PDFlib V4.0.2
=============
Portable C library for dynamically generating PDF ("Adobe Acrobat") files,
with support for many other programming languages.

Copyright (c) 1997-2002 PDFlib GmbH and Thomas Merz.  All rights reserved.
PDFlib is a registered trademark of PDFlib GmbH.

The PDFlib distribution is available from http://www.pdflib.com

THIS IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN OR FREEWARE SOFTWARE -- 
see end of this file for an overview of licensing and
usage issues, and the file doc/PDFlib-license.pdf for details.

The PDFlib purcharse order form for commercial usage can also
be found in the doc directory.


Overview
========
PDFlib is a C library for generating PDF files. It offers a graphics
API with support for drawing, text, fonts, images, and hypertext. Call PDFlib
routines from within your client program and voila: dynamic PDF files!
For detailed instructions on PDFlib programming and the associated API,
see the PDFlib Programming Manual, included in PDF format in the
PDFlib distribution.

In addition, you can deal with existing PDF documents if you have
the PDF import library (PDI). PDI is a separate product which is
not available as open source.


Supported Programming Environments
==================================
The PDFlib core library can be built as a static library or a shared
C library/DLL. PDFlib can be used from the following environments:

- ANSI C libary (static or dynamic)
- ANSI C++ via an object wrapper
- Perl
- Tcl
- PHP hypertext processor
- Python
- RPG
- Java via the JNI, including servlets
- ActiveX/COM (Visual Basic, Active Server Pages with VBScript and JScript,
  Windows Script Host, Delphi, ColdFusion, and numerous other environments).
  The ActiveX edition of PDFlib is available separately.

The necessary wrappers for attaching PDFlib to these environments are
included in the distribution (except for ActiveX), as well as sample
programs for all supported environments.

Three PDFlib sample applications are supplied for all supported language
bindings:

- hello:	simple "hello, world!" program
- pdfclock:	generate a PDF file with an analog clock image
- image:	embed a JPEG image in the PDF output


PDF Features
============
PDFlib's many features are covered in detail in the programming manual.
So let's just take a brief look at the most important ones:

- basic drawing
  lines, rectangles, arcs, Bezier curves, ...
  gray scale or RGB color
- text
  text in different fonts and sizes, formatting
  PostScript and TrueType font embedding, built-in font metrics,
  AFM and PFM metrics files for additional fonts, arbitrary encodings
- image file formats
  support for PNG, CCITT, TIFF, GIF, and JPEG files
- PDF output compression via the zlib/flate algorithm
- hypertext features
  bookmarks, page transitions, Web and local links, PDF file attachments
- Unicode support for PostScript and TrueType fonts, hypertext and CJK
  page descriptions
- CID font support for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean text


PDF import library (PDI)
========================
PDFlib's companion product PDI (PDF import library) parses existing PDF
documents and prepares them for use with PDFlib. PDI is a separate
product from PDFlib, but is highly integrated for use with PDFlib.

The following PDI samples are supplied for all supported language bindings:

- personalize: import a PDF page, and place some dynamic text on top of it.
- quickreference: import multiple pages from an existing document, scale
  down the pages, and place them on an output page.

PDI is available for commercial licensing from http://www.pdflib.com.
PDI is not available in source code, but we offer fully functional
precompiled versions for a variety of platforms.


Supplied Library Clients
========================
PDFlib includes some sample client programs in the C language:

- pdftest:	general C test program, illustrates many PDF features
- pdfimage:	convert GIF/TIFF/JPEG/PNG image files to PDF
- text2pdf:	convert text files to PDF

A sample PDI client is also available, although it will only
work with the optional PDI library:

- pdfimpose	assemble pages from multiple PDFs on a single sheet


Platform support
================
PDFlib requires an ANSI C compiler and runs on many platforms since
it doesn't make use of an platform-specific features, and doesn't
have any user interface. PDFlib is primarily developed and tested
on Linux, Windows, and MacOS, and is compiled and tested on a
variety of other platforms, including EBCDIC-based platforms. On
our Web site you can find precompiled versions for IBM eServer iSeries 400
and zSeries 390.


Binary distributions
====================
PDFlib is available as source code as well as binary distribution
for many platforms combinations. If you download a binary package,
you save yourself the hassle of building the library for your platform.
However, you should read the comprehensive manual (see below) in order
to learn how to install the supplied binaries, and how to use PDFlib.

Note that we supply binaries only to commercial customers.


Where to start?
===============
PDFlib comes with a comprehensive manual which can be found as a
PDF document in the doc directory. The manual constitutes mandatory
reading for all PDFlib users.

