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TODO.md
| @@ -21,105 +21,85 @@ Contents | @@ -21,105 +21,85 @@ Contents | ||
| 21 | Always | 21 | Always |
| 22 | ====== | 22 | ====== |
| 23 | 23 | ||
| 24 | -* Evaluate issues tagged with `next` and `bug`. Remember to check | ||
| 25 | - discussions and pull requests in addition to regular issues. | ||
| 26 | -* When close to release, make sure external-libs is building and | ||
| 27 | - follow instructions in ../external-libs/README | 24 | +* Evaluate issues tagged with `next` and `bug`. Remember to check discussions and pull requests in |
| 25 | + addition to regular issues. | ||
| 26 | +* When close to release, make sure external-libs is building and follow instructions in | ||
| 27 | + ../external-libs/README | ||
| 28 | 28 | ||
| 29 | Next | 29 | Next |
| 30 | ==== | 30 | ==== |
| 31 | 31 | ||
| 32 | -* Fix #874 -- make args in --encrypt to match the json and make | ||
| 33 | - positional fill in the gaps | 32 | +* Fix #874 -- make args in --encrypt to match the json and make positional fill in the gaps |
| 34 | * Maybe fix #553 -- use file times for attachments | 33 | * Maybe fix #553 -- use file times for attachments |
| 35 | * std::string_view transition -- work being done by m-holger | 34 | * std::string_view transition -- work being done by m-holger |
| 36 | -* Break ground on "Document-level work" -- TODO-pages.md lives on a | ||
| 37 | - separate branch. | ||
| 38 | -* Standard for CLI and Job JSON support for JSON-based command-line | ||
| 39 | - arguments. Come up with a standard way of supporting command-line | ||
| 40 | - arguments that take JSON specifications of things so that | ||
| 41 | - * there is a predictable way to indicate whether an argument is a | ||
| 42 | - file or a JSON blob | ||
| 43 | - * with QPDFJob JSON, make sure it is possible to directly include | ||
| 44 | - the JSON rather than having to stringify a JSON blob | ||
| 45 | - * One option might be to prepend file:// to a filename or otherwise | ||
| 46 | - to take a JSON blob. We could have that as a particular type of | ||
| 47 | - argument that would behave properly for both job JSON and CLI. | ||
| 48 | - | 35 | +* Break ground on "Document-level work" -- TODO-pages.md lives on a separate branch. |
| 36 | +* Standard for CLI and Job JSON support for JSON-based command-line arguments. Come up with a | ||
| 37 | + standard way of supporting command-line arguments that take JSON specifications of things so that | ||
| 38 | + * there is a predictable way to indicate whether an argument is a file or a JSON blob | ||
| 39 | + * with QPDFJob JSON, make sure it is possible to directly include the JSON rather than having to | ||
| 40 | + stringify a JSON blob | ||
| 41 | + * One option might be to prepend file:// to a filename or otherwise to take a JSON blob. We could | ||
| 42 | + have that as a particular type of argument that would behave properly for both job JSON and CLI. | ||
| 49 | 43 | ||
| 50 | Possible future JSON enhancements | 44 | Possible future JSON enhancements |
| 51 | ================================= | 45 | ================================= |
| 52 | 46 | ||
| 53 | -* Consider not including unreferenced objects and trimming the trailer | ||
| 54 | - in the same way that QPDFWriter does (except don't remove `/ID`). | ||
| 55 | - This means excluding the linearization dictionary and hint stream, | ||
| 56 | - the encryption dictionary, all keys from trailer that are removed by | ||
| 57 | - QPDFWriter::getTrimmedTrailer except `/ID`, any object streams, and | ||
| 58 | - the xref stream as long as all those objects are unreferenced. (They | ||
| 59 | - always should be, but there could be some bizarre case of someone | ||
| 60 | - creating a PDF file that has an indirect reference to one of those, | ||
| 61 | - in which case we need to preserve it.) If this is done, make | ||
| 62 | - `--preserve-unreferenced` preserve unreference objects and also | ||
| 63 | - those extra keys. Search for "linear" and "trailer" in json.rst to | ||
| 64 | - update the various places in the documentation that discuss this. | ||
| 65 | - Also update the help for --json and --preserve-unreferenced. | ||
| 66 | - | ||
| 67 | -* Add to JSON output the information available from a few additional | ||
| 68 | - informational options: | 47 | +* Consider not including unreferenced objects and trimming the trailer in the same way that |
| 48 | + QPDFWriter does (except don't remove `/ID`). This means excluding the linearization dictionary and | ||
| 49 | + hint stream, the encryption dictionary, all keys from trailer that are removed by QPDFWriter:: | ||
| 50 | + getTrimmedTrailer except `/ID`, any object streams, and the xref stream as long as all those | ||
| 51 | + objects are unreferenced. (They always should be, but there could be some bizarre case of someone | ||
| 52 | + creating a PDF file that has an indirect reference to one of those, in which case we need to | ||
| 53 | + preserve it.) If this is done, make | ||
| 54 | + `--preserve-unreferenced` preserve unreference objects and also those extra keys. Search for " | ||
| 55 | + linear" and "trailer" in json.rst to update the various places in the documentation that discuss | ||
| 56 | + this. Also update the help for --json and --preserve-unreferenced. | ||
| 57 | + | ||
| 58 | +* Add to JSON output the information available from a few additional informational options: | ||
| 69 | 59 | ||
| 70 | * --check: add but maybe not by default? | 60 | * --check: add but maybe not by default? |
| 71 | 61 | ||
| 72 | - * --show-linearization: add but maybe not by default? Also figure | ||
| 73 | - out whether warnings reported for some of the PDF specs (1.7) are | ||
| 74 | - qpdf problems. This may not be worth adding in the first | 62 | + * --show-linearization: add but maybe not by default? Also figure out whether warnings reported |
| 63 | + for some of the PDF specs (1.7) are qpdf problems. This may not be worth adding in the first | ||
| 75 | increment. | 64 | increment. |
| 76 | 65 | ||
| 77 | * --show-xref: add | 66 | * --show-xref: add |
| 78 | 67 | ||
| 79 | -* Consider having --check, --show-encryption, etc., just select the | ||
| 80 | - right keys when in json mode. I don't think I want check on by | ||
| 81 | - default, so that might be different. | 68 | +* Consider having --check, --show-encryption, etc., just select the right keys when in json mode. I |
| 69 | + don't think I want check on by default, so that might be different. | ||
| 82 | 70 | ||
| 83 | -* Consider having warnings be included in the json in a "warnings" key | ||
| 84 | - in json mode. | 71 | +* Consider having warnings be included in the json in a "warnings" key in json mode. |
| 85 | 72 | ||
| 86 | QPDFJob | 73 | QPDFJob |
| 87 | ======= | 74 | ======= |
| 88 | 75 | ||
| 89 | -Here are some ideas for QPDFJob that didn't make it into 10.6. Not all | ||
| 90 | -of these are necessarily good -- just things to consider. | ||
| 91 | - | ||
| 92 | -* How do we chain jobs? The idea would be that the input and/or output | ||
| 93 | - of a QPDFJob could be a QPDF object rather than a file. For input, | ||
| 94 | - it's pretty easy. For output, none of the output-specific options | ||
| 95 | - (encrypt, compress-streams, objects-streams, etc.) would have any | ||
| 96 | - affect, so we would have to treat this like inspect for error | ||
| 97 | - checking. The QPDF object in the state where it's ready to be sent | ||
| 98 | - off to QPDFWriter would be used as the input to the next QPDFJob. | ||
| 99 | - For the job json, I think we can have the output be an identifier | ||
| 100 | - that can be used as the input for another QPDFJob. For a json file, | ||
| 101 | - we could the top level detect if it's an array with the convention | ||
| 102 | - that exactly one has an output, or we could have a subkey with other | ||
| 103 | - job definitions or something. Ideally, any input | ||
| 104 | - (copy-attachments-from, pages, etc.) could use a QPDF object. It | ||
| 105 | - wouldn't surprise me if this exposes bugs in qpdf around foreign | ||
| 106 | - streams as this has been a relatively fragile area before. | 76 | +Here are some ideas for QPDFJob that didn't make it into 10.6. Not all of these are necessarily |
| 77 | +good -- just things to consider. | ||
| 78 | + | ||
| 79 | +* How do we chain jobs? The idea would be that the input and/or output of a QPDFJob could be a QPDF | ||
| 80 | + object rather than a file. For input, it's pretty easy. For output, none of the output-specific | ||
| 81 | + options | ||
| 82 | + (encrypt, compress-streams, objects-streams, etc.) would have any affect, so we would have to | ||
| 83 | + treat this like inspect for error checking. The QPDF object in the state where it's ready to be | ||
| 84 | + sent off to QPDFWriter would be used as the input to the next QPDFJob. For the job json, I think | ||
| 85 | + we can have the output be an identifier that can be used as the input for another QPDFJob. For a | ||
| 86 | + json file, we could the top level detect if it's an array with the convention that exactly one has | ||
| 87 | + an output, or we could have a subkey with other job definitions or something. Ideally, any input | ||
| 88 | + (copy-attachments-from, pages, etc.) could use a QPDF object. It wouldn't surprise me if this | ||
| 89 | + exposes bugs in qpdf around foreign streams as this has been a relatively fragile area before. | ||
| 107 | 90 | ||
| 108 | Documentation | 91 | Documentation |
| 109 | ============= | 92 | ============= |
| 110 | 93 | ||
| 111 | * Do a full pass through the documentation. | 94 | * Do a full pass through the documentation. |
| 112 | 95 | ||
| 113 | - * Make sure `qpdf` is consistent. Use QPDF when just referring to | ||
| 114 | - the package. | 96 | + * Make sure `qpdf` is consistent. Use QPDF when just referring to the package. |
| 115 | * Make sure markup is consistent | 97 | * Make sure markup is consistent |
| 116 | * Autogenerate where possible | 98 | * Autogenerate where possible |
| 117 | - * Consider which parts might be good candidates for moving to the | ||
| 118 | - wiki. | 99 | + * Consider which parts might be good candidates for moving to the wiki. |
| 119 | 100 | ||
| 120 | -* Commit 'Manual - enable line wrapping in table cells' from | ||
| 121 | - Mon Jan 17 12:22:35 2022 +0000 enables table cell wrapping. See if | ||
| 122 | - this can be incorporated directly into sphinx_rtd_theme and the | 101 | +* Commit 'Manual - enable line wrapping in table cells' from Mon Jan 17 12:22:35 2022 +0000 enables |
| 102 | + table cell wrapping. See if this can be incorporated directly into sphinx_rtd_theme and the | ||
| 123 | workaround can be removed. | 103 | workaround can be removed. |
| 124 | 104 | ||
| 125 | * When possible, update the debian package to include docs again. See | 105 | * When possible, update the debian package to include docs again. See |
| @@ -130,76 +110,62 @@ Document-level work | @@ -130,76 +110,62 @@ Document-level work | ||
| 130 | 110 | ||
| 131 | * Ideas here may by superseded by #593. | 111 | * Ideas here may by superseded by #593. |
| 132 | 112 | ||
| 133 | -* QPDFPageCopier -- object for moving pages around within files or | ||
| 134 | - between files and performing various transformations. Reread/rewrite | 113 | +* QPDFPageCopier -- object for moving pages around within files or between files and performing |
| 114 | + various transformations. Reread/rewrite | ||
| 135 | _page-selection in the manual if needed. | 115 | _page-selection in the manual if needed. |
| 136 | 116 | ||
| 137 | * Handle all the stuff of pages and split-pages | 117 | * Handle all the stuff of pages and split-pages |
| 138 | * Do n-up, booklet, collation | 118 | * Do n-up, booklet, collation |
| 139 | * Look through cli and see what else...flatten-*? | 119 | * Look through cli and see what else...flatten-*? |
| 140 | - * See comments in QPDFPageDocumentHelper.hh for addPage -- search | ||
| 141 | - for "a future version". | 120 | + * See comments in QPDFPageDocumentHelper.hh for addPage -- search for "a future version". |
