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Building pdf2htmlEX

Because of its intimate use of specific versions of both Poppler and FontForge, cleanly building pdf2htmlEX is rather more complex than normal.

The (shell) scripts in this directory help automate this mutli-stage process.

For all but the most experienced programmers, we strongly encourage you to use these scripts to build pdf2htmlEX.

Table of contents

TL;DR ...

Downloading precompiled versions

For most users, you probably really want to simply download one of the precompiled versions of pdf2htmlEX:

  • Debian archive : Download, apt install locally, and run...

    This will work on any Debian based and most recent Windows 10 machines.

    Experienced users of Linux, may be able to repackage the *.deb we provide for use with their favourite package management tool.

  • AppImage : Download, make executable, and run...

    This will work on most Linuxes, and most recent Windows 10.

    (It will not currently work on MacOS or Alpine based machines).

  • OCI Image from the pdf2htmlEX Docker hub.

    This will work on any machine with an OCI Container system (such as Docker, Podman, CRI-O, Kubernetes) installed.

    (Note: that advanced use of pdf2htmlEX requires careful attention to the configuration of various tools, such as fontconfig, iconv and your locally available fonts use by the poppler and fontforge libraries. The OCI container images created by the pdf2htmlEX team might not be as well configured for your needs as an OCI container created and configured by you)

Building yourself

To build pdf2htmlEX on a Debian/Apt related machine, inside the root directory of a fresh clone of the pdf2htmlEX/pdf2htmlEX repository, type:

    ./buildScripts/buildInstallLocallyApt

This will automatically install all required development tools and libraries, and then proceed to download and statically compile the required versions of both Poppler and FontForge before compiling and installing pdf2htmlEX into /usr/local/bin.

NOTE: at the moment this will only work on machines with a Debian based distribution. such as Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc.

NOTE: there is currently an experimental build script, ./buildScripts/buildInstallLocallyAlpine, for builds in Alpine environments.

The problem

To provide its full functionality, the pdf2htmlEX sources make direct use of source code and unexposed methods from both the Poppler and FontForge projects. Unfortunately the source code in the Poppler and FontForge projects that the pdf2htmlEX uses changes regularly.

This means that the pdf2htmlEX souce code must be updated regularly to match specific releases of both Poppler and FontForge.

Unfortunately, the installed versions of both Poppler and FontForge in most Linux distributions, lag the official releases of both of these projects. Even worse few distributions install the same versions.

This means that it is nearly impossible for the pdf2htmlEX code to 'predict' which version of Poppler or FontForge will be installed on a given user's machine.

Our solution

While we could keep multiple versions of the pdf2htmlEX source code, each version matched to a particular distribution's installed versions of Poppler and FontForge, this would be a logistic and testing 'nightmare'.

Instead, when building pdf2htmlEX, we download specific versions of both the Poppler and FontForge sources (usually the most recent), and then compile static versions of the Poppler and FontForge libraries which are then statically linked into the pdf2htmlEX binary.

This means that the pdf2htmlEX binary is completely independent of any locally installed versions of either Poppler or FontForge.

However, to get the matched versions of Poppler and FontForge and then compile them statically, our build process becomes much more complex than a "simple", configure, make, make install cycle.

Hence this directory has a large number of shell scripts each of which automate one simple step in the overall our build process.

The gory details ...

The shell scripts in this directory automate the download, build, install, test and upload steps required to provide a complete build/test/release cycle of pdf2htmlEX.

Each script can be used individually to re-run a particular step if needed.

Top-level scripts

Typically, most users, will run one of the following "top-level" scripts:

  1. buildInstallLocallyApt (buildInstallLocallyAlpine)

    This will automate:

    1. the installation of all required development tools and libraries,

    2. download and statically compile the required versions of both Poppler and FontForge,

    3. compile and install pdf2htmlEX.

    The *Apt script will build on any machine which uses the apt/apt-get command.

    The *Alpine script will build on any machine which uses the apk command (Alpine).

  2. createImagesApt (createImagesAlpine)

    Following a successful buildInstallLocallyApt, the createImagesApt shell script will create the following images:

    1. AppImage

    2. OCI Container image

    3. Debian archive

    Following a successful buildInstallLocallyAlpine, the createImagesAlpine shell script will create the following images:

    1. Alpine tar file

    2. OCI Container image

  3. runTests

    Following a successful buildInstallLocallyApt (or buildInstallLocallyAlpine ), the runTests shell script will run the various 'local' tests reporting errors as they occur.

    When run in Travis-ci, failing browser tests will not fail the overall Travis build, but will instead upload the test results to the GitHub Release page for later review.

  4. uploadImages

    Following successful buildInstallLocally, createImages and runTests, this will automate the upload of the various artefacts to the pdf2htmlEX releases page, and docker hub repository.

    Note that this step requires the user to enter passwords for each of the respective services. Most users will not need (or be able) to run this step.

