[OS X TeX] pdf 1.4 vs 1.5

[Felix Grasser]

Will Robertson wrote:

> On 4 May 2004, at 12:24, Themis Matsoukas wrote:
>
>> <pdf error>
>>
>> The figure in question is a pdf produced by a scanner. The pdf is 
>> opened without complains by TeXshop and by Preview.  Interestingly, 
>> after I manually edited the first line of the pdf to read %PDF-1.4, 
>> it was processed by pdflatex without complains. Is there a conflict 
>> of versions between tetex and pdf?
>>
>
> Hi Themis
>
> Yeah, pdftex was designed at version 1.4 (I think) of the PDF spec. As 
> a safety net it doesn't allow PDF1.5 documents just in case they 
> contain some of the new features that it wouldn't understand. In 
> general, though, the will be no difference between PDF files of all 
> versions if the documents are fairly simple.
>
> There is a flag you can set to ignore the error, but I can't remember 
> what it is. Manually editing the file works fine if you don't have to 
> do it lots :)
>
> Will
>
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Please see <http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/> for list
> guidelines, information, and LaTeX/TeX resources.
>
>
>
Hi Themis,

the following workaround is based on a windows Miktex machine, but I 
have implemented it at home on my mac as well. You will just have to 
locate the corresponding file in the tetex hierarchy.

Add the line "pdf_minorversion 5" to the file 
"...\texmf\pdftex\config\pdftex.cfg" (substitute path with applicable 
path on mac). The compilation should execute without error. Not that the 
pdf file generated is still the same but the number accessible in 
"document properties" in acrobat is now 1.5 instead of 1.4.

You can find more info at the below websites:
http://www.tug.org/pipermail/tex-live/2003-October/004654.html
http://www.tug.org/applications/pdftex/NEWS

Hope this helps

Felix
-----------------------------------------------------
Please see <http://www.esm.psu.edu/mac-tex/> for list
guidelines, information, and LaTeX/TeX resources.