| 142 | * Make it efficient for bulk operations | 121 | * Make it efficient for bulk operations |
| 143 | * Make certain doc-level features selectable | 122 | * Make certain doc-level features selectable |
| 144 | - * qpdf.cc should do all its page operations, including | ||
| 145 | - overlay/underlay, splitting, and merging, using this | 123 | + * qpdf.cc should do all its page operations, including overlay/underlay, splitting, and merging, |
| 124 | + using this | ||
| 146 | * There should also be example code | 125 | * There should also be example code |
| 147 | 126 | ||
| 148 | -* After doc-level checks are in, call --check on the output files in | ||
| 149 | - the "Copy Annotations" tests. | 127 | +* After doc-level checks are in, call --check on the output files in the "Copy Annotations" tests. |
| 150 | 128 | ||
| 151 | -* Document-level checks. For example, for forms, make sure all form | ||
| 152 | - fields point to an annotation on exactly one page as well as that | ||
| 153 | - all widget annotations are associated with a form field. Hook this | ||
| 154 | - into QPDFPageCopier as well as the doc helpers. Make sure it is | ||
| 155 | - called from --check. | 129 | +* Document-level checks. For example, for forms, make sure all form fields point to an annotation on |
| 130 | + exactly one page as well as that all widget annotations are associated with a form field. Hook | ||
| 131 | + this into QPDFPageCopier as well as the doc helpers. Make sure it is called from --check. | ||
| 156 | 132 | ||
| 157 | * See also issues tagged with "pages". Include closed issues. | 133 | * See also issues tagged with "pages". Include closed issues. |
| 158 | 134 | ||
| 159 | -* Add flags to CLI to select which document-level options to | ||
| 160 | - preserve or not preserve. We will probably need a pair of mutually | ||
| 161 | - exclusive, repeatable options with a way to specify all, none, only | ||
| 162 | - {x,y}, or all but {x,y}. | 135 | +* Add flags to CLI to select which document-level options to preserve or not preserve. We will |
| 136 | + probably need a pair of mutually exclusive, repeatable options with a way to specify all, none, | ||
| 137 | + only {x,y}, or all but {x,y}. | ||
| 163 | 138 | ||
| 164 | -* If a page contains a reference a file attachment annotation, when | ||
| 165 | - that page is copied, if the file attachment appears in the top-level | ||
| 166 | - EmbeddedFiles tree, that entry should be preserved in the | ||
| 167 | - destination file. Otherwise, we probably will require the use of | ||
| 168 | - --copy-attachments-from to preserve these. What will the strategy be | ||
| 169 | - for deduplicating in the automatic case? | 139 | +* If a page contains a reference a file attachment annotation, when that page is copied, if the file |
| 140 | + attachment appears in the top-level EmbeddedFiles tree, that entry should be preserved in the | ||
| 141 | + destination file. Otherwise, we probably will require the use of --copy-attachments-from to | ||
| 142 | + preserve these. What will the strategy be for deduplicating in the automatic case? | ||
| 170 | 143 | ||
| 171 | Text Appearance Streams | 144 | Text Appearance Streams |
| 172 | ======================= | 145 | ======================= |
| 173 | 146 | ||
| 174 | -This is a list of known issues with text appearance streams and things | ||
| 175 | -we might do about it. | ||
| 176 | - | ||
| 177 | -* For variable text, the spec says to pull any resources from /DR that | ||
| 178 | - are referenced in /DA but if the resource dictionary already has | ||
| 179 | - that resource, just use the one that's there. The current code looks | ||
| 180 | - only for /Tf and adds it if needed. We might want to instead merge | ||
| 181 | - /DR with resources and then remove anything that's unreferenced. We | ||
| 182 | - have all the code required for that in ResourceFinder except | ||
| 183 | - TfFinder also gets the font size, which ResourceFinder doesn't do. | ||
| 184 | - | ||
| 185 | -* There are things we are missing because we don't look at font | ||
| 186 | - metrics. The code from TextBuilder (work) has almost everything in | ||
| 187 | - it that is required. Once we have knowledge of character widths, we | ||
| 188 | - can support quadding and multiline text fields (/Ff 4096), and we | ||
| 189 | - can potentially squeeze text to fit into a field. For multiline, | ||
| 190 | - first squeeze vertically down to the font height, then squeeze | ||
| 191 | - horizontally with Tz. For single line, squeeze horizontally with Tz. | ||
| 192 | - If we use Tz, issue a warning. | ||
| 193 | - | ||
| 194 | -* When mapping characters to widths, we will need to care about | ||
| 195 | - character encoding. For built-in fonts, we can create a map from | ||
| 196 | - Unicode code point to width and then go from the font's encoding to | ||
| 197 | - unicode to the width. See misc/character-encoding/ (not on github) | ||
| 198 | - and font metric information for the 14 standard fonts in my local | ||
| 199 | - pdf-spec directory. | ||
| 200 | - | ||
| 201 | -* Once we know about character widths, we can correctly support | ||
| 202 | - auto-sized variable text fields (0 Tf). If this is fixed, search for | 147 | +This is a list of known issues with text appearance streams and things we might do about it. |
| 148 | + | ||
| 149 | +* For variable text, the spec says to pull any resources from /DR that are referenced in /DA but if | ||
| 150 | + the resource dictionary already has that resource, just use the one that's there. The current code | ||
| 151 | + looks only for /Tf and adds it if needed. We might want to instead merge /DR with resources and | ||
| 152 | + then remove anything that's unreferenced. We have all the code required for that in ResourceFinder | ||
| 153 | + except TfFinder also gets the font size, which ResourceFinder doesn't do. | ||
| 154 | + | ||
| 155 | +* There are things we are missing because we don't look at font metrics. The code from TextBuilder ( | ||
| 156 | + work) has almost everything in it that is required. Once we have knowledge of character widths, we | ||
| 157 | + can support quadding and multiline text fields (/Ff 4096), and we can potentially squeeze text to | ||
| 158 | + fit into a field. For multiline, first squeeze vertically down to the font height, then squeeze | ||
| 159 | + horizontally with Tz. For single line, squeeze horizontally with Tz. If we use Tz, issue a | ||
| 160 | + warning. | ||
| 161 | + | ||
| 162 | +* When mapping characters to widths, we will need to care about character encoding. For built-in | ||
| 163 | + fonts, we can create a map from Unicode code point to width and then go from the font's encoding | ||
| 164 | + to unicode to the width. See misc/character-encoding/ (not on github) | ||
| 165 | + and font metric information for the 14 standard fonts in my local pdf-spec directory. | ||
| 166 | + | ||
| 167 | +* Once we know about character widths, we can correctly support auto-sized variable text fields (0 | ||
| 168 | + Tf). If this is fixed, search for | ||
| 203 | "auto-sized" in cli.rst. | 169 | "auto-sized" in cli.rst. |
| 204 | 170 | ||
| 205 | Fuzz Errors | 171 | Fuzz Errors |
| @@ -215,367 +181,297 @@ External Libraries | @@ -215,367 +181,297 @@ External Libraries | ||
| 215 | 181 | ||
| 216 | Current state (10.0.2): | 182 | Current state (10.0.2): |
| 217 | 183 | ||
| 218 | -* qpdf/external-libs repository builds external-libs on a schedule. | ||
| 219 | - It detects and downloads the latest versions of zlib, jpeg, and | ||
| 220 | - openssl and creates source and binary distribution zip files in an | ||
| 221 | - artifact called "distribution". | 184 | +* qpdf/external-libs repository builds external-libs on a schedule. It detects and downloads the |
| 185 | + latest versions of zlib, jpeg, and openssl and creates source and binary distribution zip files in | ||
| 186 | + an artifact called "distribution". | ||
| 222 | 187 | ||
| 223 | -* Releases in qpdf/external-libs are made manually. They contain | ||
| 224 | - qpdf-external-libs-{bin,src}.zip. | 188 | +* Releases in qpdf/external-libs are made manually. They contain qpdf-external-libs-{bin,src}.zip. |
| 225 | 189 | ||
| 226 | -* The qpdf build finds the latest non-prerelease release and downloads | ||
| 227 | - the qpdf-external-libs-*.zip files from the releases in the setup | ||
| 228 | - stage. | 190 | +* The qpdf build finds the latest non-prerelease release and downloads the qpdf-external-libs-*.zip |
| 191 | + files from the releases in the setup stage. | ||
| 229 | 192 | ||
| 230 | -* To upgrade to a new version of external-libs, create a new release | ||
| 231 | - of qpdf/external-libs (see README-maintainer in external-libs) from | ||
| 232 | - the distribution artifact of the most recent successful build after | ||
| 233 | - ensuring that it works. | 193 | +* To upgrade to a new version of external-libs, create a new release of qpdf/external-libs (see |
| 194 | + README-maintainer in external-libs) from the distribution artifact of the most recent successful | ||
| 195 | + build after ensuring that it works. | ||
| 234 | 196 | ||
| 235 | Desired state: | 197 | Desired state: |
| 236 | 198 | ||
| 237 | -* The qpdf/external-libs repository should create release candidates. | ||
| 238 | - Ideally, every scheduled run would make its zip files available. A | ||
| 239 | - personal access token with actions:read scope for the | ||
| 240 | - qpdf/external-libs repository is required to download the artifact | ||
| 241 | - from an action run, and qpdf/qpdf's secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN doesn't | ||
| 242 | - have this access. We could create a service account for this | ||
| 243 | - purpose. As an alternative, we could have a draft release in | ||
| 244 | - qpdf/external-libs that the qpdf/external-libs build could update | ||
| 245 | - with each candidate. It may also be possible to solve this by | ||
| 246 | - developing a simple GitHub app. | ||
| 247 | - | ||
| 248 | -* Scheduled runs of the qpdf build in the qpdf/qpdf repository (not a | ||
| 249 | - fork or pull request) could download external-libs from the release | ||
| 250 | - candidate area instead of the latest stable release. Pushes to the | ||
| 251 | - build branch should still use the latest release so it always | ||
| 252 | - matches the main branch. | ||
| 253 | - | ||
| 254 | -* Periodically, we would create a release of external-libs from the | ||
| 255 | - release candidate zip files. This could be done safely because we | ||
| 256 | - know the latest qpdf works with it. This could be done at least | ||
| 257 | - before every release of qpdf, but potentially it could be done at | ||
| 258 | - other times, such as when a new dependency version is available or | ||
| 259 | - after some period of time. | 199 | +* The qpdf/external-libs repository should create release candidates. Ideally, every scheduled run |
| 200 | + would make its zip files available. A personal access token with actions:read scope for the | ||
| 201 | + qpdf/external-libs repository is required to download the artifact from an action run, and | ||
| 202 | + qpdf/qpdf's secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN doesn't have this access. We could create a service account for | ||
| 203 | + this purpose. As an alternative, we could have a draft release in qpdf/external-libs that the | ||
| 204 | + qpdf/external-libs build could update with each candidate. It may also be possible to solve this | ||
| 205 | + by developing a simple GitHub app. | ||
| 206 | + | ||
| 207 | +* Scheduled runs of the qpdf build in the qpdf/qpdf repository (not a fork or pull request) could | ||
| 208 | + download external-libs from the release candidate area instead of the latest stable release. | ||
| 209 | + Pushes to the build branch should still use the latest release so it always matches the main | ||
| 210 | + branch. | ||
| 211 | + | ||
| 212 | +* Periodically, we would create a release of external-libs from the release candidate zip files. | ||
