[Solved] Does anyone use acroread these days?

calmbear · n00b Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 3

After upgrading to 17.0 profile acroread-9.5 (which was saved from portage during its removal) stopped work. Does anyone still use it and have some tips and tricks to reanimate this reader? Strace looks hopeless for me https://pastebin.com/4GK9LJyC

Edit: Apparently acroread-7 still works so I'll stick with it.

massimo · Veteran Joined: 22 Jun 2003 Posts: 1226

Why not pick something else https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Recommended_applications#Document_readers ?
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calmbear · n00b Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 3

Cyker · Veteran Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 1746

Yeah, I had the same problem - From some light testing, it looks like a gcc-6.4-compiled glibc breaks a LOT of old binary-only programs like acroread-9 and thunderbird-1.5.

I reverted to profile 13 thinking it was 17 and PIE that was causing the problem, but when I recompiled bindist, libtool and glibc with gcc-6.4 all the binaries died again.

Recompiling glibc with gcc-5.4 fixed the problem.

I haven't had a chance to see if I can use some compiler flags to make gcc6.4 compile glibc in a way that doesn't break my old programs; That's a big haystack...

I have a gut feeling it is something to do with changes in default stack alignment settings in newer gcc's

acroread basically has no open-source equivalent right now; There are plenty that will read very basic simple PDFs, but if you have something that uses protected forms or any special functions, like a lot of government forms I'm dealing with atm, you can only really use acrobat, which is a source of some rectal discomfort.

massimo · Veteran Joined: 22 Jun 2003 Posts: 1226

fedeliallalinea · Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:57 pm Post subject:

Only for information message because acroread was removed

Cyker · Veteran Joined: 15 Jun 2006 Posts: 1746

calmbear · n00b Joined: 31 Jan 2018 Posts: 3

Cyker, thank you for the reply. Unfortunately your trick with recompiling glibc doesn't work, and I don't want to switch to 13.0 profile to investigate it deeper. Luckily, acroread-7 still works and I'll stick with it for a while.

natrix · Guru Joined: 23 Aug 2013 Posts: 556

I use acroread on wine. It work fine to me.

Hu · Moderator Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 21607

Acroread-7 likely has even more security problems than the more recent versions.

natrix: what version of Acroread are you using through Wine? Why did you elect that over one of the PDF viewers with a less embarrassing security history?

Fitzcarraldo · Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:02 pm Post subject:

Why install a dead 32-bit application that Adobe stopped developing in 2013 and that is full of security vulnerabilities?

Last release for Linux:
ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/

Security vulnerabilities:
https://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=acrobat

PDF-XChange Editor (current version is 7.0.324.3, updated on 27 Feb 2018) running under WINE is much better than the obsolete Adobe Acrobat Reader for Linux in any case. I compared an earlier version of PDF-XChange Editor in a 2016 blog post and it was much better than Acrobat Reader for Linux:

https://fitzcarraldoblog.wordpress.com/2016/09/20/completing-pdf-forms-and-adding-your-signature-without-having-to-print-the-form/

If you want a PDF reader/printer, I recommend giving it a try. I've been using it in Gentoo for quite some time.

kite14 · Apprentice Joined: 07 Nov 2006 Posts: 216 Location: Italy

Reading this post I've learned about Master PDF Editor; even if it's not open source, it's a complete solution for viewing and editing PDFs and supports XFA modules and JavaScript. Looks like it's the closest Linux-native replacement for Acroread. It is available in portage tree → https://packages.gentoo.org/packages/app-text/master-pdf-editor