path: root/support/pdfcrop/README.md

# pdfcrop

Version: 2023/04/15 v1.42


## TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Description
2. Copyright, Disclaimer, License
3. Files
4. Requirements
5. Installation
6. User Interface
7. Restricted Mode
8. Author
9. Acknowledgement
9. Questions, Suggested Improvements
9. Known Problems
9. History
9. ToDo

## 1\. DESCRIPTION

PDFCROP takes a PDF file as input, calculates the BoundingBox
for each page by the help of ghostscript and generates a output
PDF file with removed margins.

## 2\. COPYRIGHT, DISCLAIMER, LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008-2012 Heiko Oberdiek.
              2020-2023                   Oberdiek Package Support Group

LaTeX Project Public License, version 1.3c or later.

## 3\. FILES

The project `pdfcrop` consists of two files:

`pdfcrop.pl`: This perl script is the main program. The extension
            `.pl` may be omitted.\
`README.md`:  Documentation, the file you are reading.

Following temporary files are produced if `pdfcrop` is invoked:

`tmp-pdfcrop-*.tex`:  input file for pdfTeX, luatex or xetex\
`tmp-pdfcrop-*.log`:  log file of pdfTeX, luatex or xetex run\
`tmp-pdfcrop-*.pdf`:  result after pdfTeX, luatex or xetex run

The temporary files are deleted after the run unless the `--debug` option is
used.

## 4\. REQUIREMENTS

* Perl5 (version 5 of the perl interpreter)
* Ghostscript (>= 8.0 if PDF file contains rotated pages)
* pdfTeX, version >= 1.0 (because of page selecting and \pdfximage syntax)
  or XeTeX or LuaTeX.

## 5\. INSTALLATION

Normally `pdfcrop` will be installed by the TeX system. 

If a manual installation is needed

### 1\. Perl script `pdfcrop.pl`:

TDS 1.1 location (TDS means "texmf" tree, see CTAN:tds/tds.pdf):
* TDS:scripts/pdfcrop/pdfcrop.pl
* and a directory that is part of PATH contains a wrapper script
     or link with name "pdfcrop".

Unix
* It is allowed to rename `pdfcrop.pl` to `pdfcrop`:
    mv pdfcrop.pl pdfcrop
* Ensure that the execute permission is set:
    chmod +x pdfcrop
* Move the file to a directory where the shell can find it
  (environment variable PATH, e.g. /usr/local/bin/).

Dos/Windows
   * See requirements. I do not expect that the perl script
     runs under DOS.

### 2\. Restricted program version `rpdfcrop`

   Generate links or install `pdfcrop.pl` again under the
   name `rpdfcrop`.

   Prefer `rpdfcrop` if you want to add pdfcrop to the
   programs that may be executed in TeX's restricted
   shell escape mode. (This feature is added in TeX Live 2009.)
   For TeX Live (since 2009) see entry for `shell_escape_commands`
   in the configuration file `texmf.cnf`.

### 3\. Documentation `README.md`:

   Copy it to an appropriate place, for example
   `/usr/local/share/doc/pdfcrop/README.md`.
   It is allowed to rename it to `pdfcrop.txt` or `pdfcrop.md`.

   TDS location:\
     somewhere below texmf/doc/... (?)
     
   Examples:\
     `TDS:doc/support/pdfcrop/README.md`\
     `TDS:doc/scripts/pdfcrop/README.md`\
     `TDS:doc/scripts/pdfcrop.txt`
     
   TeXLive 2020 put it in\ 
     `TDS:doc/support/pdfcrop/README.md`

## 6\. USER INTERFACE

* ToDo: User manual
* Online help:
    `pdfcrop --help`
* Ghostscript's calculation of the bounding box is faster,
  if `--resolution 72` is used instead of ghostscript's implicite
  default setting of 4000 DPI (hint from Ionut Georgescu).
  Of course the calculation with higher resolution settings are
  more accurate.

