Adobe Reader on Slackware funny file

ljb643 · 06-29-2013, 11:11 AM

(I don't use Adobe Reader on Slackware much, especially since Firefox now has a built-in PDF viewer, but I keep it on one PC because occasionally a document has trouble viewing or printing with xpdf.)

After using the latest Adobe Reader 9.5.5 as a Firefox plugin on Slackware 14, I find this file left in my home directory:

Code:

C:\nppdf32Log\debuglog.txt

Yes, that is the exact filename that appears in my Slackware home directory. It seems to have some debug messages from the Reader plugin.

Roberto Neri · 06-29-2013, 12:08 PM

Apparently there's not yet a way to avoid the creation of this file (e.g. a command-line option or a preference setting), so eventually I adopted a quick and dirty solution, i.e. replace the debug file name with /dev/null in the nppdf.so library, like so

sed -i.orig 's%C:\\nppdf32Log\\debuglog.txt%/dev/null %' /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so

HTH

mancha · 06-29-2013, 12:44 PM

Not only is it troubling that acroread is writing unsolicited files to the system but to add insult to injury
it is a "windows file". The bug seems to related to Adobe debugging code not having been turned off in the release.

I hacked a quick build script which puts things into /opt/Adobe. If you use a different path just make
the relevant change to my code below. I added this to my build script after I expand COMMON.TAR & ILINXR.TAR.

Code:

( cd $PKG/opt/Adobe/Reader9/Browser/intellinux
  /usr/bin/perl -i -pe 's|\x43\x3A\x5C\x6E\x70\x70\x64\x66\x33\x32\x4C\x6F\x67\x5C\x64\x65\
x62\x75\x67\x6C\x6F\x67\x2E\x74\x78\x74|\x2F\x64\x65\x76\x2F\x6E\x75\x6C\x6C\x00
\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00|' nppdf.so
)

Note: The worry I have with Roberto's solution is it actually changes the library's size and if things are
dependent on hard offsets things can go haywire.

mancha · 06-30-2013, 02:49 AM

If you looked at my Perl substitution and it conjured scary thoughts of shell-code or if you're simply the curious type and
enjoy looking under the hood, you can see exactly what is getting changed by doing this in a bash shell:

Code:

$ mkdir temp
$ cd temp
$ wget ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.tar.bz2
$ tar xf AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.tar.bz2
$ cd AdobeReader
$ tar xf ILINXR.TAR Adobe/Reader9/Browser/intellinux/nppdf.so --strip 4
$ /usr/bin/perl -i.orig -pe 's|\x43\x3A\x5C\x6E\x70\x70\x64\x66\x33\x32\x4C\x6F\x67\x5C\x64\x65\x62\x75\x67\x6C\x6F\x67\x2E\x74\x78\x74|\x2F\x64\x65\x76\x2F\x6E\x75\x6C\x6C\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00|' nppdf.so
$ diff <(xxd nppdf.so.orig) <(xxd nppdf.so)

--mancha

allend · 06-30-2013, 03:08 AM

I was curious but I used this

Code:

 echo -e 's|\x43\x3A\x5C\x6E\x70\x70\x64\x66\x33\x32\x4C\x6F\x67\x5C\x64\x65\x62\x75\x67\x6C\x6F\x67\x2E\x74\x78\x74|\x2F\x64\x65\x76\x2F\x6E\x75\x6C\x6C\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00|'

ljb643 · 06-30-2013, 05:41 PM

I was thinking that with Firefox able to view PDF files without a plugin, I might be finally rid of Adobe Reader. But today I see Slackware changing to the Firefox17.x ESR release (perhaps temporarily, perhaps not). I am guessing that 17ESR does not include the PDF viewer - can anyone confirm this? Do I need to stick to Adobe Reader and its odd debug file?

Diantre · 06-30-2013, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ljb643

I was thinking that with Firefox able to view PDF files without a plugin, I might be finally rid of Adobe Reader. But today I see Slackware changing to the Firefox17.x ESR release (perhaps temporarily, perhaps not). I am guessing that 17ESR does not include the PDF viewer - can anyone confirm this? Do I need to stick to Adobe Reader and its odd debug file?

Firefox 17 ESR doesn't have the builtin pdf viewer. I'm hoping the next ESR release (to be released in September, I think...) will include it.

frankbell · 06-30-2013, 08:01 PM

It's been years since I've used Adobe Reader.

I have found Okular to be a perfectly satisfactory PDF viewer.

(I use Foxit Reader on Windows.)

mancha · 06-30-2013, 09:33 PM

If you use the SBo-maintained Adobe reader you can request that its maintainer, ArTourter, add a fix (such as mine in post #3 above) or do it yourself.

As for the Mozilla reader (pdf.js), you are right, it got included as of FF18. However, you can add it to FF17 as an extension.

Also, and Pat might be interested to know this, there will be version parity between Release and ESR two versions from now. There
will be an ESR 24.x if all goes according to plans.

--mancha

kikinovak · 07-01-2013, 06:29 AM

If you plan on using Adobe Reader, you can get rid of /usr/sbin/create-prism-cronjob.sh after the initial launch.