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.

eait-cups-printing / adobe-reader-rpm