reference dependencies

Dependencies

Active contributors: Artem

The shipping library depends on Linux/glibc and zlib, plus a compatible TrueType font. Build/test/research tools are separate from runtime dependencies.

Runtime and platform

Dependency	Why	Source
64-bit Linux with glibc	Only supported platform; GNU/POSIX APIs and ELF packaging	README.md, CMakeLists.txt, src/platform.h
glibc cookie streams	Callback adapter and counted output share FILE * writing	src/convert.c, src/pdf_write.c
zlib	Flate-compressed page content and complete embedded font	src/pdf_write.c, Makefile, CMakeLists.txt
TrueType font	Fixed-repertoire metrics and embedded glyph outlines	src/font.c, fonts/DejaVuSans.ttf

CMake rejects non-Linux, non-64-bit and non-glibc targets. Make rejects non-Linux; src/platform.h also requires Linux/glibc during compilation. musl, macOS and Windows are not supported or advertised as merely untested alternatives.

The XML parser and PDF writer are project code, not libxml2 or an external PDF engine. There is no network resolver, Java/FOP runtime, image library, shaping engine or linked subsetter. A caller can supply another compatible font, subject to the 8 MiB cap and unchanged body repertoire.

Link dependencies reach consumers

Consumption route	zlib handling
Raw static archive	Add -lz after the archive/library
pkg-config shared	pkg-config --libs ki_xml_pdf gives public library flags
pkg-config static	Use pkg-config --static --libs ki_xml_pdf to include Libs.private: -lz
CMake static target	ki_xml_pdf::static carries the zlib link-only dependency
CMake shared target	Shared library records libz as an ELF NEEDED dependency

cmake/ki_xml_pdfConfig.cmake.in calls find_dependency(ZLIB). zlib development files are required when building and for installed CMake discovery. Do not copy obsolete “glibc and font only” or “no dependencies” claims.

Build tools

Tool	Use
GCC or Clang, C99	Core library and CLI
GNU Make	Development/install/source targets in Makefile
GNU-compatible linker and ar	ELF version scripts/soname and static archive
zlib development package	Headers and link library; Debian/Ubuntu zlib1g-dev
CMake 3.16+	Out-of-tree build, CTest, install and consumers
pkg-config	Installed consumer discovery
Git, tar/gzip, SHA-256 tools	Exact-HEAD source archives and provenance

C++ is not a core runtime requirement. A C++ compiler is required to check public-header and installed-client compatibility. The Make defaults include C99 warnings, PIC and POSIX feature macros; see Tooling.

Check tools

Tool	Evidence
Python 3	CLI/feature/PDF/resource oracles and fixture generators; regular suites use the standard library
Bash and standard Unix tools	Integration, docs, installation and archive scripts
Poppler pdfinfo, pdftotext, pdftohtml	Page structure/text extraction and independent reading
Poppler pdffonts, pdftoppm	Embedded-font identity and actual raster ink for font/geometry/integration checks
binutils readelf, loader ldd	Soname, symbol/linkage and old-binary checks
/usr/bin/time	Separate converter/generator/reader/oracle RSS records
pthreads	Independent-context C regressions
GNU linker --wrap	fsync and zlib failure injection
DejaVu system fonts	Non-default bold-font checks in tests/font_metrics_check.py

For a Debian/Ubuntu check environment:

sudo apt-get install -y gcc g++ clang make cmake pkg-config zlib1g-dev \
  binutils python3 time poppler-utils fonts-dejavu-core

The repository also bundles its default font. A development system font is not a reason for installed consumers to depend on the source checkout. See Testing for exact suite membership.

CI and release tooling

.github/workflows/ci.yml uses GitHub-hosted ubuntu-latest and installs job-specific tools. Actions are actions/checkout@v4 and actions/upload-artifact@v7.0.2. Those are tag/version references, not immutable commit-SHA pins. .github/workflows/release.yml additionally uses GitHub CLI to create tag-triggered releases. The tag job does not rerun functional/resource CI.

Licensing and research boundary

Project source, public API and original examples use MIT under LICENSE. fonts/DejaVuSans.copyright carries the separate Bitstream Vera/DejaVu terms. Both build systems install the font and its notice alongside the project license. Users supplying other fonts are responsible for their embedding/distribution rights.

Massif/Valgrind in the OSR-82 evidence is historical profiling tooling, not a converter dependency. UTF-16, table and subsetting research scripts are not runtime or ordinary Make/CMake test dependencies. No product support for those experiments follows from their presence in the source tree.

Key source files

File	Role
Makefile, CMakeLists.txt	Required compiler/link/build dependencies
cmake/ki_xml_pdf.pc.in, cmake/ki_xml_pdfConfig.cmake.in	Consumer dependency propagation
src/platform.h	Compile-time Linux/glibc guard
.github/workflows/ci.yml	Job packages and action references
LICENSE, fonts/DejaVuSans.copyright	Distribution notices

Related: Packaging, Distribution and releases.