Need help for acroread8

[bf]

--- On Mon, 3/16/09, Manish Jain <invalid.pointer at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Manish Jain <invalid.pointer at gmail.com>
> Subject: Need help for acroread8
> To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org, bf2006a at yahoo.com
> Date: Monday, March 16, 2009, 9:03 PM
> Hi all,
> 
> After browsing mailing lists for hours, I was finally able
> to install acroread8 on my FreeBSD 7.1R system. But it STILL
> does not start. Attached below is the output (repeated
> messages removed) :
> 
> > Gtk-Message: Failed to load module
> "gnomebreakpad":
> > libgnomebreakpad.so: cannot open shared object file:
> No such file or directory
> > 
> > (acroread:9218): GdkPixbuf-WARNING **: Cannot open
> pixbuf loader module file
> '/etc/gtk-2.0/gdk-pixbuf.loaders':
> > No such file or directory
> > 
> > (acroread:9218): GdkPixbuf-WARNING **: Error loading
> XPM image loader: Image type 'xpm' is not supported
> > 
> > (acroread:9218): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **:
> g_object_ref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
> > 
> > (acroread:9218): Gdk-CRITICAL **:
> gdk_window_set_icon_list: assertion `GDK_IS_PIXBUF
> (pixbuf)' failed
> > 
> > (acroread:9218): GdkPixbuf-CRITICAL **:
> gdk_pixbuf_get_width: assertion `pixbuf != NULL' failed
> > 
> > (acroread:9218): Pango-WARNING **: No builtin or
> dynamically loaded modules
> > were found. Pango will not work correctly. This
> probably means
> > there was an error in the creation of:
> >   '/etc/pango/pango.modules'
> > You may be able to recreate this file by running
> pango-querymodules.
> > 
> > (acroread:9218): Pango-CRITICAL **:
> _pango_engine_shape_shape: assertion `PANGO_IS_FONT
> (font)' failed
> > 
> > Pango-ERROR **: file shape.c: line 75 (pango_shape):
> assertion failed: (glyphs->num_glyphs > 0)
> > aborting...
> > 
> > [2]+  Exit 1                  acroread
> 
> My loader.conf has linux_load=YES, rc.conf has
> linux_enable=YES, linprocfs_enable=YES and fstab has an
> entry for linproc. I downloaded the latest ports tarball
> yesterday, did a 'portupgrade -rf
> emulators/linux_base-fc4', and [re]installed a number of
> ports (pango, linux-pango, cairo, linux-cairo, gdk-pixbuf,
> linux-gdk-pixbuf, pixman and may be a couple more). Then I
> installed acroread8.  But it still does not start, as you
> can from the message above.
> 
> Actually, there is at least one bug in the port as the
> message reveals. At runtime, acroread8 tries to look for
> /etc/pango/pango.modules, which - because of the port's
> linux heritage - translates to
> /compat/linux/etc/pango/pango.modules. This path is
> incorrect, at least with linux_base-fc4 - with which the
> correct  path turns out to be
> /compat/linux/etc/pango/i686-redhat-linux-gnu/pango.modules
> in my case. The user has to fix it with a symlink himself.
> 
> I am beginning to wonder why can't FreeBSD simply put
> on the distribution media binary packages for programs that
> almost everyone uses these days (thunderbird, acroread) and
> which take an immense amount of time/effort to build. The
> FreeBSD DVD is more than half empty and I am sure nobody
> would mind spending a couple of hours extra at download-time
> what possibly might save a couple of weeks and a whole lot
> of headaches at install-time.
> 
> Anyway, if anyone has any clue how to get me out of this
> acroread mess, I would be really grateful.
> 
> Thanks in advance
> Manish Jain
> invalid.pointer at gmail.com


The DVD is new. Until fairly recently, only CDs were built, and
so the people making the distribution were somewhat conservative
in their choice of software to include.  And with a big DVD
image both users and FreeBSD servers will have to cope with more
network traffic. Also, everyone has their own ideas about what
to include, and you can't satisfy everyone.  I have been using
FreeBSD for years now and I have never used any of the software
that you mention.

In this case, though, there is another constraint: the Adobe
software has a more restrictive license which forbids
redistribution, without going through the trouble of 
obtaining a Distribution License Agreement, renewing the
license, determining whether you are in complicance, etc, etc.
The FreeBSD project is generally opposed to using such software,
and in any case they don't want to be burdened with legal
rigmarole and expense.  So you should complain to Adobe (good
luck! ;) ) about this, not FreeBSD.  (If you do, you can tell
Adobe to get off their asses and build native FreeBSD binaries,
so that you won't have to jump through all these hoops.)

Have you examined your alternatives?  There are a number of other
PDF readers in Ports that don't have restrictive licenses, and
don't require Linux emulation, and will serve just as well except
perhaps on some very new PDF files with special features that
aren't all that commmon and may not work anyway:

1) print/ghostscript, either by itself, or with one of it's many front-ends:
print/gv
print/gspdf
print/gsview
...

2) a graphics/poppler based front-end:
graphics/epdfview
graphics/evince
...

3) graphics/xpdf

4) print/pdf-renderer

etc.

Likewise, there are many alternatives to Thunderbird.

To return to the acroread8 problem: as I've said, I don't use it
myself, so I can only make general comments.  First, you're sure
that you have all the prerequisites installed?  As someone
mentioned on the list, there seems to be a few bugs that force
you to install some by hand, and you may have missed some.
Run 'make all-depends-list' in the acroread and Linux emulation
port directories, and then check to see that you have everything
on the list. Second, have you skimmed through the package
messages to see if there is any post-installation configuration
required? Run 'pkg_info -aD' and read through the related
entries. Lastly, some of these Linux-related ports are aging,
and are due to be overhauled.  As someone said on the list,
there are a few upcoming changes, and they may solve your
problems, if you can wait.  If you're satisfied that you've done
everything that you are supposed to do and you still can't get
it to work, then contact the maintainer, hrs at FreeBSD.org, via
email, or file a PR using send-pr(1) or the web interface.

b.