| 213 | + This could be done safely because we know the latest qpdf works with it. This could be done at | ||
| 214 | + least before every release of qpdf, but potentially it could be done at other times, such as when | ||
| 215 | + a new dependency version is available or after some period of time. | ||
| 260 | 216 | ||
| 261 | Other notes: | 217 | Other notes: |
| 262 | 218 | ||
| 263 | -* The external-libs branch in qpdf/qpdf was never documented. We might | ||
| 264 | - be able to get away with deleting it. | 219 | +* The external-libs branch in qpdf/qpdf was never documented. We might be able to get away with |
| 220 | + deleting it. | ||
| 265 | 221 | ||
| 266 | -* See README-maintainer in qpdf/external-libs for information on | ||
| 267 | - creating a release. This could be at least partially scripted in a | ||
| 268 | - way that works for the qpdf/qpdf repository as well since they are | ||
| 269 | - very similar. | 222 | +* See README-maintainer in qpdf/external-libs for information on creating a release. This could be |
| 223 | + at least partially scripted in a way that works for the qpdf/qpdf repository as well since they | ||
| 224 | + are very similar. | ||
| 270 | 225 | ||
| 271 | ABI Changes | 226 | ABI Changes |
| 272 | =========== | 227 | =========== |
| 273 | 228 | ||
| 274 | -This is a list of changes to make next time there is an ABI change. | ||
| 275 | -Comments appear in the code prefixed by "ABI". | 229 | +This is a list of changes to make next time there is an ABI change. Comments appear in the code |
| 230 | +prefixed by "ABI". | ||
| 276 | 231 | ||
| 277 | Always: | 232 | Always: |
| 278 | * Search for ABI in source and header files | 233 | * Search for ABI in source and header files |
| 279 | * Search for "[[deprecated" to find deprecated APIs that can be removed | 234 | * Search for "[[deprecated" to find deprecated APIs that can be removed |
| 280 | * Search for issues, pull requests, and discussions with the "abi" label | 235 | * Search for issues, pull requests, and discussions with the "abi" label |
| 281 | -* Check discussion "qpdf X planning" where X is the next major | ||
| 282 | - version. This should be tagged `abi` | 236 | +* Check discussion "qpdf X planning" where X is the next major version. This should be tagged `abi` |
| 283 | 237 | ||
| 284 | For qpdf 12, see https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf/discussions/785 | 238 | For qpdf 12, see https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf/discussions/785 |
| 285 | 239 | ||
| 286 | C++ Version Changes | 240 | C++ Version Changes |
| 287 | =================== | 241 | =================== |
| 288 | 242 | ||
| 289 | -Use | ||
| 290 | -// C++NN: ... | ||
| 291 | -to mark places in the code that should be updated when we require at | ||
| 292 | -least that version of C++. | 243 | +Use // C++NN: ... to mark places in the code that should be updated when we require at least that |
| 244 | +version of C++. | ||
| 293 | 245 | ||
| 294 | Page splitting/merging | 246 | Page splitting/merging |
| 295 | ====================== | 247 | ====================== |
| 296 | 248 | ||
| 297 | - * Update page splitting and merging to handle document-level | ||
| 298 | - constructs with page impact such as interactive forms and article | ||
| 299 | - threading. Check keys in the document catalog for others, such as | ||
| 300 | - outlines, page labels, thumbnails, and zones. For threads, | ||
| 301 | - Subramanyam provided a test file; see ../misc/article-threads.pdf. | ||
| 302 | - Email Q-Count: 431864 from 2009-11-03. | ||
| 303 | - | ||
| 304 | - * bookmarks (outlines) 12.3.3 | ||
| 305 | - * support bookmarks when merging | ||
| 306 | - * prune bookmarks that don't point to a surviving page when merging | ||
| 307 | - or splitting | ||
| 308 | - * make sure conflicting named destinations work possibly test by | ||
| 309 | - including the same file by two paths in a merge | ||
| 310 | - * see also comments in issue 343 | ||
| 311 | - | ||
| 312 | - Note: original implementation of bookmark preservation for split | ||
| 313 | - pages caused a very high performance hit. The problem was | ||
| 314 | - introduced in 313ba081265f69ac9a0324f9fe87087c72918191 and reverted | ||
| 315 | - in the commit that adds this paragraph. The revert includes marking | ||
| 316 | - a few tests cases as $td->EXPECT_FAILURE. When properly coded, the | ||
| 317 | - test cases will need to be adjusted to only include the parts of | ||
| 318 | - the outlines that are actually copied. The tests in question are | ||
| 319 | - "split page with outlines". When implementing properly, ensure that | ||
| 320 | - the performance is not adversely affected by timing split-pages on | ||
| 321 | - a large file with complex outlines such as the PDF specification. | ||
| 322 | - | ||
| 323 | - When pruning outlines, keep all outlines in the hierarchy that are | ||
| 324 | - above an outline for a page we care about. If one of the ancestor | ||
| 325 | - outlines points to a non-existent page, clear its dest. If an | ||
| 326 | - outline does not have any children that point to pages in the | ||
| 327 | - document, just omit it. | ||
| 328 | - | ||
| 329 | - Possible strategy: | ||
| 330 | - * resolve all named destinations to explicit destinations | ||
| 331 | - * concatenate top-level outlines | ||
| 332 | - * prune outlines whose dests don't point to a valid page | ||
| 333 | - * recompute all /Count fields | ||
| 334 | - | ||
| 335 | - Test files | ||
| 336 | - * page-labels-and-outlines.pdf: old file with both page labels and | ||
| 337 | - outlines. All destinations are explicit destinations. Each page | ||
| 338 | - has Potato and a number. All titles are feline names. | ||
| 339 | - * outlines-with-actions.pdf: mixture of explicit destinations, | ||
| 340 | - named destinations, goto actions with explicit destinations, and | ||
| 341 | - goto actions with named destinations; uses /Dests key in names | ||
| 342 | - dictionary. Each page has Salad and a number. All titles are | ||
| 343 | - silly words. One destination is an indirect object. | ||
| 344 | - * outlines-with-old-root-dests.pdf: like outlines-with-actions | ||
| 345 | - except it uses the PDF-1.1 /Dests dictionary for named | ||
| 346 | - destinations, and each page has Soup and a number. Also pages are | ||
| 347 | - numbered with upper-case Roman numerals starting with 0. All | ||
| 348 | - titles are silly words preceded by a bullet. | ||
| 349 | - | ||
| 350 | - If outline handling is significantly improved, see | ||
| 351 | - ../misc/bad-outlines/bad-outlines.pdf and email: | ||
| 352 | - https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/rfc822msgid%3A02aa01d3d013%249f766990%24de633cb0%24%40mono.hr) | ||
| 353 | - | ||
| 354 | - * Form fields: should be similar to outlines. | 249 | +* Update page splitting and merging to handle document-level constructs with page impact such as |
| 250 | + interactive forms and article threading. Check keys in the document catalog for others, such as | ||
| 251 | + outlines, page labels, thumbnails, and zones. For threads, Subramanyam provided a test file; see | ||
| 252 | + ../misc/article-threads.pdf. Email Q-Count: 431864 from 2009-11-03. | ||
| 253 | + | ||
| 254 | +* bookmarks (outlines) 12.3.3 | ||
| 255 | + * support bookmarks when merging | ||
| 256 | + * prune bookmarks that don't point to a surviving page when merging or splitting | ||
| 257 | + * make sure conflicting named destinations work possibly test by including the same file by two | ||
| 258 | + paths in a merge | ||
| 259 | + * see also comments in issue 343 | ||
| 260 | + | ||
| 261 | + Note: original implementation of bookmark preservation for split pages caused a very high | ||
| 262 | + performance hit. The problem was introduced in 313ba081265f69ac9a0324f9fe87087c72918191 and | ||
| 263 | + reverted in the commit that adds this paragraph. The revert includes marking a few tests cases as | ||
| 264 | + $td->EXPECT_FAILURE. When properly coded, the test cases will need to be adjusted to only include | ||
| 265 | + the parts of the outlines that are actually copied. The tests in question are | ||
| 266 | + "split page with outlines". When implementing properly, ensure that the performance is not | ||
| 267 | + adversely affected by timing split-pages on a large file with complex outlines such as the PDF | ||
| 268 | + specification. | ||
| 269 | + | ||
| 270 | + When pruning outlines, keep all outlines in the hierarchy that are above an outline for a page we | ||
| 271 | + care about. If one of the ancestor outlines points to a non-existent page, clear its dest. If an | ||
| 272 | + outline does not have any children that point to pages in the document, just omit it. | ||
| 273 | + | ||
| 274 | + Possible strategy: | ||
| 275 | + * resolve all named destinations to explicit destinations | ||
| 276 | + * concatenate top-level outlines | ||
| 277 | + * prune outlines whose dests don't point to a valid page | ||
| 278 | + * recompute all /Count fields | ||
| 279 | + | ||
| 280 | + Test files | ||
| 281 | + * page-labels-and-outlines.pdf: old file with both page labels and outlines. All destinations are | ||
| 282 | + explicit destinations. Each page has Potato and a number. All titles are feline names. | ||
| 283 | + * outlines-with-actions.pdf: mixture of explicit destinations, named destinations, goto actions | ||
| 284 | + with explicit destinations, and goto actions with named destinations; uses /Dests key in names | ||
| 285 | + dictionary. Each page has Salad and a number. All titles are silly words. One destination is an | ||
| 286 | + indirect object. | ||
| 287 | + * outlines-with-old-root-dests.pdf: like outlines-with-actions except it uses the PDF-1.1 /Dests | ||
| 288 | + dictionary for named destinations, and each page has Soup and a number. Also pages are numbered | ||
| 289 | + with upper-case Roman numerals starting with 0. All titles are silly words preceded by a bullet. | ||
| 290 | + | ||
| 291 | + If outline handling is significantly improved, see ../misc/bad-outlines/bad-outlines.pdf and | ||
| 292 | + email: | ||
| 293 | + https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/rfc822msgid%3A02aa01d3d013%249f766990%24de633cb0%24%40mono.hr) | ||
| 294 | + | ||
| 295 | +* Form fields: should be similar to outlines. | ||
| 355 | 296 | ||
| 356 | Analytics | 297 | Analytics |
| 357 | ========= | 298 | ========= |
| 358 | 299 | ||
| 359 | -Consider features that make it easier to detect certain patterns in | ||
| 360 | -PDF files. The information below could be computed using an external | ||
| 361 | -program that reads the existing json, but if it's useful enough, we | ||
| 362 | -could add it directly to the json output. | 300 | +Consider features that make it easier to detect certain patterns in PDF files. The information below |
| 301 | +could be computed using an external program that reads the existing json, but if it's useful enough, | ||
| 302 | +we could add it directly to the json output. | ||
| 363 | 303 | ||
| 364 | - * Add to "pages" in the json: | ||
| 365 | - * "inheritsresources": bool; whether there are any inherited | ||
| 366 | - attributes from ancestor page tree nodes | ||
| 367 | - * "sharedresources": a list of indirect objects that are | ||
| 368 | - "/Resources" dictionaries or "XObject" resource dictionary subkeys | ||
| 369 | - of either the page itself or of any form XObject referenced by the | ||
| 370 | - page. | 304 | +* Add to "pages" in the json: |
| 305 | + * "inheritsresources": bool; whether there are any inherited attributes from ancestor page tree | ||
| 306 | + nodes | ||
| 307 | + * "sharedresources": a list of indirect objects that are | ||
| 308 | + "/Resources" dictionaries or "XObject" resource dictionary subkeys of either the page itself or | ||
| 309 | + of any form XObject referenced by the page. | ||
| 371 | 310 | ||
| 372 | - * Add to "objectinfo" in json: "directpagerefcount": the number of | ||
| 373 | - pages that directly reference this object (i.e., you can find an | ||
| 374 | - indirect reference to the object in the page dictionary without | ||
