Re: The need for an integrated PDF reader/Implementation ofNSPDFImageRep

[stefan]

Hi

> <snip>
>> > Would it be better to use ghostscript or to implement our own internal
>> PDF
>> > reader based on it?
>>
>> i think implementing our own renderer is the better choice. I've already
>> made some investigations for my Preview-Application ViewIt
>> (http://mac.wms-network.de/gnustep/viewit/viewit.html). It currently
>> uses
>> an xpdf/ghostscript based combination for PDF rendering. My plans are to
>> implement a mechanism that produces custom (PDF)ImageReps by using the
>> code from xpdf. xpdf does rendering very well and it is modular so that
>> it
>> is easy to write new output devices. xpdf uses this output devices to
>> 'visualize' PDF content. An output device must implement some methods
>> that
>> can be translated (nearly) directly to postscript, so it may be possible
>> to use display-postscript here.

> If xpdf is GPL and the copyright is owned by the FSF, then we could
> integrate
> parts of it into an implementation of NSPDFImageRep.

for more detailed informations about the license have a look at the
distribution conditions on http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/about.html. i think
it should be ok for GNUstep. If it's ok for you, i will try to develop an
PDFImageRep during ViewIt evolution. This can than be taken over to the
GNUstep core if desired.

Stefan Kleine Stegemann