Hi,

I followed the plugin installation instructions for Acroread 7 and 8 on GNU/Linux. It works for Acroread 7, but not for Acroread 8. I put the api file in Reader8/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/.

When I follow the troubleshooting instructions, Acroread 8 does not have
an "About Third-Party Plug-Ins" item in the Help menu. There is only
"About Adobe Plug-Ins". The "Use Only Certified Plugins" preference is unchecked, if that is relevant.

Is the plugin supposed to work with Acroread 8 on GNU/Linux?

Thanks.

gmorris,

Yes, I can duplicate this condition, which seems to be specific to Linux Reader 8 (i.e., not Reader 7, and not Reader 8 on other O/S's). I'll contact the FileOpen folks and post more info when I get it.

Bill P.

Well, we still don't have a fix, but we know more about the situation:

1. The basic problem is that Adobe has not released to its 3rd party developers, like FileOpen, an SDK for Reader 8 on Linux.
2. Reader 8 does not recognize Linux plugins compiled with the previous SDK7. In fact, it even doesn't recognize the signed binary plugins distributed by Adobe with SDK7!
3. The FileOpen folks have tried unsuccessfully to find a workaround using the headers from the Win/Mac SDK8.1, which does exist. (As already mentioned, this is strictly a problem in Linux, not in Win or Mac.)
4. Adobe assures the FileOpen folks that they are not intentionally trying to exclude 3rd party plugin developers, and they have opened an Adobe Developer Support case on this. But there is no time estimate at present.

So, right now, the only workaround we know is to stick with Reader 7 (e.g., 7.0.9) on Linux systems. This might be wise anyway, since it seems that *all* 3rd party plugins, not just FileOpen's, will probably not run on Reader 8! At this time, Adobe will still let you download and install version 7.0.9 for Linux. The link is:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html


If there are any Adobe 3rd party Linux developers out there who have a better workaround and want to let us know about it, we'll pass it on to the FileOpen people! Please don't waste electrons by adding flames against Adobe to this thread -- yeah, we know, and we aren't any happier than you are!

Stay tuned.

Please don't waste electrons by adding flames against Adobe to this thread

I won't do this, but I will waste electrons by adding flames against NR to this thread. Why change the old NR books to this fileopen thing? It's a real pain in the behind.

In our plugin FAQ (http://www.nr.com/plugin/plugin_faq.html) we give this further explanation:

We want to build a unified infrastructure that allows us to deliver all of the following: (i) free content that is in the public domain; (ii) content that is copyrighted, but nevertheless free; and (iii) copyrighted content by subscription. To do this in today's world we must satisfy authors and publishers that their interests are not being completely disregarded. Of course, we must also satisfy users that the infrastructure is workable and efficient.

In more practical terms, our publisher probably would not let us keep any electronic version at all on the web, and certainly wouldn't let us make NR Third Edition available electronically, without some form of DRM. While the plugin is a pain in the behind (as you put it), it's the least pain that we could find. If we find a better solution, we'll implement it.

OK, at long last we have at least an interim fix that should serve most users. Recall that this thread is only relevant to Linux users who have Adobe Reader 8 (or 8.1 or 8.1.1 or later). Linux users with Adobe or Acrobat Reader 7 (or 7.0.9 or similar) have not experienced a problem.

Download this file (http://www.nr.com/plugin/linuxapi/FileOpenLinuxR8.api) and put it in your Reader 8 plug-ins directory (usually, but not always, /opt/Adobe/Reader8/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/ ). Make it executable by a command like "chmod +x *.api". Delete (or rename to something not ending in .api) all previous FileOpen plug-ins that you may have. Restart your browser and/or Adobe Reader.

This plug-in is known to work on these out-of-the-box Linux distros: openSuse 10.2, Ubuntu 7.10, Mandriva 2008.0, Fedora Core 6, and Fedora Core 7. It probably works with any other relatively recent Linux distribution.

It is known NOT to work on the older distros Fedora Core 5 and Suse 10.1. (In fact, it will cause Acrobat to crash until you delete the plug-in!) Note that these older distros should work fine with Reader 7 and this plug-in file (http://www.nr.com/plugin/linuxapi/FileOpenLinuxR7.api).

We are keeping this ticket alive with FileOpen in the hope of getting a solution that works for all users; but right now, you are left out in the cold only if you are running an older Linux but have upgraded its Adobe Reader to version 8.

OK, at long last we have at least an interim fix that should serve most users. Recall that this thread is only relevant to Linux users who have Adobe Reader 8 (or 8.1 or 8.1.1 or later). Linux users with Adobe or Acrobat Reader 7 (or 7.0.9 or similar) have not experienced a problem.


Nobody should be using anything older than acroread 8.1.2, since all older versions have serious security flaws. See e.g.
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa08-01.html


Download this file (http://www.nr.com/plugin/linuxapi/FileOpenLinuxR8.api) and put it in your Reader 8 plug-ins directory (usually, but not always, /opt/Adobe/Reader8/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/ ). Make it executable by a command like "chmod +x *.api". Delete (or rename to something not ending in .api) all previous FileOpen plug-ins that you may have. Restart your browser and/or Adobe Reader.

This plug-in is known to work on these out-of-the-box Linux distros: openSuse 10.2, Ubuntu 7.10, Mandriva 2008.0, Fedora Core 6, and Fedora Core 7. It probably works with any other relatively recent Linux distribution.