## 7\. RESTRICTED MODE

Restricted mode is enabled if:

* option `--restricted` is used,
* the program is called under the name `rpdfcrop`
* or the called program name contains `restricted`.

This mode sets restrictions for the following options:

* `--pdftexcmd`: if used, the value must be empty or `pdftex`.
* `--xetexcmd`: if used, the value must be empty or `xetex`.
* `--luatexcmd`: if used, the value must be empty or `luatex`.
* `--gscmd`: if used, the value must
  * be empty or
  * be one of the standard names (gs, gswin32c, gswin64c, mgs, gs386, gsos2) or
  * consists of `gs`, followed by a version number and an
      optional `c` (Ghostscript's convention for `console version`).

## 8\. AUTHORS

Heiko Oberdiek\
Email: heiko.oberdiek at googlemail.com\
Oberdiek Package Support Group\
[https://github.com/ho-tex/pdfcrop]

## 9\. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Anthony Williams\
Scott Pakin <pakin at uiuc.edu>\
Ionut Georgescu\
Yves Jäger\
R (Chandra) Chandrasekhar\
Christian Stapfer\
David Menestrina\
Karl Berry

## 10. QUESTIONS, SUGGESTED IMPROVEMENTS

If you have questions, problems with `pdfcrop`, error reports,
if you have improvements or want to have additional features,
please send them to the author or add an issue to
https://github.com/ho-tex/pdfcrop

My environment for developing and testing:
* linux, SuSE 9.0
* perl v5.8.1
* pdfTeX 3.141592-1.40.x
* Ghostscript 8.x

## 11. KNOWN PROBLEMS

* pdfcrop relies on Ghostscript for the calculation of the
  Bounding Box. If Ghostscript returns wrong values or
  cannot process the pdf file, it sometimes helps to try
  another version of Ghostscript.
* Older XeTeX (and pdfTeX < 1.10a) does not allow the setting of the
  PDF version in a direct way. In this cases pdfcrop tries to fix the PDF version
  afterwards in the PDF header and XeTeX warnings as the following can be safely ignored.
  
        ** WARNING ** Version of PDF file (1.6) is newer
                  than version limit specification.
   
  

