rpike has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I noticed some people posting questions about PDF::API2 and so forth. Is there a module currently available as opensource for creating PDFs? Basically is PDF::API2 free? Thanks.

Rob

2006-01-18 Retitled by jdporter; was 'PDF'. See guidelines

  • Comment on Is there an open-source module for creating PDFs?

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Re: Is there an open-source module for creating PDFs?
by jdporter (Paladin) on Jan 17, 2006 at 20:49 UTC
Re: Is there an open-source module for creating PDFs?
by tirwhan (Abbot) on Jan 17, 2006 at 20:39 UTC

    The license for PDF::API2 will give you the answer to that question. In brief, yes it's free as in beer and speech.


    There are ten types of people: those that understand binary and those that don't.

      The LICENSE file provided with the distribution also provides some clarification specifically relating to patent issues.

Re: Is there an open-source module for creating PDFs?
by pboin (Deacon) on Jan 17, 2006 at 20:43 UTC

    Yes, pretty much everything (all?) on the CPAN would be described as 'free' by reasonable people.

    Check out PDF::Reuse while you're over there.

Re: Is there an open-source module for creating PDFs?
by mitd (Curate) on Jan 17, 2006 at 20:47 UTC

    I have used PDF::Reuse with great sucess. There are several other
    modules available CPAN Search::PDF will point you to lots of PDF gems.

    mitd-Made in the Dark
    I've always been astonished by the absurd turns
    rivers have to make to flow under every bridge.

Re: Is there an open-source module for creating PDFs?
by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Jan 18, 2006 at 01:26 UTC
    There is also PDF::Template which is a wrapper around PDFLib which is both free and for-pay. The full PDFLib library has a pretty hefty license, but there is a PDFLite which has most features most people want, and it's free. PDF::Template will work with both.

    There has been some work done to make PDF::Template work with PDF::API2, but I haven't been able to successfully merge the changes that autrijus did into the mainline PDF::Template.


    My criteria for good software:
    1. Does it work?
    2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?