jamesstevens/pdftk-binary repository overview

⁠pdftk-binary

This is a complete binary package of pdftk v2.02 built on Slackware v14.2, which includes all the dynamic link libraries it needs to run, all contained in a chroot - kinda like a poor man's container - so it should be able to run on any Linux platform. Although I've only tested it on Alpine v3.12.

When you run it, copy all the files you want pdftk to process into /usr/local/tmp, but then their path names must be given to pdftk as /tmp/[your-file]

e.g. /usr/local/tmp/input.pdf is specified to pdftk as /tmp/input.pdf

I only use pdftk for merging an XML file of data fields into a PDF input form, so that's the only thing I have tested.

The pdftk wrapper provided will copy the files into /usr/local/tmp for you, but only works for the XML & form merge.

⁠Containter

If you prefer a proper docker container, its also there. I tested it with the form merge I use, but nothing else

Run ./dkmk to make the container, copy your files into /usr/local/tmp, then run ./dkrun with the pdftk parameters you want, treating /usr/local/tmp as /tmp. That is /usr/local/tmp/input.xml is specified to pdfktk as /tmp/input.xml

$ cp input.xml invoice.pdf /usr/local/tmp/
$ ./dkrun /tmp/invoice.pdf fill_form /tmp/input.xml output - flatten > merged.pdf

By outputting to stdout I don't have to be concerned about getting the output file out again.

⁠Install

The install script (run sudo ./install) will copy the chroot to /usr/local/chroot-pdftk, so you can now run pdftk with

sudo chroot /usr/local/chroot-pdftk /bin/pdftk

It will also compile & copy the binary pdftk-wrap into /usr/local/bin and grant it chroot permission.

My wrapper script, called pdftk is copied into /usr/local/bin. The only purpose of the shell wrapper is to copy the files to be processed into the chroot /tmp/ directory.

The install script will also mount --bind /usr/local/tmp into /usr/local/chroot-pdftk/tmp so you can share files with the chroot environment. The container uses the same directory.

⁠Permissions

You must have root priviledges to run the install, becuase the package relies on chroot which is a priviledged operation.

The binary wrapper pdftk-wrap is granted chroot permission during install, but you need root permission to grant permission!

The chroot directory also requires that /proc is mounted at /usr/local/chroot-pdftk/proc, so this is also done during the install.

However, once the install has been run, pdftk-wrap can be run by an ordinary user, and appears to operate just like pdftk.

⁠License

The LICENSE file in this repo applies to my code only. For the License terms for pdftk and the Slackware binaries, please refer to their respective websites

http://www.slackware.com/

https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/

pdftk 2.02 a Handy Tool for Manipulating PDF Documents
Copyright (c) 2003-13 Steward and Lee, LLC - Please Visit: www.pdftk.com
This is free software; see the source code for copying conditions. There is
NO warranty, not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.