[Techtalk] Unreadable(?) pdf files

Fri Mar 11 18:05:19 UTC 2016

Thank you for the various suggestions.

LibreOffice prints the following output:

%PDF-1.2
%Γπ╧╙
4 0 obj
<<
/Type /Page
/Parent 2 0 R
/Contents 5 0 R
/MediaBox [0 0 596 842]
/Resources <<
/ProcSet [/PDF]
/XObject << /PS6 6 0 R >>
>>
/Annots [7 0 R ]
>>
endobj
5 0 obj
<<
/Filter [/LZWDecode ]
/Length 60
>>
stream
Ç

Okular shows the correct number of pages, each with a small graphic
which looks like a key and a piece of curled up paper, but nothing else.

pdftk with the dump-data option produces the following:

InfoKey: Creator
InfoValue: CorelDRAW Version 9.337
InfoKey: Title
InfoValue: AMCellVC.cdr
InfoKey: Author
InfoValue: David Sumbler
InfoKey: Producer
InfoValue: Corel PDF Engine Version 9.337
InfoKey: ModDate
InfoValue: D:20050719121450
InfoKey: CreationDate
InfoValue: D:20050719121450
NumberOfPages: 2

pdftk with no option, which should repair the file, works away for a
while and does not report any errors.  But the resulting file is just
like the original, and displays pages which are blank.

xpdf followed by the filename gives up with a segmentation fault,
producing the following output:

***** MediaBox = ll:0,0 ur:596,842
***** CropBox = ll:0,0 ur:596,842
***** Rotate = 0
cm 1 0 0 1 0 0
q
cm 1 0 0 1 0 0
Do /PS6
Q
***** Annotations
q
rg 1 1 1
m 3.602 24
l 20.398 24
c 22.387 24 24 22.387 24 20.398
l 24 3.602
c 24 1.613 22.387 0 20.398 0
l 3.602 0
c 1.613 0 0 1.613 0 3.602
l 0 20.398
c 0 22.387 1.613 24 3.602 24
h
m 3.602 24
f
RG 0.533333 0.541176 0.521569
w 2
J 1
j 1
d [] 0
M 4
m 9 18
l 4 18
c 4 7 4 4 6 3
l 20 3
c 18 4 18 7 18 18
l 17 18
S
w 1.5
j 0
m 10 16
l 14 21
S
w 1.85625
j 1
m 15.07 20.523
c 15.07 19.672 14.379 18.977 13.523 18.977
c 12.672 18.977 11.977 19.672 11.977 20.523
c 11.977 21.379 12.672 22.07 13.523 22.07
c 14.379 22.07 15.07 21.379 15.07 20.523
h
m 15.07 20.523
S
w 1
j 0
m 6.5 13.5
l 15.5 13.5
S
m 6.5 10.5
l 13.5 10.5
S
m 6.801 7.5
l 15.5 7.5
S
RG 0.729412 0.741176 0.713725
w 2
j 1
m 9 19
l 4 19
c 4 8 4 5 6 4
l 20 4
c 18 5 18 8 18 19
l 17 19
S
w 1.5
j 0
m 10 17
l 14 22
S
w 1.85625
j 1
m 15.07 21.523
c 15.07 20.672 14.379 19.977 13.523 19.977
c 12.672 19.977 11.977 20.672 11.977 21.523
c 11.977 22.379 12.672 23.07 13.523 23.07
c 14.379 23.07 15.07 22.379 15.07 21.523
h
m 15.07 21.523
S
w 1
j 0
m 6.5 14.5
l 15.5 14.5
S
m 6.5 11.5
l 13.5 11.5
S
m 6.801 8.5
l 15.5 8.5
S
Q
***** page 1 *****
***** MediaBox = ll:0,0 ur:596,842
***** CropBox = ll:0,0 ur:596,842
***** Rotate = 0
cm 1 0 0 1 0 0
q
cm 1 0 0 1 0 0
Do /PS6
Q
***** Annotations
q
rg 1 1 1
m 3.602 24
l 20.398 24
c 22.387 24 24 22.387 24 20.398
l 24 3.602
c 24 1.613 22.387 0 20.398 0
l 3.602 0
c 1.613 0 0 1.613 0 3.602
l 0 20.398
c 0 22.387 1.613 24 3.602 24
h
m 3.602 24
f
RG 0.533333 0.541176 0.521569
w 2
J 1
j 1
d [] 0
M 4
m 9 18
l 4 18
c 4 7 4 4 6 3
l 20 3
c 18 4 18 7 18 18
l 17 18
S
w 1.5
j 0
m 10 16
l 14 21
S
w 1.85625
j 1
m 15.07 20.523
c 15.07 19.672 14.379 18.977 13.523 18.977
c 12.672 18.977 11.977 19.672 11.977 20.523
c 11.977 21.379 12.672 22.07 13.523 22.07
c 14.379 22.07 15.07 21.379 15.07 20.523
h
m 15.07 20.523
S
w 1
j 0
m 6.5 13.5
l 15.5 13.5
S
m 6.5 10.5
l 13.5 10.5
S
m 6.801 7.5
l 15.5 7.5
S
RG 0.729412 0.741176 0.713725
w 2
j 1
m 9 19
l 4 19
c 4 8 4 5 6 4
l 20 4
c 18 5 18 8 18 19
l 17 19
S
w 1.5
j 0
m 10 17
l 14 22
S
w 1.85625
j 1
m 15.07 21.523
c 15.07 20.672 14.379 19.977 13.523 19.977
c 12.672 19.977 11.977 20.672 11.977 21.523
c 11.977 22.379 12.672 23.07 13.523 23.07
c 14.379 23.07 15.07 22.379 15.07 21.523
h
m 15.07 21.523
S
w 1
j 0
m 6.5 14.5
l 15.5 14.5
S
m 6.5 11.5
l 13.5 11.5
S
m 6.801 8.5
l 15.5 8.5
S
Q
Segmentation fault (core dumped)

The odd thing about all of this is that these files have been used in
the past both by me and by my (then) local print shop successfully to
produce published material.  It's very odd.

David

On Fri, 11 Mar 2016 12:31:58 +0000
David Sumbler <david at aeolia.co.uk> wrote:

> I have a rather old CD-R with a number of pdf files on it.
> 
> When I try to open any of these files with Adobe Acrobat 9, evince
> v.3.4.0 or Gimp v.2.6.12 I see what seems to be the appropriate number
> of pages, but all of them are blank.
> 
> If I open them with emacs, there is clearly a lot of data there.  In
> emacs, one of these files (chosen arbitrarily) begins like this:
> 
> %PDF-1.2
> %âãÏÓ
> 4 0 obj
> <<
> /Type /Page
> /Parent 2 0 R
> /Contents 5 0 R
> /MediaBox [0 0 596 842]
> /Resources <<
> /ProcSet [/PDF]
> /XObject << /PS6 6 0 R >>
> >>
> /Annots [7 0 R ]
> >>
> endobj
A
> /Length 60
> >>
> stream
> \200^LE\303^H$^P at 0\201\301F^PxL^TA^B\205B\341^P\250dP\306m
> 
> and so on for 100s of lines.
> 
> I have searched for ways of converting old pdf files to later
> versions, but (a) I haven't managed to find any, and (b) several
> sites suggest that Acrobat, at least, ought to be able to read files
> from earlier versions without conversion.
> 
> Can somebody think of a way of rescuing these files and converting
> them to something usable?
> 
> David
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Techtalk mailing list
> Techtalk at linuxchix.org
> http://mailman.linuxchix.org/mailman/listinfo/techtalk

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