| 375 | - traversing over any indirect objects) | 311 | +* Add to "objectinfo" in json: "directpagerefcount": the number of pages that directly reference |
| 312 | + this object (i.e., you can find an indirect reference to the object in the page dictionary without | ||
| 313 | + traversing over any indirect objects) | ||
| 376 | 314 | ||
| 377 | General | 315 | General |
| 378 | ======= | 316 | ======= |
| 379 | 317 | ||
| 380 | -NOTE: Some items in this list refer to files in my personal home | ||
| 381 | -directory or that are otherwise not publicly accessible. This includes | ||
| 382 | -things sent to me by email that are specifically not public. Even so, | ||
| 383 | -I find it useful to make reference to them in this list. | 318 | +NOTE: Some items in this list refer to files in my personal home directory or that are otherwise not |
| 319 | +publicly accessible. This includes things sent to me by email that are specifically not public. Even | ||
| 320 | +so, I find it useful to make reference to them in this list. | ||
| 384 | 321 | ||
| 385 | * Consider enabling code scanning on GitHub. | 322 | * Consider enabling code scanning on GitHub. |
| 386 | 323 | ||
| 387 | -* Add an option --ignore-encryption to ignore encryption information | ||
| 388 | - and treat encrypted files as if they weren't encrypted. This should | ||
| 389 | - make it possible to solve #598 (--show-encryption without a | ||
| 390 | - password). We'll need to make sure we don't try to filter any | ||
| 391 | - streams in this mode. Ideally we should be able to combine this with | ||
| 392 | - --json so we can look at the raw encrypted strings and streams if we | ||
| 393 | - want to, though be sure to document that the resulting JSON won't be | ||
| 394 | - convertible back to a valid PDF. Since providing the password may | ||
| 395 | - reveal additional details, --show-encryption could potentially retry | ||
| 396 | - with this option if the first time doesn't work. Then, with the file | ||
| 397 | - open, we can read the encryption dictionary normally. If this is | ||
| 398 | - done, search for "raw, encrypted" in json.rst. | ||
| 399 | - | ||
| 400 | -* In libtests, separate executables that need the object library | ||
| 401 | - from those that strictly use public API. Move as many of the test | ||
| 402 | - drivers from the qpdf directory into the latter category as long | ||
| 403 | - as doing so isn't too troublesome from a coverage standpoint. | ||
| 404 | - | ||
| 405 | -* Consider generating a non-flat pages tree before creating output to | ||
| 406 | - better handle files with lots of pages. If there are more than 256 | ||
| 407 | - pages, add a second layer with the second layer nodes having no more | ||
| 408 | - than 256 nodes and being as evenly sizes as possible. Don't worry | ||
| 409 | - about the case of more than 65,536 pages. If the top node has more | ||
| 410 | - than 256 children, we'll live with it. This is only safe if all | ||
| 411 | - intermediate page nodes have only /Kids, /Parent, /Type, and /Count. | 324 | +* Add an option --ignore-encryption to ignore encryption information and treat encrypted files as if |
| 325 | + they weren't encrypted. This should make it possible to solve #598 (--show-encryption without a | ||
| 326 | + password). We'll need to make sure we don't try to filter any streams in this mode. Ideally we | ||
| 327 | + should be able to combine this with --json so we can look at the raw encrypted strings and streams | ||
| 328 | + if we want to, though be sure to document that the resulting JSON won't be convertible back to a | ||
| 329 | + valid PDF. Since providing the password may reveal additional details, --show-encryption could | ||
| 330 | + potentially retry with this option if the first time doesn't work. Then, with the file open, we | ||
| 331 | + can read the encryption dictionary normally. If this is done, search for "raw, encrypted" in | ||
| 332 | + json.rst. | ||
| 333 | + | ||
| 334 | +* In libtests, separate executables that need the object library from those that strictly use public | ||
| 335 | + API. Move as many of the test drivers from the qpdf directory into the latter category as long as | ||
| 336 | + doing so isn't too troublesome from a coverage standpoint. | ||
| 337 | + | ||
| 338 | +* Consider generating a non-flat pages tree before creating output to better handle files with lots | ||
| 339 | + of pages. If there are more than 256 pages, add a second layer with the second layer nodes having | ||
| 340 | + no more than 256 nodes and being as evenly sizes as possible. Don't worry about the case of more | ||
| 341 | + than 65,536 pages. If the top node has more than 256 children, we'll live with it. This is only | ||
| 342 | + safe if all intermediate page nodes have only /Kids, /Parent, /Type, and /Count. | ||
| 412 | 343 | ||
| 413 | * Look at https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/en | 344 | * Look at https://bestpractices.coreinfrastructure.org/en |
| 414 | 345 | ||
| 415 | * Consider adding fuzzer code for JSON | 346 | * Consider adding fuzzer code for JSON |
| 416 | 347 | ||
| 417 | -* Rework tests so that nothing is written into the source directory. | ||
| 418 | - Ideally then the entire build could be done with a read-only | ||
| 419 | - source tree. | ||
| 420 | - | ||
| 421 | -* Large file tests fail with linux32 before and after cmake. This was | ||
| 422 | - first noticed after 10.6.3. I don't think it's worth fixing. | ||
| 423 | - | ||
| 424 | -* Consider updating the fuzzer with code that exercises | ||
| 425 | - copyAnnotations, file attachments, and name and number trees. Check | ||
| 426 | - fuzzer coverage. | ||
| 427 | - | ||
| 428 | -* Add code for creation of a file attachment annotation. It should | ||
| 429 | - also be possible to create a widget annotation and a form field. | ||
| 430 | - Update the pdf-attach-file.cc example with new APIs when ready. | ||
| 431 | - | ||
| 432 | -* Flattening of form XObjects seems like something that would be | ||
| 433 | - useful in the library. We are seeing more cases of completely valid | ||
| 434 | - PDF files with form XObjects that cause problems in other software. | ||
| 435 | - Flattening of form XObjects could be a useful way to work around | ||
| 436 | - those issues or to prepare files for additional processing, making | ||
| 437 | - it possible for users of the qpdf library to not be concerned about | ||
| 438 | - form XObjects. This could be done recursively; i.e., we could have a | ||
| 439 | - method to embed a form XObject into whatever contains it, whether | ||
| 440 | - that is a form XObject or a page. This would require more | ||
| 441 | - significant interpretation of the content stream. We would need a | ||
| 442 | - test file in which the placement of the form XObject has to be in | ||
| 443 | - the right place, e.g., the form XObject partially obscures earlier | ||
| 444 | - code and is partially obscured by later code. Keys in the resource | ||
| 445 | - dictionary may need to be changed -- create test cases with lots of | ||
| 446 | - duplicated/overlapping keys. | ||
| 447 | - | ||
| 448 | -* Part of closed_file_input_source.cc is disabled on Windows because | ||
| 449 | - of odd failures. It might be worth investigating so we can fully | ||
| 450 | - exercise this in the test suite. That said, ClosedFileInputSource | ||
| 451 | - is exercised elsewhere in qpdf's test suite, so this is not that | ||
| 452 | - pressing. | ||
| 453 | - | ||
| 454 | -* If possible, consider adding CCITT3, CCITT4, or any other easy | ||
| 455 | - filters. For some reference code that we probably can't use but may | ||
| 456 | - be handy anyway, see | 348 | +* Rework tests so that nothing is written into the source directory. Ideally then the entire build |
| 349 | + could be done with a read-only source tree. | ||
| 350 | + | ||
| 351 | +* Large file tests fail with linux32 before and after cmake. This was first noticed after 10.6.3. I | ||
| 352 | + don't think it's worth fixing. | ||
| 353 | + | ||
| 354 | +* Consider updating the fuzzer with code that exercises copyAnnotations, file attachments, and name | ||
| 355 | + and number trees. Check fuzzer coverage. | ||
| 356 | + | ||
| 357 | +* Add code for creation of a file attachment annotation. It should also be possible to create a | ||
| 358 | + widget annotation and a form field. Update the pdf-attach-file.cc example with new APIs when | ||
| 359 | + ready. | ||
| 360 | + | ||
| 361 | +* Flattening of form XObjects seems like something that would be useful in the library. We are | ||
| 362 | + seeing more cases of completely valid PDF files with form XObjects that cause problems in other | ||
| 363 | + software. Flattening of form XObjects could be a useful way to work around those issues or to | ||
| 364 | + prepare files for additional processing, making it possible for users of the qpdf library to not | ||
| 365 | + be concerned about form XObjects. This could be done recursively; i.e., we could have a method to | ||
| 366 | + embed a form XObject into whatever contains it, whether that is a form XObject or a page. This | ||
| 367 | + would require more significant interpretation of the content stream. We would need a test file in | ||
| 368 | + which the placement of the form XObject has to be in the right place, e.g., the form XObject | ||
| 369 | + partially obscures earlier code and is partially obscured by later code. Keys in the resource | ||
| 370 | + dictionary may need to be changed -- create test cases with lots of duplicated/overlapping keys. | ||
| 371 | + | ||
| 372 | +* Part of closed_file_input_source.cc is disabled on Windows because of odd failures. It might be | ||
| 373 | + worth investigating so we can fully exercise this in the test suite. That said, | ||
| 374 | + ClosedFileInputSource is exercised elsewhere in qpdf's test suite, so this is not that pressing. | ||
| 375 | + | ||
| 376 | +* If possible, consider adding CCITT3, CCITT4, or any other easy filters. For some reference code | ||
| 377 | + that we probably can't use but may be handy anyway, see | ||
| 457 | http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/ps/sdk/index_archive.html | 378 | http://partners.adobe.com/public/developer/ps/sdk/index_archive.html |
| 458 | 379 | ||
| 459 | * If possible, support the following types of broken files: | 380 | * If possible, support the following types of broken files: |
| 460 | 381 | ||
| 461 | - - Files that have no whitespace token after "endobj" such that | ||
| 462 | - endobj collides with the start of the next object | 382 | + - Files that have no whitespace token after "endobj" such that endobj collides with the start of |
| 383 | + the next object | ||
| 463 | 384 | ||
| 464 | - - See ../misc/broken-files | 385 | + - See ../misc/broken-files |
| 465 | 386 | ||
| 466 | - - See ../misc/bad-files-issue-476. This directory contains a | ||
| 467 | - snapshot of the google doc and linked PDF files from issue #476. | ||
| 468 | - Please see the issue for details. | 387 | + - See ../misc/bad-files-issue-476. This directory contains a snapshot of the google doc and linked |
| 388 | + PDF files from issue #476. Please see the issue for details. | ||
| 469 | 389 | ||
| 470 | * Additional form features | 390 | * Additional form features |
| 471 | - * set value from CLI? Specify title, and provide way to | ||
| 472 | - disambiguate, probably by giving objgen of field | 391 | + * set value from CLI? Specify title, and provide way to disambiguate, probably by giving objgen of |
| 392 | + field | ||
| 473 | 393 | ||
| 474 | * Pl_TIFFPredictor is pretty slow. | 394 | * Pl_TIFFPredictor is pretty slow. |
| 475 | 395 | ||
| 476 | -* Support for handling file names with Unicode characters in Windows | ||
| 477 | - is incomplete. qpdf seems to support them okay from a functionality | ||
| 478 | - standpoint, and the right thing happens if you pass in UTF-8 | ||
| 479 | - encoded filenames to QPDF library routines in Windows (they are | ||
| 480 | - converted internally to wchar_t*), but file names are encoded in | ||