## 12. HISTORY

|Version         | Notes |
|----------------|-------|
|2002/10/30 v1.0:|  First release|
|2002/10/30 v1.1:|  Option `--hires` added.|
|2002/11/04 v1.2:|  "nul" instead of "/dev/null" for windows.|
|2002/11/23 v1.3:|  Use of File::Spec module's "devnull" call.|
|2002/11/29 v1.4:|  Option `--papersize` added.|
|2004/06/24 v1.5:|  Clear map file entries so that pdfTeX does not touch the fonts.|
|2004/06/26 v1.6:|  Use mgs.exe instead of gswin32c.exe for MIKTEX.|
|2005/03/11 v1.7:|  Support of spaces in file names                    |
|--              |  `(open("-`&#124;`")` is used for ghostscript call).|
|2008/01/09 v1.8:|  Fix for moving the temporary file to the output file across file system boundaries.|
|2008/04/05 v1.9:|  Options `--resolution` and `--bbox` added. |
|2008/07/16 v1.10:| Support for XeTeX added with new options `--pdftex`, `--xetex`, `--xetexcmds`.|
|2008/07/22 v1.11:| Workaround for `(open("-`&#124;`")`.|
|2008/07/23 v1.12:| Workarounds for the workaround (error detection, ...).|
|2008/07/24 v1.13:| `(open("-`&#124;`")`/ workaround removed.|
|--               | Input files with unsafe file names are linked/copied to temporary file with safe file name.|
|2008/09/12 v1.14:| Error detection for invalid Bounding Boxes.|
|2009/07/14 v1.15:| Fix for negative coordinates in Bounding Boxes (David Menestrina).
|2009/07/17 v1.16:| Security fixes: |
|--               | \* `-dSAFER` added for Ghostscript, |
|--               | \* `-no-shell-escape` added for pdfTeX/XeTeX.|
|2009/07/17 v1.17:| Security fixes:
|--               | \* Backticks and whitespace are forbidden for options `--gs`, `--pdftexcmd`, `--xetexcmd`.|
|--               | \* Validation of options `--papersize` and `--resolution`.|
|2009/07/18 v1.18:| \* Restricted mode added.   |
|--               | \* Option `--version` added.|
|2009/09/24 v1.19:| \* Ghostscript detection rewritten. |
|--               | \* Cygwin: `gs` is preferred to `gswin32c`.|
|2009/10/06 v1.20:| \* File name sanitizing in .tex file.|
|2009/12/21 v1.21:| \* Option `--ini` added for iniTeX mode. |
|--               |   \* Option `--luatex` and `--luatexcmd` added for LuaTeX.|
|2009/12/29 v1.22:| \* Syntax description for option `--bbox` fixed (Lukas Prochazka).|
|2010/01/09 v1.23:| \* Options `--bbox`-odd and --bbox-even added.|
|2010/08/16 v1.24:| \* Workaround added for buggy ghostscript ports that print the BoundingBox data twice.|
|2010/08/26 v1.25:| \* Fix for the case that the PDF file contains an entry /CropBox different to /MediaBox.|
|--               | \* \pageinclude implemented for XeTeX. |
|--               | \* XeTeX: `--clip` does not die, but this option is ignored, because XeTeX always clip.|
|2010/08/26 v1.26:| \* XeTeX's \XeTeXpdffile expects keyword `media`, not `mediabox`.|
|--               | \* New option `--pdfversion`.|
|--               |  Default is `auto` that means the PDF version is inherited from the input file. Before pdfcrop has used the TeX engine's default.|
|--               | \* Option `--luatex` fixed (extra empty page at end).|
|2010/09/03 v1.27:| \* Workaround of v1.24 fixed.|
|2010/09/06 v1.28:| \* The Windows registry is searched if Ghostscript is not found via PATH.
|--               | \* Windows only: support of spaces in command names in unrestricted mode.|
|2010/09/06 v1.29:| \* Find the latest Ghostscript version in registry.|
|2010/09/15 v1.30:| \* Warning of pdfTeX because of \pdfobjcompresslevel avoided when reducing \pdfminorversion.|
|--               | \* Fix for TeX syntax characters in input file names.|
|2010/09/17 v1.31:| \* Passing the input file name via hex string to TeX.|
|--               |  \* Again input file names restricted for Ghostscript command line, switch then to symbol link/copy method.|
|2011/08/10 v1.32:| \* Detection for gswin64c.exe added.|
|2012/02/01 v1.33:| \* Input file can be `-` (standard input).|
|2012/04/18 v1.34:| \* Format of option `--version` changed from naked version number to a line with program name, date and version.|
|2012/10/15 v1.35:| \* Additional debug infos added for Perl version.|
|2012/10/16 v1.36:| \* More error codes added.|
|2012/10/16 v1.37:| \* Extended error messages if available.|
|--               | \* Fix for broken v1.36.|
|2012/11/02 v1.38:| \* Fix for unsufficient cleanup, if function `cleanup` is prematurely called in `eval` for `symlink` checking.|
|2020/05/24 v1.39:| \* adapted to pdfversion 2.0,|
|--               | \*  corrected luatex support|
|--               | \*  corrected a problem with xetex.|
|2020/06/06 v1.40:| \* improved ghostscript detection on windows when a bash is used|
|--               | \* added direct pdfversion support to xetex.| 
|2023/04/13 v1.41:| \* allow gswin64c in restricted mode, fix typos in messages issues 14, 17|
|--               | \* add -q option, issue 7 |
|--               | \* don't print whole help msg for unknown options, issue 7.|
|--               | \* do not create two pages with xetex, issue 3|
|2023/04/15 v1.42:| \* update help text issue 18|

## 13. TODO

* Description of user interface.
* Documentation in other formats, eg. man or info pages.
* Improved error checking.
* Units support for option `--margins`.