[opensuse] What to do about acroread?
Hi Folks, I know this has been discussed in the past, but it's finally bitten me directly. While I applaud the decision to not include unsupported proprietary software in openSuSE, the problem remains. I've made several 13.1 installs so far, but I finally got around to installing on my personal machine. Alas, I need to fill out a government provided pdf with form fields and can't do it without acroread. So, some questions: 1. Is there an open-source pdf package that supports forms? 2. Is there an open-source pdf package that allows digital signatures, especially with keys from SmartCards? I installed the latest unsupported acroread and appropriate 32-bit libraries and it seems to work. Does anyone have any ideas about how to mitigate the potential security threats? Maybe not access pdf's directly from the Internet or email, and run everything you do process through clamav first? An alternative would be to use Win-XP Adobe Reader in Virtualbox, but I fail to see how that would be safer! No, I refuse to purchase a Win-7 or 8 license for Virtualbox. Does anyone have any experience with Adobe Reader in Wine? Thanks, Lew -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 8:58 PM, Lew Wolfgang <wolfgang@sweet-haven.com> wrote:
Hi Folks,
I know this has been discussed in the past, but it's finally bitten me directly. While I applaud the decision to not include unsupported proprietary software in openSuSE, the problem remains. I've made several 13.1 installs so far, but I finally got around to installing on my personal machine. Alas, I need to fill out a government provided pdf with form fields and can't do it without acroread.
So, some questions:
1. Is there an open-source pdf package that supports forms? 2. Is there an open-source pdf package that allows digital signatures, especially with keys from SmartCards?
I installed the latest unsupported acroread and appropriate 32-bit libraries and it seems to work. Does anyone have any ideas about how to mitigate the potential security threats? Maybe not access pdf's directly from the Internet or email, and run everything you do process through clamav first?
An alternative would be to use Win-XP Adobe Reader in Virtualbox, but I fail to see how that would be safer! No, I refuse to purchase a Win-7 or 8 license for Virtualbox.
Does anyone have any experience with Adobe Reader in Wine?
There are very few choices.... 1. Install the Acrobat Reader 9 for Linux. 2. Install The latest Acrobat Reader in a Windows VM. 3. Try installing a 3rd party viewer in Wine (like Foxit for example). 4. Try to get the latest Acrobat Reader working in Wine./ 5. Try to use the native Linux readers. 6. If PDF in Linux is really important and the VM option is not possible and the Linux native readers don't cut it for what you need... buy a license to http://www.qoppa.com/pdfstudio/ (there's a demo version so you can test it to see if it can deal with forms) I've tried all 6 options. Acroread 9 has security holes and update issues as you noted... 3rd party viewers rarely work with forms... I've never see Acroread work in Wine... native Linux PDF viewers rarely work with forms... PDF Studio is a hit/miss, and when I tested it, it failed on the PDF form I needed to fill in. In the end my solution is Evince/Okular as the default. Where that fails, Acroread 9. Where that fails, I boot up a Windows VM and use the latest Acroread for WIndows... this last option always works. C. -- openSUSE 13.1 x86_64, KDE 4.13 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Sunday, May 11, 2014 09:17:40 PM C wrote:
On Sun, May 11, 2014 at 8:58 PM, Lew Wolfgang <wolfgang@sweet-haven.com> wrote:
Hi Folks,
I know this has been discussed in the past, but it's finally bitten me directly. While I applaud the decision to not include unsupported proprietary software in openSuSE, the problem remains. I've made several 13.1 installs so far, but I finally got around to installing on my personal machine. Alas, I need to fill out a government provided pdf with form fields and can't do it without acroread.
So, some questions:
1. Is there an open-source pdf package that supports forms? 2. Is there an open-source pdf package that allows digital signatures,
especially with keys from SmartCards?
I installed the latest unsupported acroread and appropriate 32-bit libraries and it seems to work. Does anyone have any ideas about how to mitigate the potential security threats? Maybe not access pdf's directly from the Internet or email, and run everything you do process through clamav first?
An alternative would be to use Win-XP Adobe Reader in Virtualbox, but I fail to see how that would be safer! No, I refuse to purchase a Win-7 or 8 license for Virtualbox.
Does anyone have any experience with Adobe Reader in Wine?
There are very few choices....
1. Install the Acrobat Reader 9 for Linux. 2. Install The latest Acrobat Reader in a Windows VM. 3. Try installing a 3rd party viewer in Wine (like Foxit for example). 4. Try to get the latest Acrobat Reader working in Wine./ 5. Try to use the native Linux readers. 6. If PDF in Linux is really important and the VM option is not possible and the Linux native readers don't cut it for what you need... buy a license to http://www.qoppa.com/pdfstudio/ (there's a demo version so you can test it to see if it can deal with forms)
I've tried all 6 options. Acroread 9 has security holes and update issues as you noted... 3rd party viewers rarely work with forms... I've never see Acroread work in Wine... native Linux PDF viewers rarely work with forms... PDF Studio is a hit/miss, and when I tested it, it failed on the PDF form I needed to fill in.