I tried this on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.1, and it works, but it seems to cause acroread to crash after printing anything.

gmorris,

I definitely agree about using 8.1.2.

Are you sure that the plug-in is causing the crash-after-printing behavior? For example, if you close everything, then rename the plug-in to something *not* ending in .api, does the bug go away? And then does it come back if you close everything and rename it back to .api? If this is true, I'll fire up the FileOpen folks on the issue.

For example, if you close everything, then rename the plug-in to something *not* ending in .api, does the bug go away? And then does it come back if you close everything and rename it back to .api?

Yes:

In /opt/Adobe/Reader8/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/:
mv FileOpenLinuxR8.api FileOpenLinuxR8.foo

Start acroread, open a random pdf, print current page - all is fine.
Close acroread.

mv FileOpenLinuxR8.foo FileOpenLinuxR8.api

Start acroread, open a random pdf, print current page - acroread exits (after printing).

This is on RHEL5.1 (actually Scientific Linux 5.1), with AdobeReader_enu-8.1.2-1.i486 installed from the Adobe yum repository.

Thanks for looking into this.

Hello,

was there any progress in finding the cause/solution of the printing problem ? I am using debian-testing distribution with acroread packages from debian-multimedia.org repository and I see exactly the same behaviour - acroread crashes without any message right after a document is printed (any document - no matter if it needs FileOpen plugin or not). Disabling the plugin reverts back to correct functionality.

thanks and best regards,
Pavel

No progress. I wasn't able to reproduce the problem. This doesn't mean it isn't real, but only that it seems to depend on some non-obvious configuration issue, and occurs only on some linux implementations, apparently rare since most linux users don't report this problem.

Two things to try:

1. Do a clean boot, then immediately delete the .fileopen directory that the plug-in previously created. Now start acroread and do the experiment.

2. Verify that when acroread crashes it is really crashed, not still loaded in a zombie state. That is, does it show up in a "ps -ef" list?

Cheers,
Bill P.

Hello,

thank you for the answer. However, the suggested recipe did not help. The acroread really crashes, not being seen in the list of processes afterwards.

When having it run from a console, I see no error messages alongside with the crash. Isn't there a way how to make it more verbose to possibly get some hint for the cause of the crash ?

Pavel

I can reproduce this same problem under Ubuntu Intepid Ibex (32-bit)... any clues or diagnostics I can attempt?

OK, here is something to try. There is a "trace" version of the plug-in that generates a diagnostic file. If it contains any hint of the problem then we can send it to the FileOpen people and perhaps get a response.

1. Be sure that acroread is not running.

2. Locate your FileOpenLinuxR8.api file and rename it to FileOpenLinuxR8.sav.

3. Download the file http://nr.com/plugin/linuxapi/FileOpenLinuxTraceR8.api and put it in the directory where you found FileOpenLinuxR8.api . Make it executable.

4. Start up acroread. Verify that FileOpen shows up under third-party plug-ins. Now reproduce your crash condition.

5. Locate the trace file, probably in your ~/.fileopen directory. Open it in an editor. See anything strange, e.g., near the end of the file?

I have the same problem with Ubuntu 9.10, acroread 8.1.7. Below is the last part of the trace file. If needed, I can attach the complete file.

FowpInit.cpp:2689 ======== Pop-up Contextual Menus ========
FowpInit.cpp:2694 ........ Pop-up Contextual Menus are implemented (Acrobat >= 6)
FowpInit.cpp:2698 Fowp3AVAppRightClicks callback is set. CallBack 0xf38e960c
FowpInit.cpp:2701 ======== Notifications ========
FowpInit.cpp:2703 ........ Document did save
FowpInit.cpp:2706 PDDocDidSave callback notification is set. CallBack 0xf38ea230
FowpInit.cpp:2710 ........ Document will print
FowpInit.cpp:2714 PDDocWillPrintDoc callback notification is set. CallBack 0xf38e9580
FowpInit.cpp:2715 ........ Document did print
FowpInit.cpp:2720 PDDocDidPrintPage callback notification is set. CallBack 0xf38ea0da
FowpInit.cpp:2724 PDDocDidPrintPages callback notification is set. CallBack 0xf38eb71a
FowpInit.cpp:2732 AVDocDidOpen callback notification is set. CallBack 0xf38ea7ee
FowpInit.cpp:2736 ........ Document will close
FowpInit.cpp:2740 DocWillClose callback notification is set. CallBack 0xf38ea496
FowpInit.cpp:2750 ........ Words/MaxWords Copied Notify
FowpInit.cpp:2810 Replacing the Acrobat TextSelection server Copy function 0x08346764
FowpInit.cpp:2817 Replacing the Acrobat TextSelection server Cut function 0xf42bf36a
FowpInit.cpp:2825 The plug-in TextSelectionServer functions are registered.
FowpInit.cpp:2841 ........ Page view did change
FowpInit.cpp:2844 AVPageViewDidChange callback notification is set. CallBack 0xf38eabd4
FowpInit.cpp:2847 ======== Enum callbacks ========
FowpInit.cpp:2850 ======== Miscellanous ========
FowpInit.cpp:2853 The IdleProc is registered: 0xf38eb032
FowpInit.cpp:684 Fowp3AVDocDoPrint. NOT for me. Call proc replaced by Fowp3AVDocDoPrintCallback