What a nightmare!
What does the university say about validators -- any validator, all
validators, Adobe's validator?
The PDF/A Wikipedia page makes it look pretty straightforward -- all fonts
embedded, all fonts legal everywhere, no video, audio or javascript, device
independent color.
Makes sense when thought about from a portability as opposed to a long term
archival viewpoint. And it seems straightforward, except for proving it :-)
SteveT
On Tuesday 09 September 2008 02:00:54 pm Ernesto Posse wrote:
> Hi. I do not have a particular preference for PDF/A, but unfortunately
> my university requires electronic thesis submissions to be in PDF/A.
> After seeing that even a minimalistic latex document seems to be
> impossible to convert to PDF/A, and realizing that there is no
> consistency among PDF/A "validators", I'm not becoming a fan of the
> format. Nevertheless, I need to convert my thesis to this format...
>
> On Tue, Sep 9, 2008 at 1:29 PM, Steve Litt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
> > On Tuesday 09 September 2008 12:54:38 pm Ernesto Posse wrote:
> >> This question is not a LyX-only question, but I thought maybe someone
> >> here could have an idea on this issue.
> >>
> >> Has anyone succeeded in producing a PDF/A file (PDF for archival) from
> >> LyX/LaTeX? I've tried tools that claim to generate PDF/A from
> >> PostScript files or PDF files (both for Windows and Linux) but I
> >> haven't been successful in generating a file which is considered PDF/A
> >> compliant by at least two different validators, even with the
> >> following minimal file (in LaTeX) via dvips:
> >>
> >> === file a.tex ===
> >> \documentclass{article}
> >> \begin{document}
> >> Just this line...
> >> \end{document}
> >> === end of file ===
> >>
> >> I've tried generating through dvips:
> >>
> >> dvips -o a.ps a.dvi
> >>
> >> or
> >>
> >> dvips -Ppdf -o a.ps a.dvi
> >>
> >> then through ghostscript/ps2pdf as described in
> >> http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/doc/cvs/Ps2pdf.htm (I tried it on both
> >> Windows Vista and Ubuntu)
> >>
> >> I also tried generating with dvipdf and pdflatex, and then using a PDF
> >> to PDF/A converter.
> >>
> >> I've tried Acrobat 9 Pro (Distiller on Windows Vista), as well as
> >> PDF2PDF from pdf-tools.com (On Windows Vista, XP and Ubuntu), PDF
> >> Quick Master (On Windows XP), and PDF Appraiser (On Windows Vista and
> >> XP)
> >>
> >> Acrobat Distiller produces a PDF file and claims it is PDF/A
> >> compliant, but when I run the compliance test within Acrobat, it
> >> fails! (An Acrobat generated PDF/A file fails the Acrobat PDF/A test!)
> >>
> >> Any ideas on how to generate PDF/A from LaTeX would be welcome...
> >>
> >> Thanks
> >
> > Hi Ernesto,
> >
> > This isn't responsive to your question, but maybe, just maybe, it's
> > responsive to your situation.
> >
> > I see nothing but heartache in PDF/A. PDF/A test notwithstanding, I
> > contend you don't REALLY know it it will render accurately (or at all)
> > years from now. Things happen.
> >
> > Of all the ways to define data, PDF is one of the most complex. I've
> > modified PDFs with pdftk, and (ugh) with Vim. It's ugly, unless you know
> > the whole standard by heart. It's not human readable.
> >
> > More to the point, over years and decades, "standards" come and go. Those
> > QIC tapes I so joyously used in 1994 are unreadable today unless I go out
> > and buy a QIC tape drive and somehow get the matching software. Do you
> > really think the ISO9660 standard so ubiquitous today will exist in 2050?
> > Me neither. My prediction -- .tgz and .zip will be the stuff of old-timer
> > reminiscences by then, the way Kaypro computers are today. And PDF, I
> > doubt it will exist.
> >
> > If something's really important to have throughout the ages, print it to
> > nice, acid free paper, and store it appropriately. That will last at
> > least 200 years.
> >
> > I called the US trademark office and asked whether I could submit my
> > Ebooks' copyright specimens on paper in addition to electronically on CD.
> > They said yes, they prefer it that way, because paper stands the test of
> > time, and digital representations don't necessarily.
> >
> > I have handwritten journal pages from the mid 1970's, written in
> > ballpoint pen on cheap notebook paper, that are perfectly readable over
> > 30 years later. I dare you to read a magtape from 1975.
> >
> > If you have a lot of docs that must be archived, and space is a concern,
> > perhaps microfiche is the way to go. I'd guess that will last at least 30
> > years, always assuming they keep making microfiche readers.
> >
> > If you MUST go digital, I recommend plain text. In 1987, when I first
> > started making invoices for customers, I made a very savvy choice. All my
> > invoices, from 1987 through the present, have been plain text. Formatting
> > was done by inserting space characters. No tabs, which of course can be
> > redefined by the rendering software. If you absolutely must go digital
> > with data meant to survive a century, plain text is the way to do it. As
> > long as ASCII exists (or a codepage that maps to old ASCII), and as long
> > as I keep copying those invoices to media that can be read by newly
> > current technologies, my invoices will be readable.
> >
> > Personally, when I hear the words "PDF" and "archive" in the same
> > sentence, I become very skeptical.
> >
> > SteveT
> >
> > Steve Litt
> > Recession Relief Package
> > http://www.recession-relief.US
