > pass along your thoughts on free downloads of Apress books. > > > > > > Kind Regards, > > > Hollie > > > > > > Hollie Fischer > > > Apress Public Relations Assistant > > > 901 Grayson Street Suite 204 > > > Berkeley CA 94710 > > > phone 510.549.5938 > > > fax 510.549.5939 > > > www.apress.com > > > Visit our online catalog today! > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > dclug mailing list > > > dclug at tux.org > > > http://www.tux.org/mailman/listinfo/dclug > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Speakup mailing list > > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Speakup mailing list > > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > > > > -- > > Janina Sajka, Director > Technology Research and Development > Governmental Relations Group > American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) > > Email: janina at afb.net Phone: (202) 408-8175 > > Chair, Accessibility SIG > Open Electronic Book Forum (OEBF) > http://www.openebook.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup > >
