Ubuntu
evince package

how can i open a fdf file on linux without using proprietary software ?

Asked by dave b.

how can i open a fdf file on linux without using proprietary software ?

If you go to http://rutherglen.ics.mq.edu.au/~maths/S108/135/quizzes.html and use the user name guest, / student guest and as for the first quiz, you get a send_BLAH.pl file....
On windows xp with adobe reader installed it opens a pdf. However, on ubuntu firefox/Konqueror shows that it is a fdf mime type. From some googling this is basically used to generate a pdf for me...

So how can i edit / open / view the said fdf file (no i can't access the *.pdf directly for the example ...) on ubuntu without using proprietary software ?

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nhasian (nhasian) said : 		#1

well its a proprietary format...

you can enable the medibuntu repository:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

then you can do:

sudo apt-get install acroread

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dave b. (d+b) said : 		#2

So it is not part of the iso standard (-> pdf) ... this Forms Data Format ?

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juancarlospaco (juancarlospaco) said : 		#3

You can open .PDF with Evince, installed by default on Ubuntu.

If it is a standard PDF, rename it to .PDF and you can open with Evince, if you cant it means this is not a standard PDF, but propietary.

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dave b. (d+b) said : 		#4

 juancarlospaco i'm not sure that is the case ... just because i can't open a file doesn't mean that the file format is proprietary. :( and... it is not just a simple case of renaming a file. I don't think my question is closed, as i have yet to receive a technical answer.

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juancarlospaco (juancarlospaco) said : 		#5

apt:/pdftk

If PDF is electronic paper, then pdftk is an electronic stapler-remover, hole-punch, binder, secret-decoder-ring, and X-Ray-glasses.
Pdftk is a simple tool for doing everyday things with PDF documents.
Keep one in the top drawer of your desktop and use it to:
- Merge PDF documents
- Split PDF pages into a new document
- Decrypt input as necessary (password required)
- Encrypt output as desired
- Fill PDF Forms with FDF Data and/or Flatten Forms
- Apply a Background Watermark
- Report PDF on metrics, including metadata and bookmarks
- Update PDF Metadata
- Attach Files to PDF Pages or the PDF Document
- Unpack PDF Attachments
- Burst a PDF document into single pages
- Uncompress and re-compress page streams
- Repair corrupted PDF (where possible)

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