| 481 | - UTF-8 on output, which doesn't produce nice error messages or | ||
| 482 | - output on Windows in some cases. | ||
| 483 | - | ||
| 484 | -* If we ever wanted to do anything more with character encoding, see | ||
| 485 | - ../misc/character-encoding/, which includes machine-readable dump | ||
| 486 | - of table D.2 in the ISO-32000 PDF spec. This shows the mapping | ||
| 487 | - between Unicode, StandardEncoding, WinAnsiEncoding, | ||
| 488 | - MacRomanEncoding, and PDFDocEncoding. | ||
| 489 | - | ||
| 490 | -* Some test cases on bad files fail because qpdf is unable to find | ||
| 491 | - the root dictionary when it fails to read the trailer. Recovery | ||
| 492 | - could find the root dictionary and even the info dictionary in | ||
| 493 | - other ways. In particular, issue-202.pdf can be opened by evince, | ||
| 494 | - and there's no real reason that qpdf couldn't be made to be able to | ||
| 495 | - recover that file as well. | ||
| 496 | - | ||
| 497 | -* Audit every place where qpdf allocates memory to see whether there | ||
| 498 | - are cases where malicious inputs could cause qpdf to attempt to | ||
| 499 | - grab very large amounts of memory. Certainly there are cases like | ||
| 500 | - this, such as if a very highly compressed, very large image stream | ||
| 501 | - is requested in a buffer. Hopefully normal input to output | ||
| 502 | - filtering doesn't ever try to do this. QPDFWriter should be checked | ||
| 503 | - carefully too. See also bugs/private/from-email-663916/ | 396 | +* Support for handling file names with Unicode characters in Windows is incomplete. qpdf seems to |
| 397 | + support them okay from a functionality standpoint, and the right thing happens if you pass in | ||
| 398 | + UTF-8 encoded filenames to QPDF library routines in Windows (they are converted internally to | ||
| 399 | + wchar_t*), but file names are encoded in UTF-8 on output, which doesn't produce nice error | ||
| 400 | + messages or output on Windows in some cases. | ||
| 401 | + | ||
| 402 | +* If we ever wanted to do anything more with character encoding, see ../misc/character-encoding/, | ||
| 403 | + which includes machine-readable dump of table D.2 in the ISO-32000 PDF spec. This shows the | ||
| 404 | + mapping between Unicode, StandardEncoding, WinAnsiEncoding, MacRomanEncoding, and PDFDocEncoding. | ||
| 405 | + | ||
| 406 | +* Some test cases on bad files fail because qpdf is unable to find the root dictionary when it fails | ||
| 407 | + to read the trailer. Recovery could find the root dictionary and even the info dictionary in other | ||
| 408 | + ways. In particular, issue-202.pdf can be opened by evince, and there's no real reason that qpdf | ||
| 409 | + couldn't be made to be able to recover that file as well. | ||
| 410 | + | ||
| 411 | +* Audit every place where qpdf allocates memory to see whether there are cases where malicious | ||
| 412 | + inputs could cause qpdf to attempt to grab very large amounts of memory. Certainly there are cases | ||
| 413 | + like this, such as if a very highly compressed, very large image stream is requested in a buffer. | ||
| 414 | + Hopefully normal input to output filtering doesn't ever try to do this. QPDFWriter should be | ||
| 415 | + checked carefully too. See also bugs/private/from-email-663916/ | ||
| 504 | 416 | ||
| 505 | * Interactive form modification: | 417 | * Interactive form modification: |
| 506 | - https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf/issues/213 contains a good discussion | ||
| 507 | - of some ideas for adding methods to modify annotations and form | ||
| 508 | - fields if we want to make it easier to support modifications to | ||
| 509 | - interactive forms. Some of the ideas have been implemented, and | ||
| 510 | - some of the probably never will be implemented, but it's worth a | ||
| 511 | - read if there is an intention to work on this. In the issue, search | ||
| 512 | - for "Regarding write functionality", and read that comment and the | 418 | + https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf/issues/213 contains a good discussion of some ideas for adding |
| 419 | + methods to modify annotations and form fields if we want to make it easier to support | ||
| 420 | + modifications to interactive forms. Some of the ideas have been implemented, and some of the | ||
| 421 | + probably never will be implemented, but it's worth a read if there is an intention to work on | ||
| 422 | + this. In the issue, search for "Regarding write functionality", and read that comment and the | ||
| 513 | responses to it. | 423 | responses to it. |
| 514 | 424 | ||
| 515 | * Look at ~/Q/pdf-collection/forms-from-appian/ | 425 | * Look at ~/Q/pdf-collection/forms-from-appian/ |
| 516 | 426 | ||
| 517 | -* When decrypting files with /R=6, hash_V5 is called more than once | ||
| 518 | - with the same inputs. Caching the results or refactoring to reduce | ||
| 519 | - the number of identical calls could improve performance for | 427 | +* When decrypting files with /R=6, hash_V5 is called more than once with the same inputs. Caching |
| 428 | + the results or refactoring to reduce the number of identical calls could improve performance for | ||
| 520 | workloads that involve processing large numbers of small files. | 429 | workloads that involve processing large numbers of small files. |
| 521 | 430 | ||
| 522 | -* Consider adding a method to balance the pages tree. It would call | ||
| 523 | - pushInheritedAttributesToPage, construct a pages tree from scratch, | ||
| 524 | - and replace the /Pages key of the root dictionary with the new | ||
| 525 | - tree. | ||
| 526 | - | ||
| 527 | -* Study what's required to support savable forms that can be saved by | ||
| 528 | - Adobe Reader. Does this require actually signing the document with | ||
| 529 | - an Adobe private key? Search for "Digital signatures" in the PDF | ||
| 530 | - spec, and look at ~/Q/pdf-collection/form-with-full-save.pdf, which | ||
| 531 | - came from Adobe's example site. See also | ||
| 532 | - ../misc/digital-sign-from-trueroad/ and | ||
| 533 | - ../misc/digital-signatures/digitally-signed-pdf-xfa.pdf. If digital | ||
| 534 | - signatures are implemented, update the docs on crypto providers, | ||
| 535 | - which mention that this may happen in the future. | ||
| 536 | - | ||
| 537 | -* Qpdf does not honor /EFF when adding new file attachments. When it | ||
| 538 | - encrypts, it never generates streams with explicit crypt filters. | ||
| 539 | - Prior to 10.2, there was an incorrect attempt to treat /EFF as a | ||
| 540 | - default value for decrypting file attachment streams, but it is not | ||
| 541 | - supposed to mean that. Instead, it is intended for conforming | ||
| 542 | - writers to obey this when adding new attachments. Qpdf is not a | ||
| 543 | - conforming writer in that respect. | ||
| 544 | - | ||
| 545 | -* The whole xref handling code in the QPDF object allows the same | ||
| 546 | - object with more than one generation to coexist, but a lot of logic | ||
| 547 | - assumes this isn't the case. Anything that creates mappings only | ||
| 548 | - with the object number and not the generation is this way, | ||
| 549 | - including most of the interaction between QPDFWriter and QPDF. If | ||
| 550 | - we wanted to allow the same object with more than one generation to | ||
| 551 | - coexist, which I'm not sure is allowed, we could fix this by | ||
| 552 | - changing xref_table. Alternatively, we could detect and disallow | ||
| 553 | - that case. In fact, it appears that Adobe reader and other PDF | ||
| 554 | - viewing software silently ignores objects of this type, so this is | ||
| 555 | - probably not a big deal. | ||
| 556 | - | ||
| 557 | -* From a suggestion in bug 3152169, consider having an option to | ||
| 558 | - re-encode inline images with an ASCII encoding. | ||
| 559 | - | ||
| 560 | -* From github issue 2, provide more in-depth output for examining | ||
| 561 | - hint stream contents. Consider adding on option to provide a | ||
| 562 | - human-readable dump of linearization hint tables. This should | ||
| 563 | - include improving the 'overflow reading bit stream' message as | ||
| 564 | - reported in issue #2. There are multiple calls to stopOnError in | ||
| 565 | - the linearization checking code. Ideally, these should not | ||
| 566 | - terminate checking. It would require re-acquiring an understanding | ||
| 567 | - of all that code to make the checks more robust. In particular, | ||
| 568 | - it's hard to look at the code and quickly determine what is a true | ||
| 569 | - logic error and what could happen because of malformed user input. | ||
| 570 | - See also ../misc/linearization-errors. | ||
| 571 | - | ||
| 572 | -* If I ever decide to make appearance stream-generation aware of | ||
| 573 | - fonts or font metrics, see email from Tobias with Message-ID | 431 | +* Consider adding a method to balance the pages tree. It would call pushInheritedAttributesToPage, |
| 432 | + construct a pages tree from scratch, and replace the /Pages key of the root dictionary with the | ||
| 433 | + new tree. | ||
| 434 | + | ||
| 435 | +* Study what's required to support savable forms that can be saved by Adobe Reader. Does this | ||
| 436 | + require actually signing the document with an Adobe private key? Search for "Digital signatures" | ||
| 437 | + in the PDF spec, and look at ~/Q/pdf-collection/form-with-full-save.pdf, which came from Adobe's | ||
| 438 | + example site. See also ../misc/digital-sign-from-trueroad/ and | ||
| 439 | + ../misc/digital-signatures/digitally-signed-pdf-xfa.pdf. If digital signatures are implemented, | ||
| 440 | + update the docs on crypto providers, which mention that this may happen in the future. | ||
| 441 | + | ||
| 442 | +* Qpdf does not honor /EFF when adding new file attachments. When it encrypts, it never generates | ||
| 443 | + streams with explicit crypt filters. Prior to 10.2, there was an incorrect attempt to treat /EFF | ||
| 444 | + as a default value for decrypting file attachment streams, but it is not supposed to mean that. | ||
| 445 | + Instead, it is intended for conforming writers to obey this when adding new attachments. Qpdf is | ||
| 446 | + not a conforming writer in that respect. | ||
| 447 | + | ||
| 448 | +* The whole xref handling code in the QPDF object allows the same object with more than one | ||
| 449 | + generation to coexist, but a lot of logic assumes this isn't the case. Anything that creates | ||
| 450 | + mappings only with the object number and not the generation is this way, including most of the | ||
| 451 | + interaction between QPDFWriter and QPDF. If we wanted to allow the same object with more than one | ||
| 452 | + generation to coexist, which I'm not sure is allowed, we could fix this by changing xref_table. | ||
| 453 | + Alternatively, we could detect and disallow that case. In fact, it appears that Adobe reader and | ||
| 454 | + other PDF viewing software silently ignores objects of this type, so this is probably not a big | ||
| 455 | + deal. | ||
| 456 | + | ||
| 457 | +* From a suggestion in bug 3152169, consider having an option to re-encode inline images with an | ||
| 458 | + ASCII encoding. | ||
| 459 | + | ||
| 460 | +* From github issue 2, provide more in-depth output for examining hint stream contents. Consider | ||
| 461 | + adding on option to provide a human-readable dump of linearization hint tables. This should | ||
| 462 | + include improving the 'overflow reading bit stream' message as reported in issue #2. There are | ||
| 463 | + multiple calls to stopOnError in the linearization checking code. Ideally, these should not | ||
| 464 | + terminate checking. It would require re-acquiring an understanding of all that code to make the | ||
| 465 | + checks more robust. In particular, it's hard to look at the code and quickly determine what is a | ||
| 466 | + true logic error and what could happen because of malformed user input. See also | ||
| 467 | + ../misc/linearization-errors. | ||
| 468 | + | ||
| 469 | +* If I ever decide to make appearance stream-generation aware of fonts or font metrics, see email | ||