Platform-specific build and install instructions can be found in
the readme_<platform>.txt files in the doc directory.


PDFlib resources
================
Information on building and using PDFlib is available at several places.
Please use these resources:

- The PDFlib manual in the doc directory contains the complete API reference,
  plus extensive information regarding the supported language bindings.
  Only the features presented in the manual are supported.

- The PDFlib FAQ collects information about known bugs, patches,
  and workarounds: http://www.pdflib.com.

- The PDFlib mailing list discusses PDFlib deployment in a variety of
  environments. You can access the mailing list archives over the Web,
  and don't need to subscribe in order to use it:
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pdflib

- Commercial PDFlib licensees are eligible for professional product
  support from PDFlib GmbH. Please send your inquiry along with your
  PDFlib license number to support@pdflib.com.


Third-party libraries integrated in PDFlib
==========================================
PDFlib includes source code for the following features (you must no
longer install these separately):

- zlib compression (http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/zlib).

- Sam Leffler's TIFFlib (http://www.libtiff.org)

- The PNG image library (http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/libpng.html)

Note that our versions of these libraries are modified for use with
PDFlib, and are not identical to versions which are available from
the Web sites mentioned above.


Submitting Bug Reports
======================
In case of trouble you should always check the PDFlib Web site
in order to see whether your problem is already known, or a patch exists.
If not so, please observe the following:

If you have trouble building PDFlib on your system, please send the following
to support@pdflib.com:

- a description of your problem and the platform in use
- the PDFlib version number you are using
- the output of "./libtool --config" (Unix systems only)
- most welcome: suggested patches or solutions, other helpful information

If you have trouble with the behavior of PDFlib, please send the following:

- a description of your problem
- the platform in use
- the PDFlib version number you are using
- the language binding you are using, along with relevant version numbers
- relevant code snippets for reproducing the problem, or a small PDF file
  exhibiting the problem if you can't construct a code snippet easily
- sample data files if necessary (image files, for example)


A Shameless Plug
===============
My book contains a lot of information on PostScript, Fonts, and PDF
(currently only available in German):

Die PostScript- & PDF-Bibel
Von Thomas Merz und Olaf Druemmer
654 Seiten, ISBN 3-935320-01-9
Kopublikation PDFlib GmbH/dpunkt Verlag
http://www.pdflib.com/bibel
e-mail orders: books@pdflib.com


Licensing and Copyright
=======================
THIS IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN OR FREEWARE SOFTWARE!

PDFlib is available under two different licensing terms which are
substantially different, and meet the needs of different developer groups.
Please take the time to read the short summaries below in order to decide
which one applies to your development.


The Aladdin Free Public License
-------------------------------
This license applies to the main PDFlib package, but not to the
ActiveX edition and any EBCDIC editions (both of which are only
available under the terms of the commercial PDFlib license). The
complete text of the license agreement can be found in the
file aladdin-license.pdf. In short and non-legal terms:

- You may develop free software with PDFlib, provided you make your source
  code available.
- You may develop software for your own use with PDFlib, as long as you
  don't sell it.
- You may redistribute PDFlib non-commercially.
- You may redistribute PDFlib on digital media if the complete contents of
  the media are freely redistributable.
  
Only the text in the file doc/aladdin-license.pdf is considered to completely
describe the licensing conditions. Project managers please note: Using PDFlib
in your commercial projects is not covered by the Aladdin license, and
effectively means jeopardizing your project through unlicensed software!


The commercial PDFlib license
-----------------------------
A commercial PDFlib license is required for all uses of the software which
are not explicitly covered by the Aladdin Free Public License, for example:

- shipping a commercial product which contains PDFlib,
- distributing (free or commercial) software based on PDFlib when the source
  code is not made available,
- implementing commercial Web services with PDFlib.

Details of the commercial PDFlib license and a purchase order form
can be found in the doc directory. Maintenance and support contracts are
also available.

Please contact us if you're interested in obtaining a commercial PDFlib license:

PDFlib GmbH
Tal 40, 80331 Muenchen, Germany
fax +49/89/29 16 46 86

License inquiries: sales@pdflib.com

Support for PDFlib licensees: support@pdflib.com

Thomas Merz, the primary author of PDFlib: tm@pdflib.com

Technical inquiries if you have not licensed PDFlib:
mailing list and archives at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pdflib

Copyright (c) 1997-2002 PDFlib GmbH and Thomas Merz.  All rights reserved.
PDFlib and the PDFlib logo are registered trademarks of PDFlib GmbH.