  5. travisLinuxDoItAll

    This script is used by the .travis.yml configuration to build, test and upload a complete pdf2htmlEX release cycle. It is essentially a compendium of all of the build scripts in the correct order.

Individual steps

  • buildFontforge: Compiles a static version of libfontforge for use by pdf2htmlEX.

    Statically linking libfontforge into phd2htmlEX ensures that any versions of FontForge already installed by the user, are not broken by the user's installation of pdf2htmlEX.

  • buildPdf2htmlEX: Compiles and links pdf2htmlEX.

  • buildPoppler: Compiles a static version of libpoppler and libpopper-glib for use by pdf2htmlEX.

    Statically linking libpoppler and libpoppler-glib into phd2htmlEX ensures that any versions of Poppler already installed by the user, are not broken by the user's installation of pdf2htmlEX.

  • createAlpineTarFile: Using an already compiled version of pdf2htmlEX, installs it and popper-data into a tar file suitable for use in any Alpine environment.

  • createAppImage: Using an already compiled version of pdf2htmlEX, installs it and popper-data into an AppImage.

  • createDebianPackage: Using an already compiled version of pdf2htmlEX, installs it and poppler-data into a Debian archive (*.deb).

  • createContainerAlpineImageFromTarFile: Installs the Alpine tar file archive of pdf2htmlEX created by createAlpineTarFile into an Alpine Container.

  • createContainerUbuntuImageFromDeb: Installs the Debian archive of pdf2htmlEX created by createDebianPackage into a Container.

  • getBuildToolsAlpine: Locally apk installs all development tools required to build pdf2htmlEX.

  • getBuildToolsApt: Locally apt installs all development tools required to build pdf2htmlEX.

  • getDevLibrariesAlpine: Locally apk installs all development libraries required to build pdf2htmlEX.

  • getDevLibrariesApt: Locally apt installs all development libraries required to build pdf2htmlEX.

    This script provides a definitive list of all libraries required to run pdf2htmlEX.

    This script provides a definitive list of all libraries required to run pdf2htmlEX.

  • getFontforge: Downloads and unpacks the version of FontForge specified in the FONTFORGE_VERSION environment variable into the pdf2htmlEX/fontoforge directory.

    The FONTFORGE_VERSION variable is specified in the versionEnvs script.

  • getPoppler: Downloads and unpacks the version of Poppler specified in the POPPLER_VERSION environment variable into the pdf2htmlEX/poppler directory.

    The POPPLER_VERSION variable is specified in the versionEnvs script.

    The getPoppler script also downloads and unpacks the most recent version of poppler-data. Since poppler-data does not change very often, the correct version of poppler-data is specified in the getPoppler script itself.

  • installPdf2htmlEX: Installs an already compiled version of pdf2htmlEX and poppler-data into the location specified by the PDF2HTMLEX_PREFIX environment variable.

    The PDF2HTMLEX_PREFIX variable is specified in the versionEnvs script.

  • runTests: Runs the tests located in the pdf2htmlEX/pdf2htmlEX/test directory. See the pdf2htmlEX/pdf2htmlEx/test directory's Readme file for details.

  • uploadContainerImage: Upload the pdf2htmlEX Container image to Docker hub repository associated to the docker hub users specified in the DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME environement variable.

    Unless the DOCKER_HUB_USERNAME and DOCKER_HUB_PASSWORD environment variables are pre-defined, this script will prompt the user for the respective values.

  • uploadGitHubRelease: Upload the pdf2htmlEX artefacts (AppImage, Debian archive, test results, etc) to the continuous section of the release page associated with the TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG (user/project) environment variable.

    Unless the GITHUB_USERNAME, GITHUB_TOKEN, and TRAVIS_REPO_SLUG (user/project) environment variables are pre-defined, this script will prompt the user for the respective values.

Helper files and scripts

  • versionEnvs: Specifies all of the evnironment variables required for a standard build of pdf2htmlEX. Changes in this script effect all of the other build scripts.

  • reSourceVersionEnvs: This shell script is automatically generated by the build scripts as they are run. It records the values of all important environment variables required by the buildScripts. It is typcically sourced by each script before it preforms any actions.

  • reportEnvs: Echos all important enviroment variables to the console. This script is used by the top-level scripts to ensure the current environment variables are listed before each build.

  • uploadGitHubReleaseDSL: A collection of shell functions used by the uploadGitHubRelease script to automate the upload of release artefacts.

  • uploadGitHubReleaseMessage: The contents of this text file is used by the uploadGitHubRelease script as the contents of the release message, as visible to the user, for the 'continuous' release section.

  • listFilesByChangeTime: A simple shell script which lists the files in the buildScripts directory by most recently changed files first.

  • Readme.md: This read me file.

Yet more details?

The various shell script files are meant to be fairly readable. They contain additional comments about what each step is meant to be doing.