| 470 | + from Tobias with Message-ID | ||
| 574 | <5C3C9C6C.8000102@thax.hardliners.org> dated 2019-01-14. | 471 | <5C3C9C6C.8000102@thax.hardliners.org> dated 2019-01-14. |
| 575 | 472 | ||
| 576 | -* Look at places in the code where object traversal is being done and, | ||
| 577 | - where possible, try to avoid it entirely or at least avoid ever | ||
| 578 | - traversing the same objects multiple times. | 473 | +* Look at places in the code where object traversal is being done and, where possible, try to avoid |
| 474 | + it entirely or at least avoid ever traversing the same objects multiple times. | ||
| 579 | 475 | ||
| 580 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | 476 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 581 | 477 | ||
| @@ -588,281 +484,215 @@ I find it useful to make reference to them in this list. | @@ -588,281 +484,215 @@ I find it useful to make reference to them in this list. | ||
| 588 | Performance | 484 | Performance |
| 589 | =========== | 485 | =========== |
| 590 | 486 | ||
| 591 | -As described in https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf/issues/401, there was | ||
| 592 | -great performance degradation between qpdf 7.1.1 and 9.1.1. Doing a | ||
| 593 | -bisect between dac65a21fb4fa5f871e31c314280b75adde89a6c and | ||
| 594 | -release-qpdf-7.1.1, I found several commits that damaged performance. | ||
| 595 | -I fixed some of them to improve performance by about 70% (as measured | ||
| 596 | -by saying that old times were 170% of new times). The remaining | ||
| 597 | -commits that broke performance either can't be correct because they | ||
| 598 | -would re-introduce an old bug or aren't worth correcting because of | ||
| 599 | -the high value they offer relative to a relatively low penalty. For | ||
| 600 | -historical reference, here are the commits. The numbers are the time | ||
| 601 | -in seconds on the machine I happened to be using of splitting the | ||
| 602 | -first 100 pages of PDF32000_2008.pdf 20 times and taking an average | ||
| 603 | -duration. | 487 | +As described in https://github.com/qpdf/qpdf/issues/401, there was great performance degradation |
| 488 | +between qpdf 7.1.1 and 9.1.1. Doing a bisect between dac65a21fb4fa5f871e31c314280b75adde89a6c and | ||
| 489 | +release-qpdf-7.1.1, I found several commits that damaged performance. I fixed some of them to | ||
| 490 | +improve performance by about 70% (as measured by saying that old times were 170% of new times). The | ||
| 491 | +remaining commits that broke performance either can't be correct because they would re-introduce an | ||
| 492 | +old bug or aren't worth correcting because of the high value they offer relative to a relatively low | ||
| 493 | +penalty. For historical reference, here are the commits. The numbers are the time in seconds on the | ||
| 494 | +machine I happened to be using of splitting the first 100 pages of PDF32000_2008.pdf 20 times and | ||
| 495 | +taking an average duration. | ||
| 604 | 496 | ||
| 605 | Commits that broke performance: | 497 | Commits that broke performance: |
| 606 | 498 | ||
| 607 | -* d0e99f195a987c483bbb6c5449cf39bee34e08a1 -- object description and | ||
| 608 | - context: 0.39 -> 0.45 | ||
| 609 | -* a01359189b32c60c2d55b039f7aefd6c3ce0ebde (minus 313ba08) -- fix | ||
| 610 | - dangling references: 0.55 -> 0.6 | 499 | +* d0e99f195a987c483bbb6c5449cf39bee34e08a1 -- object description and context: 0.39 -> 0.45 |
| 500 | +* a01359189b32c60c2d55b039f7aefd6c3ce0ebde (minus 313ba08) -- fix dangling references: 0.55 -> 0.6 | ||
| 611 | * e5f504b6c5dc34337cc0b316b4a7b1fca7e614b1 -- sparse array: 0.6 -> 0.62 | 501 | * e5f504b6c5dc34337cc0b316b4a7b1fca7e614b1 -- sparse array: 0.6 -> 0.62 |
| 612 | 502 | ||
| 613 | Other intermediate steps that were previously fixed: | 503 | Other intermediate steps that were previously fixed: |
| 614 | 504 | ||
| 615 | -* 313ba081265f69ac9a0324f9fe87087c72918191 -- copy outlines into | ||
| 616 | - split: 0.55 -> 4.0 | 505 | +* 313ba081265f69ac9a0324f9fe87087c72918191 -- copy outlines into split: 0.55 -> 4.0 |
| 617 | * a01359189b32c60c2d55b039f7aefd6c3ce0ebde -- fix dangling references: | 506 | * a01359189b32c60c2d55b039f7aefd6c3ce0ebde -- fix dangling references: |
| 618 | 4.0 -> 9.0 | 507 | 4.0 -> 9.0 |
| 619 | 508 | ||
| 620 | This commit fixed the awful problem introduced in 313ba081: | 509 | This commit fixed the awful problem introduced in 313ba081: |
| 621 | 510 | ||
| 622 | -* a5a016cdd26a8e5c99e5f019bc30d1bdf6c050a2 -- revert outline | ||
| 623 | - preservation: 9.0 -> 0.6 | 511 | +* a5a016cdd26a8e5c99e5f019bc30d1bdf6c050a2 -- revert outline preservation: 9.0 -> 0.6 |
| 624 | 512 | ||
| 625 | -Note that the fix dangling references commit had a much worse impact | ||
| 626 | -prior to removing the outline preservation, so I also measured its | ||
| 627 | -impact in isolation. | 513 | +Note that the fix dangling references commit had a much worse impact prior to removing the outline |
| 514 | +preservation, so I also measured its impact in isolation. | ||
| 628 | 515 | ||
| 629 | A few important lessons (in README-maintainer) | 516 | A few important lessons (in README-maintainer) |
| 630 | 517 | ||
| 631 | -* Indirection through PointerHolder<Members> is expensive, and should | ||
| 632 | - not be used for things that are created and destroyed frequently | ||
| 633 | - such as QPDFObjectHandle and QPDFObject. | ||
| 634 | -* Traversal of objects is expensive and should be avoided where | ||
| 635 | - possible. | 518 | +* Indirection through PointerHolder<Members> is expensive, and should not be used for things that |
| 519 | + are created and destroyed frequently such as QPDFObjectHandle and QPDFObject. | ||
| 520 | +* Traversal of objects is expensive and should be avoided where possible. | ||
| 636 | 521 | ||
| 637 | -Also, it turns out that PointerHolder is more performant than | ||
| 638 | -std::shared_ptr. (This was true at the time but subsequent | ||
| 639 | -implementations of std::shared_ptr became much more efficient.) | 522 | +Also, it turns out that PointerHolder is more performant than std::shared_ptr. (This was true at the |
| 523 | +time but subsequent implementations of std::shared_ptr became much more efficient.) | ||
| 640 | 524 | ||
| 641 | QPDFPagesTree | 525 | QPDFPagesTree |
| 642 | ============= | 526 | ============= |
| 643 | 527 | ||
| 644 | -On a few occasions, I have considered implementing a QPDFPagesTree | ||
| 645 | -object that would allow the document's original page tree structure to | ||
| 646 | -be preserved. See comments at the top QPDF_pages.cc for why this was | ||
| 647 | -abandoned. | ||
| 648 | - | ||
| 649 | -Partial work is in refs/attic/QPDFPagesTree. QPDFPageTree is mostly | ||
| 650 | -implemented and mostly tested. There are not enough cases of different | ||
| 651 | -kinds of operations (pclm, linearize, json, etc.) with non-flat pages | ||
| 652 | -trees. Insertion is not implemented. Insertion is potentially complex | ||
| 653 | -because of the issue of inherited objects. We will have to call | ||
| 654 | -pushInheritedAttributesToPage before adding any pages to the pages | ||
| 655 | -tree. The test suite is failing on that branch. | ||
| 656 | - | ||
| 657 | -Some parts of page tree repair are silent (no warnings). All page tree | ||
| 658 | -repair should warn. The reason is that page tree repair will change | ||
| 659 | -object numbers, and knowing that is important when working with JSON | ||
| 660 | -output. | ||
| 661 | - | ||
| 662 | -If we were to do this, we would still need keep a pages cache for | ||
| 663 | -efficient insertion. There's no reason we can't keep a vector of page | ||
| 664 | -objects up to date and just do a traversal the first time we do | ||
| 665 | -getAllPages just like we do now. The difference is that we would not | ||
| 666 | -flatten the pages tree. It would be useful to go through QPDF_pages | ||
| 667 | -and reimplement everything without calling flattenPagesTree. Then we | ||
| 668 | -can remove flattenPagesTree, which is private. That said, with the | ||
| 669 | -addition of creating non-flat pages trees, there is really no reason | ||
| 670 | -not to flatten the pages tree for internal use. | ||
| 671 | - | ||
| 672 | -In its current state, QPDFPagesTree does not proactively fix /Type or | ||
| 673 | -correct page objects that are used multiple times. You have to | ||
| 674 | -traverse the pages tree to trigger this operation. It would be nice if | ||
| 675 | -we would do that somewhere but not do it more often than necessary so | ||
| 676 | -isPagesObject and isPageObject are reliable and can be made more | ||
| 677 | -reliable. Maybe add a validate or repair function? It should also make | ||
| 678 | -sure /Count and /Parent are correct. | 528 | +On a few occasions, I have considered implementing a QPDFPagesTree object that would allow the |
| 529 | +document's original page tree structure to be preserved. See comments at the top QPDF_pages.cc for | ||
| 530 | +why this was abandoned. | ||
| 531 | + | ||
| 532 | +Partial work is in refs/attic/QPDFPagesTree. QPDFPageTree is mostly implemented and mostly tested. | ||
| 533 | +There are not enough cases of different kinds of operations (pclm, linearize, json, etc.) with | ||
| 534 | +non-flat pages trees. Insertion is not implemented. Insertion is potentially complex because of the | ||
| 535 | +issue of inherited objects. We will have to call pushInheritedAttributesToPage before adding any | ||
| 536 | +pages to the pages tree. The test suite is failing on that branch. | ||
| 537 | + | ||
| 538 | +Some parts of page tree repair are silent (no warnings). All page tree repair should warn. The | ||
| 539 | +reason is that page tree repair will change object numbers, and knowing that is important when | ||
| 540 | +working with JSON output. | ||
| 541 | + | ||
| 542 | +If we were to do this, we would still need keep a pages cache for efficient insertion. There's no | ||
| 543 | +reason we can't keep a vector of page objects up to date and just do a traversal the first time we | ||
| 544 | +do getAllPages just like we do now. The difference is that we would not flatten the pages tree. It | ||
| 545 | +would be useful to go through QPDF_pages and reimplement everything without calling | ||
| 546 | +flattenPagesTree. Then we can remove flattenPagesTree, which is private. That said, with the | ||
| 547 | +addition of creating non-flat pages trees, there is really no reason not to flatten the pages tree | ||
| 548 | +for internal use. | ||
| 549 | + | ||
| 550 | +In its current state, QPDFPagesTree does not proactively fix /Type or correct page objects that are | ||
| 551 | +used multiple times. You have to traverse the pages tree to trigger this operation. It would be nice | ||
| 552 | +if we would do that somewhere but not do it more often than necessary so isPagesObject and | ||
| 553 | +isPageObject are reliable and can be made more reliable. Maybe add a validate or repair function? It | ||
| 554 | +should also make sure /Count and /Parent are correct. | ||
| 679 | 555 | ||
| 680 | Rejected Ideas | 556 | Rejected Ideas |
| 681 | ============== | 557 | ============== |
| 682 | 558 | ||
| 683 | -* Investigate whether there is a way to automate the memory checker | ||
| 684 | - tests for Windows. | ||
| 685 | - | ||
| 686 | -* Provide support in QPDFWriter for writing incremental updates. | ||
| 687 | - Provide support in qpdf for preserving incremental updates. The | ||
| 688 | - goal should be that QDF mode should be fully functional for files | ||
| 689 | - with incremental updates including fix_qdf. | ||
| 690 | - | ||
| 691 | - Note that there's nothing that says an indirect object in one | ||
| 692 | - update can't refer to an object that doesn't appear until a later | ||
| 693 | - update. This means that QPDF has to treat indirect null objects | ||
| 694 | - differently from how it does now. QPDF drops indirect null objects | ||
| 695 | - that appear as members of arrays or dictionaries. For arrays, it's | ||