In the end my solution is Evince/Okular as the default. Where that fails, Acroread 9. Where that fails, I boot up a Windows VM and use the latest Acroread for WIndows... this last option always works.
C.
There are folks in the EU that use forms that are not handled by Ocular. I'm in the US, and I most often encounter PDFs with forms from the IRS and State Agencies that Ocular will handle. Every time I post this people tell me I'm crazy but it does work: 1) Open PDF Forms with Ocular 2) Notice warning that it does not handle forms 3) Ignore same 4) Click button that says Show forms 5) Fill in form 6) Unclick button that says Show Forms VERY IMPORTANT! 7) Notice that your input stays there 8) Save as <------- (some random name) 9) Close Ocular (this is just to test that this works) 10) Reopen the Original PDF 11) Notice all your changes are still in there 12) Open the Random named copy that you made above in step 8 13) Notice that your data is not saved. 14) Make mental note NEVER to report this as a bug Don't know why it won't work on Euro forms. --
From the Myth of Me -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Le 11/05/2014 22:07, John M Andersen a écrit :
Don't know why it won't work on Euro forms.
The best way is to have any old computer with Windows on a desk corner :-( I didn't test your method on european form, but I will try to find time to do. What I notice is that with acroread I can't save the form on the inital file, I have always to make a copy, and if I make a change, I can't neither save the copy but have to make an other copy. see this tomorrow (past midnight here :-) jdd -- http://www.dodin.org -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 05/11/2014 01:07 PM, John M Andersen wrote:
There are folks in the EU that use forms that are not handled by Ocular. I'm in the US, and I most often encounter PDFs with forms from the IRS and State Agencies that Ocular will handle.
Every time I post this people tell me I'm crazy but it does work: 1) Open PDF Forms with Ocular 2) Notice warning that it does not handle forms 3) Ignore same 4) Click button that says Show forms 5) Fill in form 6) Unclick button that says Show Forms VERY IMPORTANT! 7) Notice that your input stays there 8) Save as <------- (some random name) 9) Close Ocular (this is just to test that this works) 10) Reopen the Original PDF 11) Notice all your changes are still in there 12) Open the Random named copy that you made above in step 8 13) Notice that your data is not saved. 14) Make mental note NEVER to report this as a bug
It works! (at least with this one form) Thanks John. It worked even without unclicking the Show Forms button. Okular must be improving. I'll keep acroread hanging around just in case... Regards, Lew -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
Cool. i still don't understand why the ORIGINAL is saved when you select save-as. It's a bug, but I don't dare report it. ;-) On May 11, 2014 3:29:25 PM PDT, Lew Wolfgang <wolfgang@sweet-haven.com> wrote:
On 05/11/2014 01:07 PM, John M Andersen wrote:
There are folks in the EU that use forms that are not handled by Ocular. I'm in the US, and I most often encounter PDFs with forms from the IRS and State Agencies that Ocular will handle.
Every time I post this people tell me I'm crazy but it does work: 1) Open PDF Forms with Ocular 2) Notice warning that it does not handle forms 3) Ignore same 4) Click button that says Show forms 5) Fill in form 6) Unclick button that says Show Forms VERY IMPORTANT! 7) Notice that your input stays there 8) Save as <------- (some random name) 9) Close Ocular (this is just to test that this works) 10) Reopen the Original PDF 11) Notice all your changes are still in there 12) Open the Random named copy that you made above in step 8 13) Notice that your data is not saved. 14) Make mental note NEVER to report this as a bug
It works! (at least with this one form) Thanks John.
It worked even without unclicking the Show Forms button. Okular must be improving.
I'll keep acroread hanging around just in case...
Regards, Lew
-- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
-- Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On Sunday, May 11, 2014 15:36:13 John Andersen wrote:
Cool. i still don't understand why the ORIGINAL is saved when you select save-as. It's a bug, but I don't dare report it. ;-)
The form data is not saved inside the PDF itself, but somewhere in okular's/kde's folders (I do not know where). It is associated with the document only by file name. This means, moving or copying or e-mailing the file will lose the from data. Regards mararm -- If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad, he should see how bad it is with representation. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
* Lew Wolfgang <wolfgang@sweet-haven.com> [05-16-14 15:37]:
On 05/11/2014 01:07 PM, John M Andersen wrote:
There are folks in the EU that use forms that are not handled by Ocular. [...] It works! (at least with this one form) Thanks John.
It worked even without unclicking the Show Forms button. Okular must be improving.
I'll keep acroread hanging around just in case...
Amazing that you are able to respond to a post that hasen't been written. Perhaps you should check your system time ??? -- (paka)Patrick Shanahan Plainfield, Indiana, USA @ptilopteri http://en.opensuse.org openSUSE Community Member facebook/ptilopteri http://wahoo.no-ip.org Photo Album: http://wahoo.no-ip.org/gallery2 Registered Linux User #207535 @ http://linuxcounter.net -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 Content-ID: <alpine.LSU.2.11.1405162321410.4168@minas-tirith.valinor> El 2014-05-16 a las 16:04 -0400, Patrick Shanahan escribió:
* Lew Wolfgang <> [05-16-14 15:37]:
On 05/11/2014 01:07 PM, John M Andersen wrote:
There are folks in the EU that use forms that are not handled by Ocular. [...] It works! (at least with this one form) Thanks John.
