Re-packaging the Adobe Reader RPM

(for newer Fedora and RHEL >=8 releases)

Adobe Reader for Linux is no longer supported by Adobe. Acrobat Reader 9.5.5 was the last version released back in April, 2013.

Unfortunately trying to install AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm on newer Fedora or RHEL releases results in unsatisfied dependencies.

RHEL 9 missing dependencies :

$ sudo dnf install ./AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm
Error: 
 Problem: conflicting requests
  - nothing provides /bin/basename needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486
  - nothing provides libidn.so.11 needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486
  - nothing provides libpangox-1.0.so.0 needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486

Fedora 40 missing dependencies :

$ sudo dnf install ./AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm 
Error: 
 Problem: conflicting requests
  - nothing provides /bin/basename needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline
  - nothing provides /bin/cat needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline
  - nothing provides /bin/chmod needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline
  - nothing provides /bin/echo needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline
  - nothing provides /bin/ln needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline
  - nothing provides /bin/rm needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline
  - nothing provides /bin/touch needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline
  - nothing provides libpangox-1.0.so.0 needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486 from @commandline

Bug fixes and enhancements

The new AdobeReader binary RPM that is generated from the instructions in the following sections has a number of fixes and enhancements compared to the original RPM:

• Unsatisfied /bin/basename, /bin/cat, /bin/chmod, /bin/echo, /bin/ln, /bin/rm and /bin/touch Requires dependencies have been replaced with coreutils.

• Unsatisfied libidn.so.11 and libpangox-1.0.so.0 Requires dependencies are no longer an issue due to the missing library files now being bundled into the new RPM and are located in /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/lib/.

  • The missing libidn.so.11 is extracted from a CentOS 8 libidn i686 RPM (libidn-1.34-5.el8.i686.rpm). Although libidn.so.11 is not strictly required to have been included in the new AdobeReader RPM for Fedora and RHEL 8, the generated RPM will also be compatible with RHEL 9.
  • The missing libpangox-1.0.so.0 is extracted from a Fedora 31 pangox-compat i686 RPM (pangox-compat-0.0.2-15.fc31.i686.rpm). pangox-compat RPM is used because the main pango RPM hasn't provided the obsolete libpangox library since Fedora 17.

• Recommends dependencies added for packages that suppress Gtk-Message runtime warnings. (Note: any Recommends dependency which can no longer be satisfied on a newer Fedora or RHEL release because the i686 package no longer exists is automatically ignored, so unfortunately may have to live with some runtime warnings)

• Filtered automatically generated requires and provides for bundled library files so that only requires dependencies for external libraries are kept. /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/lib/ where the bundled library files are installed is exclusive to the AdobeReader RPM, so should not be used to satisfy the dependencies of any other RPM.

• Removed Netscape NPAPI based PDF plug-in as it is not supported by any modern web-browser.

• Use /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/ directory instead of legacy /etc/bash_completion.d/ for the symlink to the acroread_tab file.

• Renamed _filedir function to _acroread_filedir in the acroread_tab file to avoid potential bash-completion name clash issues. e.g. Fedora Bugzilla# 2070852

• Clear the execstack flag from the libcrypto.so.0.9.8 and libsccore.so bundled library files rather than rely on an old execstack exception SElinux policy for acroread. Fedora Bugzilla# 630217, SElinux error report states there is no reason acroread should be attempting to make its stack executable as it is a potential security issue. The suggestion from that bug report is used to clear the execstack flag from the bundled library files that have it set.

• The original RPM in its %post scriptlet uses xdg-desktop-icon, xdg-desktop-menu, xdg-icon-resource and xdg-mimeto install the following files :

  • /root/Desktop/AdobeReader.desktop
  • /usr/local/share/applications/AdobeReader.desktop
  • /usr/local/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache
  • /usr/local/share/applications/defaults.list
  • /usr/share/icons/hicolor/*x*/apps/*.png
  • /usr/share/icons/hicolor/*x*/mimetype/application-*.png
  • /usr/share/mime/packages/AdobeReader.xml

  The above files are not "owned" by the original RPM, e.g. rpm -ql AdobeReader_enu does not list any of those files.

  Instead, the new RPM creates symlinks that are "owned" by the new RPM using the %ghost directive and nothing is installed under either /root/Desktop/ or /usr/local/share/applications/ directories.

• Has option to not include problematic Internet Access Plug-in (EFS.api) in the RPM that is built. See top of AdobeReader.spec file for more details.

Prerequisites

Install prerequisite packages with:

sudo dnf install rpmdevtools git execstack

Create directories for RPM building under your home directory

To build RPMs with an unprivileged user, create a directory structure under your home directory with the following command :

rpmdev-setuptree

Which results in the following directory structure under your home directory:

rpmbuild/
├── BUILD/
├── RPMS/
├── SOURCES/
├── SPECS/
└── SRPMS/

Fetch files, extract library files and copy to rpmbuild sub-directories

git clone https://github.com/eait-cups-printing/adobe-reader-rpm.git
cd adobe-reader-rpm/
cp -p AdobeReader.spec ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/

curl -O ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm
curl -O https://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/fedora/linux/releases/31/Everything/x86_64/os/Packages/p/pangox-compat-0.0.2-15.fc31.i686.rpm
curl -O https://vault.centos.org/8.5.2111/AppStream/x86_64/os/Packages/libidn-1.34-5.el8.i686.rpm

cp -p AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES/

rpm2cpio libidn-1.34-5.el8.i686.rpm | cpio -idm
cp -p usr/lib/libidn.so.11.6.18 ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES/

rpm2cpio pangox-compat-0.0.2-15.fc31.i686.rpm | cpio -idm
cp -p usr/lib/libpangox-1.0.so.0.0.0 ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES/

Build the new AdobeReader-9.5.5-2.i686.rpm binary RPM

cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/
rpmbuild --target i686 -ba AdobeReader.spec

Install the new AdobeReader-9.5.5-2.i686.rpm binary RPM

sudo dnf install ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/i686/AdobeReader-9.5.5-2.i686.rpm

If you encounter a "nothing provides libgdk_pixbuf_xlib-2.0.so.0" error, then you will need to enable a PowerTools/CRB "CodeReady Builder" repository which contains the missing gdk-pixbuf2-xlib i686 RPM:

CentOS 9 Stream, Alma Linux 9, Rocky Linux 9

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb

RedHat Enterprise Linux 9

sudo dnf config-manager --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms

CentOS 8 Stream, Alma Linux 8, Rocky Linux 8

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools

RedHat Enterprise Linux 8

sudo dnf config-manager --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms

cups-filters pdf2ps filter

cups-filters 1.x includes a pdf2ps filter that can be configured at build time to use Adobe Reader to convert PDF to PostScript with the --with-pdftops=acroread configure switch.

Similarily with cups-filters 2.x, libppd can be configured with the --with-pdftops=acroread configure switch.

Alternatively, the following can be done on a per printer basis to use acroread for the PDF to PostScript conversion:

lpadmin -p printer -o pdftops-renderer-default=acroread

and similarily the following can be done to remove it:

lpadmin -p printer -R pdftops-renderer-default

Adobe Reader seems to have fewer problems ingesting PDFs sent to the print server and the generated PostScript has few problems with clone PostScript interpreters on printers.