| 696 | - handled in QPDFWriter where we make indirect nulls direct. This is | ||
| 697 | - in a single if block, and nothing else in the code cares about it. | ||
| 698 | - We could just remove that if block and not break anything except a | ||
| 699 | - few test cases that exercise the current behavior. For | ||
| 700 | - dictionaries, it's more complicated. In this case, | ||
| 701 | - QPDF_Dictionary::getKeys() ignores all keys with null values, and | ||
| 702 | - hasKey() returns false for keys that have null values. We would | ||
| 703 | - probably want to make QPDF_Dictionary able to handle the special | ||
| 704 | - case of keys that are indirect nulls and basically never have it | ||
| 705 | - drop any keys that are indirect objects. | ||
| 706 | - | ||
| 707 | - If we make a change to have qpdf preserve indirect references to | ||
| 708 | - null objects, we have to note this in ChangeLog and in the release | ||
| 709 | - notes since this will change output files. We did this before when | ||
| 710 | - we stopped flattening scalar references, so this is probably not a | ||
| 711 | - big deal. We also have to make sure that the testing for this | ||
| 712 | - handles non-trivial cases of the targets of indirect nulls being | ||
| 713 | - replaced by real objects in an update. I'm not sure how this plays | ||
| 714 | - with linearization, if at all. For cases where incremental updates | ||
| 715 | - are not being preserved as incremental updates and where the data | ||
| 716 | - is being folded in (as is always the case with qpdf now), none of | ||
| 717 | - this should make any difference in the actual semantics of the | ||
| 718 | - files. | ||
| 719 | - | ||
| 720 | -* The second xref stream for linearized files has to be padded only | ||
| 721 | - because we need file_size as computed in pass 1 to be accurate. If | ||
| 722 | - we were not allowing writing to a pipe, we could seek back to the | ||
| 723 | - beginning and fill in the value of /L in the linearization | ||
| 724 | - dictionary as an optimization to alleviate the need for this | ||
| 725 | - padding. Doing so would require us to pad the /L value | ||
| 726 | - individually and also to save the file descriptor and determine | ||
| 727 | - whether it's seekable. This is probably not worth bothering with. | ||
| 728 | - | ||
| 729 | -* Based on an idea suggested by user "Atom Smasher", consider | ||
| 730 | - providing some mechanism to recover earlier versions of a file | ||
| 731 | - embedded prior to appended sections. | ||
| 732 | - | ||
| 733 | -* Consider creating a sanitizer to make it easier for people to send | ||
| 734 | - broken files. Now that we have json mode, this is probably no | ||
| 735 | - longer worth doing. Here is the previous idea, possibly implemented | ||
| 736 | - by making it possible to run the lexer (tokenizer) over a whole | ||
| 737 | - file. Make it possible to replace all strings in a file lexically | ||
| 738 | - even on badly broken files. Ideally this should work files that are | ||
| 739 | - lacking xref, have broken links, duplicated dictionary keys, syntax | ||
| 740 | - errors, etc., and ideally it should work with encrypted files if | ||
| 741 | - possible. This should go through the streams and strings and | ||
| 742 | - replace them with fixed or random characters, preferably, but not | ||
| 743 | - necessarily, in a manner that works with fonts. One possibility | ||
| 744 | - would be to detect whether a string contains characters with normal | ||
| 745 | - encoding, and if so, use 0x41. If the string uses character maps, | ||
| 746 | - use 0x01. The output should otherwise be unrelated to the input. | ||
| 747 | - This could be built after the filtering and tokenizer rewrite and | ||
| 748 | - should be done in a manner that takes advantage of the other | ||
| 749 | - lexical features. This sanitizer should also clear metadata and | ||
| 750 | - replace images. If I ever do this, the file from issue #494 would | ||
| 751 | - be a great one to look at. | ||
| 752 | - | ||
| 753 | -* Here are some notes about having stream data providers modify | ||
| 754 | - stream dictionaries. I had wanted to add this functionality to make | ||
| 755 | - it more efficient to create stream data providers that may | ||
| 756 | - dynamically decide what kind of filters to use and that may end up | ||
| 757 | - modifying the dictionary conditionally depending on the original | ||
| 758 | - stream data. Ultimately I decided not to implement this feature. | ||
| 759 | - This paragraph describes why. | ||
| 760 | - | ||
| 761 | - * When writing, the way objects are placed into the queue for | ||
| 762 | - writing strongly precludes creation of any new indirect objects, | ||
| 763 | - or even changing which indirect objects are referenced from which | ||
| 764 | - other objects, because we sometimes write as we are traversing | ||
| 765 | - and enqueuing objects. For non-linearized files, there is a risk | ||
| 766 | - that an indirect object that used to be referenced would no | ||
| 767 | - longer be referenced, and whether it was already written to the | ||
| 768 | - output file would be based on an accident of where it was | ||
| 769 | - encountered when traversing the object structure. For linearized | ||
| 770 | - files, the situation is considerably worse. We decide which | ||
| 771 | - section of the file to write an object to based on a mapping of | ||
| 772 | - which objects are used by which other objects. Changing this | ||
| 773 | - mapping could cause an object to appear in the wrong section, to | ||
| 774 | - be written even though it is unreferenced, or to be entirely | ||
| 775 | - omitted since, during linearization, we don't enqueue new objects | ||
| 776 | - as we traverse for writing. | ||
| 777 | - | ||
| 778 | - * There are several places in QPDFWriter that query a stream's | ||
| 779 | - dictionary in order to prepare for writing or to make decisions | ||
| 780 | - about certain aspects of the writing process. If the stream data | ||
| 781 | - provider has the chance to modify the dictionary, every piece of | ||
| 782 | - code that gets stream data would have to be aware of this. This | ||
| 783 | - would potentially include end user code. For example, any code | ||
| 784 | - that called getDict() on a stream before installing a stream data | ||
| 785 | - provider and expected that dictionary to be valid would | ||
| 786 | - potentially be broken. As implemented right now, you must perform | ||
| 787 | - any modifications on the dictionary in advance and provided | ||
| 788 | - /Filter and /DecodeParms at the time you installed the stream | ||
| 789 | - data provider. This means that some computations would have to be | ||
| 790 | - done more than once, but for linearized files, stream data | ||
| 791 | - providers are already called more than once. If the work done by | ||
| 792 | - a stream data provider is especially expensive, it can implement | 559 | +* Investigate whether there is a way to automate the memory checker tests for Windows. |
| 560 | + | ||
| 561 | +* Provide support in QPDFWriter for writing incremental updates. Provide support in qpdf for | ||
| 562 | + preserving incremental updates. The goal should be that QDF mode should be fully functional for | ||
| 563 | + files with incremental updates including fix_qdf. | ||
| 564 | + | ||
| 565 | + Note that there's nothing that says an indirect object in one update can't refer to an object that | ||
| 566 | + doesn't appear until a later update. This means that QPDF has to treat indirect null objects | ||
| 567 | + differently from how it does now. QPDF drops indirect null objects that appear as members of | ||
| 568 | + arrays or dictionaries. For arrays, it's handled in QPDFWriter where we make indirect nulls | ||
| 569 | + direct. This is in a single if block, and nothing else in the code cares about it. We could just | ||
| 570 | + remove that if block and not break anything except a few test cases that exercise the current | ||
| 571 | + behavior. For dictionaries, it's more complicated. In this case, QPDF_Dictionary::getKeys() | ||
| 572 | + ignores all keys with null values, and hasKey() returns false for keys that have null values. We | ||
| 573 | + would probably want to make QPDF_Dictionary able to handle the special case of keys that are | ||
| 574 | + indirect nulls and basically never have it drop any keys that are indirect objects. | ||
| 575 | + | ||
| 576 | + If we make a change to have qpdf preserve indirect references to null objects, we have to note | ||
| 577 | + this in ChangeLog and in the release notes since this will change output files. We did this before | ||
| 578 | + when we stopped flattening scalar references, so this is probably not a big deal. We also have to | ||
| 579 | + make sure that the testing for this handles non-trivial cases of the targets of indirect nulls | ||
| 580 | + being replaced by real objects in an update. I'm not sure how this plays with linearization, if at | ||
| 581 | + all. For cases where incremental updates are not being preserved as incremental updates and where | ||
| 582 | + the data is being folded in (as is always the case with qpdf now), none of this should make any | ||
| 583 | + difference in the actual semantics of the files. | ||
| 584 | + | ||
| 585 | +* The second xref stream for linearized files has to be padded only because we need file_size as | ||
| 586 | + computed in pass 1 to be accurate. If we were not allowing writing to a pipe, we could seek back | ||
| 587 | + to the beginning and fill in the value of /L in the linearization dictionary as an optimization to | ||
| 588 | + alleviate the need for this padding. Doing so would require us to pad the /L value individually | ||
| 589 | + and also to save the file descriptor and determine whether it's seekable. This is probably not | ||
| 590 | + worth bothering with. | ||
| 591 | + | ||
| 592 | +* Based on an idea suggested by user "Atom Smasher", consider providing some mechanism to recover | ||
| 593 | + earlier versions of a file embedded prior to appended sections. | ||
| 594 | + | ||
| 595 | +* Consider creating a sanitizer to make it easier for people to send broken files. Now that we have | ||
| 596 | + json mode, this is probably no longer worth doing. Here is the previous idea, possibly implemented | ||
| 597 | + by making it possible to run the lexer (tokenizer) over a whole file. Make it possible to replace | ||
| 598 | + all strings in a file lexically even on badly broken files. Ideally this should work files that | ||
| 599 | + are lacking xref, have broken links, duplicated dictionary keys, syntax errors, etc., and ideally | ||
| 600 | + it should work with encrypted files if possible. This should go through the streams and strings | ||
| 601 | + and replace them with fixed or random characters, preferably, but not necessarily, in a manner | ||
| 602 | + that works with fonts. One possibility would be to detect whether a string contains characters | ||
| 603 | + with normal encoding, and if so, use 0x41. If the string uses character maps, use 0x01. The output | ||
| 604 | + should otherwise be unrelated to the input. This could be built after the filtering and tokenizer | ||
| 605 | + rewrite and should be done in a manner that takes advantage of the other lexical features. This | ||
| 606 | + sanitizer should also clear metadata and replace images. If I ever do this, the file from issue | ||
| 607 | + #494 would be a great one to look at. | ||
| 608 | + | ||
| 609 | +* Here are some notes about having stream data providers modify stream dictionaries. I had wanted to | ||
| 610 | + add this functionality to make it more efficient to create stream data providers that may | ||
| 611 | + dynamically decide what kind of filters to use and that may end up modifying the dictionary | ||
| 612 | + conditionally depending on the original stream data. Ultimately I decided not to implement this | ||
| 613 | + feature. This paragraph describes why. | ||
| 614 | + | ||
| 615 | + * When writing, the way objects are placed into the queue for writing strongly precludes creation | ||