Amazing that you are able to respond to a post that hasen't been written. Perhaps you should check your system time ???
Huh? I have those two emails: Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 13:07:59 -0700 From: John M Andersen <> To: opensuse@opensuse.org Subject: Re: [opensuse] What to do about acroread? Message-ID: <1922642.Ef4NqJFePf@poulsbo.homeip.net> Mail list number: 158633 and the answer: Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 15:29:25 -0700 From: Lew Wolfgang <> To: opensuse@opensuse.org Subject: Re: [opensuse] What to do about acroread? Message-ID: <536FF9C5.20105@sweet-haven.com> Mail list number: 158636 You must have a problem on your side, as Lew wrote that email on the 11th, and aparently you got it on the 16th, judging by the contents, not the dates. - -- Cheers Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" (Minas Tirith)) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux) iF4EAREIAAYFAlN2gZkACgkQja8UbcUWM1zyAwD8CqBW1jhJNt7V918LNCKzGj0R NFNqHUOlmZZBkoLPYdYA/ieVwbHML8EDslf2RVlbapBHU7J9trxWYtHI1bsBv6Vp =qsfA -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 On 2014-05-11 21:17, C wrote:
There are very few choices....
1. Install the Acrobat Reader 9 for Linux.
Unsupported, no updates.
3. Try installing a 3rd party viewer in Wine (like Foxit for example).
Keys do not work.
4. Try to get the latest Acrobat Reader working in Wine./
AFAIK, does not work. Work in progress.
5. Try to use the native Linux readers.
No scripting support, no signature support.
I've tried all 6 options.
Another: set up a virtual machine with Android, install new adobe reader inside. It works fine... but a mouse is not a touch screen, so usability is small.
Acroread 9 has security holes and update issues as you noted... 3rd party viewers rarely work with forms... I've never see Acroread work in Wine... native Linux PDF viewers rarely work with forms... PDF Studio is a hit/miss, and when I tested it, it failed on the PDF form I needed to fill in.
Yep.
In the end my solution is Evince/Okular as the default. Where that fails, Acroread 9. Where that fails, I boot up a Windows VM and use the latest Acroread for WIndows... this last option always works.
You can legally install W7 for 30 days, I understand. I may be wrong. - -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" (Minas Tirith)) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iF4EAREIAAYFAlNv+2kACgkQja8UbcUWM1w+kgD9Eqx71K2LZ0Apmb/qbWljNy0C R+sihPWuHVnLFKt0ThEA/j7U4a0XktU+uhQllmGKc6+eDXgV+18l+XbiPuDruW8F =9EEB -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 05/11/2014 09:58 PM, Lew Wolfgang wrote:
Alas, I need to fill out a government provided pdf with form fields and can't do it without acroread
- maybe one can use LibreOffice to export pdf file to an image, and then fill in the required fields ? ............. regards -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
On 05/11/2014 09:58 PM, Lew Wolfgang wrote:
Alas, I need to fill out a government provided pdf with form fields and can't do it without acroread
- seems to me that it is possible to use LibreOffice to export the pdf to an DRAWINGs file .ODG
. . . then Edit that drawings .ODG file . . . and finally to re-convert the edited drawings file back to pdf format .......... regards -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 On 2014-05-11 20:58, Lew Wolfgang wrote:
1. Is there an open-source pdf package that supports forms?
Not if they use scripting.
2. Is there an open-source pdf package that allows digital signatures, especially with keys from SmartCards?
Not to my knowledge.
I installed the latest unsupported acroread and appropriate 32-bit libraries and it seems to work. Does anyone have any ideas about how to mitigate the potential security threats? Maybe not access pdf's directly from the Internet or email, and run everything you do process through clamav first?
I use Apparmour on it. It is possible to deny it usage of internet with SuSEfirewall2
An alternative would be to use Win-XP Adobe Reader in Virtualbox, but I fail to see how that would be safer! No, I refuse to purchase a Win-7 or 8 license for Virtualbox.
Well, XP is no longer maintained, but the "damage" would be limited to that virtual machine, if you set it to "host only network" and do not use shared folders that can be written from within. In case of damage, you can simply restore it fast from a backup image.
Does anyone have any experience with Adobe Reader in Wine?
Terrible. - -- Cheers / Saludos, Carlos E. R. (from 13.1 x86_64 "Bottle" (Minas Tirith)) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Thunderbird - http://www.enigmail.net/ iF4EAREIAAYFAlNv+kwACgkQja8UbcUWM1z10gD9Fv2TdxuBxBdvV/VSjMgvFx3E 8DploPvk6zG/fdoLBboBAJUk5zFuR6T5/t7hy/jePuPdnKLK3vSbwA4Zl09mR57t =crgu -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org
participants (9)
-
C -
Carlos E. R. -
ellanios82 -
jdd -
John Andersen -
John M Andersen
-
Lew Wolfgang -
mararm -
Patrick Shanahan