BSD_10_2011.pdf - typical problem

[Warren Block]

On Wed, 26 Oct 2011, Polytropon wrote:

> On Tue, 25 Oct 2011 18:16:04 -0400 (EDT), Chuck Bacon wrote:
>> I often receive PDFs which die with gv.  I have just downloaded the
>> current copy of BSD_10_2011.pdf, with stats:
>> MD5 (BSD_10_2011.pdf) = 69c8b0be7c59870eb41e09b46fa568ba
>> -just so's you know.
>> This one causes gv to respond with:
>> Error: /syntaxerror in readxrefGNU Ghostscript 7.07: Unrecoverable
>> error, exit code .. etc.
>> Some PDFs come through OK, but about half fail, often with different
>> errors.  I'm running:
>> FreeBSD tomato.local 8.2-RELEASE-p3 FreeBSD 8.2-RELEASE-p3 #0: Tue Sep
>> 27 18:45:57 UTC
>> 2011  root at amd64-builder.daemonology.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC
>> amd64
>> on an ASUS MB and AMD64 4x CPU.  Any ideas?
>> As a retired sysadmin from the 1950s, I'm over my head but can't let go
>> :-)
>> So I need help sometimes :-(
>>     Many thanks - Chuck Bacon <crtb at cape.com>
>
> Yes, I sometimes see this behaviour with gv too.
> As I do not want to use heavyweight bloatware like
> that "Acrobat" reader, I use the xpdf program for
> the PDF files that don't work with gv. Maybe you
> try this program?

Updating ghostscript 7.07 to either 8 or 9 is also worth a try.