| 616 | + of any new indirect objects, or even changing which indirect objects are referenced from which | ||
| 617 | + other objects, because we sometimes write as we are traversing and enqueuing objects. For | ||
| 618 | + non-linearized files, there is a risk that an indirect object that used to be referenced would | ||
| 619 | + no longer be referenced, and whether it was already written to the output file would be based on | ||
| 620 | + an accident of where it was encountered when traversing the object structure. For linearized | ||
| 621 | + files, the situation is considerably worse. We decide which section of the file to write an | ||
| 622 | + object to based on a mapping of which objects are used by which other objects. Changing this | ||
| 623 | + mapping could cause an object to appear in the wrong section, to be written even though it is | ||
| 624 | + unreferenced, or to be entirely omitted since, during linearization, we don't enqueue new | ||
| 625 | + objects as we traverse for writing. | ||
| 626 | + | ||
| 627 | + * There are several places in QPDFWriter that query a stream's dictionary in order to prepare for | ||
| 628 | + writing or to make decisions about certain aspects of the writing process. If the stream data | ||
| 629 | + provider has the chance to modify the dictionary, every piece of code that gets stream data | ||
| 630 | + would have to be aware of this. This would potentially include end user code. For example, any | ||
| 631 | + code that called getDict() on a stream before installing a stream data provider and expected | ||
| 632 | + that dictionary to be valid would potentially be broken. As implemented right now, you must | ||
| 633 | + perform any modifications on the dictionary in advance and provided /Filter and /DecodeParms at | ||
| 634 | + the time you installed the stream data provider. This means that some computations would have to | ||
| 635 | + be done more than once, but for linearized files, stream data providers are already called more | ||
| 636 | + than once. If the work done by a stream data provider is especially expensive, it can implement | ||
| 793 | its own cache. | 637 | its own cache. |
| 794 | 638 | ||
| 795 | - The example examples/pdf-custom-filter.cc demonstrates the use of | ||
| 796 | - custom stream filters. This includes a custom pipeline, a custom | ||
| 797 | - stream filter, as well as modification of a stream's dictionary to | ||
| 798 | - include creation of a new stream that is referenced from | ||
| 799 | - /DecodeParms. | ||
| 800 | - | ||
| 801 | -* Removal of raw QPDF* from the API. Discussions in #747 and #754. | ||
| 802 | - This is a summary of the arguments I put forth in #754. The idea was | ||
| 803 | - to make QPDF::QPDF() private and require all QPDF objects to be | ||
| 804 | - shared pointers created with QPDF::create(). This would enable us to | ||
| 805 | - have QPDFObjectHandle::getOwningQPDF() return a std::weak_ptr<QPDF>. | ||
| 806 | - Prior to #726 (QPDFObject/QPDFValue split, released in qpdf 11.0.0), | ||
| 807 | - getOwningQPDF() could return an invalid pointer if the owning QPDF | ||
| 808 | - disappeared, but this is no longer the case, which removes the main | 639 | + The example examples/pdf-custom-filter.cc demonstrates the use of custom stream filters. This |
| 640 | + includes a custom pipeline, a custom stream filter, as well as modification of a stream's | ||
| 641 | + dictionary to include creation of a new stream that is referenced from /DecodeParms. | ||
| 642 | + | ||
| 643 | +* Removal of raw QPDF* from the API. Discussions in #747 and #754. This is a summary of the | ||
| 644 | + arguments I put forth in #754. The idea was to make QPDF::QPDF() private and require all QPDF | ||
| 645 | + objects to be shared pointers created with QPDF::create(). This would enable us to have | ||
| 646 | + QPDFObjectHandle::getOwningQPDF() return a std::weak_ptr<QPDF>. Prior to #726 ( | ||
| 647 | + QPDFObject/QPDFValue split, released in qpdf 11.0.0), getOwningQPDF() could return an invalid | ||
| 648 | + pointer if the owning QPDF disappeared, but this is no longer the case, which removes the main | ||
| 809 | motivation. QPDF 11 added QPDF::create() anyway though. | 649 | motivation. QPDF 11 added QPDF::create() anyway though. |
| 810 | 650 | ||
| 811 | - Removing raw QPDF* would look something like this. Note that you | ||
| 812 | - can't use std::make_shared<T> unless T has a public constructor. | 651 | + Removing raw QPDF* would look something like this. Note that you can't use std::make_shared<T> |
| 652 | + unless T has a public constructor. | ||
| 813 | 653 | ||
| 814 | QPDF_POINTER_TRANSITION = 0 -- no warnings around calling the QPDF constructor | 654 | QPDF_POINTER_TRANSITION = 0 -- no warnings around calling the QPDF constructor |
| 815 | - QPDF_POINTER_TRANSITION = 1 -- calls to QPDF() are deprecated, but QPDF is still available so code can be backward compatible and use std::make_shared<QPDF> | ||
| 816 | - QPDF_POINTER_TRANSITION = 2 -- the QPDF constructor is private; all calls to std::make_shared<QPDF> have to be replaced with QPDF::create | ||
| 817 | - | ||
| 818 | - If we were to do this, we'd have to look at each use of QPDF* in the | ||
| 819 | - interface and decide whether to use a std::shared_ptr or a | ||
| 820 | - std::weak_ptr. The answer would almost always be to use a | ||
| 821 | - std::weak_ptr, which means we'd have to take the extra step of | ||
| 822 | - calling lock(), and it means there would be lots of code changes | ||
| 823 | - cause people would have to pass weak pointers instead of raw | ||
| 824 | - pointers around, and those have to be constructed and locked. | ||
| 825 | - Passing std::shared_ptr around leaves the possibility of creating | ||
| 826 | - circular references. It seems to be too much trouble in the library | ||
| 827 | - and too much toil for library users to be worth the small benefit of | ||
| 828 | - not having to call resetObjGen in QPDF's destructor. | 655 | + QPDF_POINTER_TRANSITION = 1 -- calls to QPDF() are deprecated, but QPDF is still available so code |
| 656 | + can be backward compatible and use std::make_shared<QPDF> | ||
| 657 | + QPDF_POINTER_TRANSITION = 2 -- the QPDF constructor is private; all calls to std:: | ||
| 658 | + make_shared<QPDF> have to be replaced with QPDF::create | ||
| 659 | + | ||
| 660 | + If we were to do this, we'd have to look at each use of QPDF* in the interface and decide whether | ||
| 661 | + to use a std::shared_ptr or a std::weak_ptr. The answer would almost always be to use a std:: | ||
| 662 | + weak_ptr, which means we'd have to take the extra step of calling lock(), and it means there would | ||
| 663 | + be lots of code changes cause people would have to pass weak pointers instead of raw pointers | ||
| 664 | + around, and those have to be constructed and locked. Passing std::shared_ptr around leaves the | ||
| 665 | + possibility of creating circular references. It seems to be too much trouble in the library and | ||
| 666 | + too much toil for library users to be worth the small benefit of not having to call resetObjGen in | ||
| 667 | + QPDF's destructor. | ||
| 829 | 668 | ||
| 830 | * Fix Multiple Direct Object Parent Issue | 669 | * Fix Multiple Direct Object Parent Issue |
| 831 | 670 | ||
| 832 | - This idea was rejected because it would be complicated to implement | ||
| 833 | - and would likely have a high performance cost to fix what is not | ||
| 834 | - really that big of a problem in practice. | ||
| 835 | - | ||
| 836 | - It is possible for a QPDFObjectHandle for a direct object to be | ||
| 837 | - contained inside of multiple QPDFObjectHandle objects or even | ||
| 838 | - replicated across multiple QPDF objects. This creates a potentially | ||
| 839 | - confusing and unintentional aliasing of direct objects. There are | ||
| 840 | - known cases in the qpdf library where this happens including page | ||
| 841 | - splitting and merging (particularly with page labels, and possibly | ||
| 842 | - with other cases), and also with unsafeShallowCopy. Disallowing this | ||
| 843 | - would incur a significant performance penalty and is probably not | ||
| 844 | - worth doing. If we were to do it, here are some ideas. | ||
| 845 | - | ||
| 846 | - * Add std::weak_ptr<QPDFObject> parent to QPDFObject. When adding a | ||
| 847 | - direct object to an array or dictionary, set its parent. When | ||
| 848 | - removing it, clear the parent pointer. The parent pointer would | ||
| 849 | - always be null for indirect objects, so the parent pointer, which | ||
| 850 | - would reside in QPDFObject, would have to be managed by | ||
| 851 | - QPDFObjectHandle. This is because QPDFObject can't tell the | 671 | + This idea was rejected because it would be complicated to implement and would likely have a high |
| 672 | + performance cost to fix what is not really that big of a problem in practice. | ||
| 673 | + | ||
| 674 | + It is possible for a QPDFObjectHandle for a direct object to be contained inside of multiple | ||
| 675 | + QPDFObjectHandle objects or even replicated across multiple QPDF objects. This creates a | ||
| 676 | + potentially confusing and unintentional aliasing of direct objects. There are known cases in the | ||
| 677 | + qpdf library where this happens including page splitting and merging (particularly with page | ||
| 678 | + labels, and possibly with other cases), and also with unsafeShallowCopy. Disallowing this would | ||
| 679 | + incur a significant performance penalty and is probably not worth doing. If we were to do it, here | ||
| 680 | + are some ideas. | ||
| 681 | + | ||
| 682 | + * Add std::weak_ptr<QPDFObject> parent to QPDFObject. When adding a direct object to an array or | ||
| 683 | + dictionary, set its parent. When removing it, clear the parent pointer. The parent pointer would | ||
| 684 | + always be null for indirect objects, so the parent pointer, which would reside in QPDFObject, | ||
| 685 | + would have to be managed by QPDFObjectHandle. This is because QPDFObject can't tell the | ||
| 852 | difference between a resolved indirect object and a direct object. | 686 | difference between a resolved indirect object and a direct object. |
| 853 | 687 | ||
| 854 | - * Phase 1: When a direct object that already has a parent is added | ||
| 855 | - to a dictionary or array, issue a warning. There would need to be | ||
| 856 | - unsafe add methods used by unsafeShallowCopy. These would add but | ||
| 857 | - not modify the parent pointer. | ||
| 858 | - | ||
| 859 | - * Phase 2: In the next major release, make the multiple parent case | ||
| 860 | - an error. Require people to create a copy. The unsafe operations | ||
| 861 | - would still have to be permitted. | ||
| 862 | - | ||
| 863 | - This approach would allow an object to be moved from one object to | ||
| 864 | - another by removing it, which returns the now orphaned object, and | ||
| 865 | - then inserting it somewhere else. It also doesn't break the pattern | ||
| 866 | - of adding a direct object to something and subsequently mutating it. | ||
| 867 | - It just prevents the same object from being added to more than one | ||
| 868 | - thing. | 688 | + * Phase 1: When a direct object that already has a parent is added to a dictionary or array, issue |
| 689 | + a warning. There would need to be unsafe add methods used by unsafeShallowCopy. These would add | ||
| 690 | + but not modify the parent pointer. | ||
| 691 | + | ||
| 692 | + * Phase 2: In the next major release, make the multiple parent case an error. Require people to | ||
| 693 | + create a copy. The unsafe operations would still have to be permitted. | ||
| 694 | + | ||
| 695 | + This approach would allow an object to be moved from one object to another by removing it, which | ||
| 696 | + returns the now orphaned object, and then inserting it somewhere else. It also doesn't break the | ||
| 697 | + pattern of adding a direct object to something and subsequently mutating it. It just prevents the | ||
| 698 | + same object from being added to more than one thing. |