PDF is an open standard, except when it's not [LWN.net]

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 7, 2025 18:30 UTC (Sat) by leephillips (subscriber, #100450)
In reply to: PDF is an open standard, except when it's not by marcH
Parent article: The importance of free software to science

Implicit in my recommendation is that we should only produce PDFs that adhere to the open standard, avoiding the use of any proprietary extensions. This will be the case as a matter of course when using LaTeX.

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PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 7, 2025 19:34 UTC (Sat) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link] (2 responses)

> Implicit in my recommendation is that we should only produce PDFs that adhere to the open standard, avoiding the use of any proprietary extensions

This should not be implicit. People should not believe that "PDF" automatically means "good". Usually: yes. Always: no. I think the article as it is now gives that wrong impression.

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 7, 2025 19:56 UTC (Sat) by leephillips (subscriber, #100450) [Link] (1 responses)

Which free software tools produce PDFs making use of Adobe’s proprietary extensions?

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 8, 2025 0:09 UTC (Sun) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link]

No idea, that's totally besides my point.

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 8, 2025 2:24 UTC (Sun) by spigot (subscriber, #50709) [Link]

At a previous job we had to save legal documents (e.g. contracts), and the requirement was to use PDF/A, which standardizes a subset of PDF features. It's intended for archival purposes.