Re-packaging the Adobe Reader RPM

(for newer Fedora and RHEL >=8 releases)

Adobe Reader for Linux is no longer supported by Adobe. Acrobat Reader 9.5.5 was the last version released back in April, 2013.

Unfortunately trying to install AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm on newer Fedora or RHEL releases results in unsatisfied dependencies :

$ sudo dnf install ./AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm
Error: 
 Problem: conflicting requests
  - nothing provides /bin/basename needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486
  - nothing provides libidn.so.11 needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486
  - nothing provides libpangox-1.0.so.0 needed by AdobeReader_enu-9.5.5-1.i486

Bug fixes and enhancements

The new AdobeReader binary RPM that is generated from the instructions in the next sections has a number of fixes and enhancements compared to the original RPM:

• Missing /bin/basename requires dependency has been replaced with coreutils.
• Missing libidn.so.11 and libpangox-1.0.so.0 are bundled in the new RPM and located in /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/lib/.
  • The missing libidn.so.11 is extracted from a CentOS 8 libidn i686 RPM (libidn-1.34-5.el8.i686.rpm). Although libidn.so.11 is not strictly required to have been included in the new AdobeReader RPM for RHEL 8, the new RPM will be compatible with both RHEL 8 and 9.
  • The missing libpangox-1.0.so.0 is extracted from a Fedora 31 pangox-compat i686 RPM (pangox-compat-0.0.2-15.fc31.i686.rpm). pangox-compat RPM is used because main pango RPM hasn't provided the obsolete libpangox library since Fedora 17.
• Recommends dependencies added for packages that suppress Gtk-Message runtime warnings. (Note: any Recommends dependency which can no longer be satisfied on a newer Fedora or RHEL release because the i686 package no longer exists is automatically ignored, so unfortunately may have to live with some runtime warnings)
• Filters out the auto-requires and auto-provides for libraries installed to /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/lib/ as the libraries are specific to the AdobeReader RPM and should not be used to satisfy the dependencies of any other RPM.
• Removed Netscape NPAPI based PDF plug-in as it is not supported by any modern web-browser.
• Instead of using the legacy /etc/bash_completion.d directory, uses /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/acroread symlink to the acroread_tab file which is dynamically loaded on demand by bash-completion.
• Renames _filedir function to _acroread_filedir in the acroread_tab file to avoid potential name clash issues.
• Although "SELinux is preventing /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/bin/acroread from making the program stack executable" SELinux error no longer occurs since selinux-policy-3.9.7-13.fc14 and Fedora Bugzilla# 630217, there is no reason acroread should be attempting to make its stack executable which is a potential security issue. For that reason, the execstack flag is cleared from bundled libcrypto.so.0.9.8 and libsccore.so library files which are the only bundled files that have the execstack flag set.
• Instead of using xdg-desktop-icon, xdg-desktop-menu, xdg-icon-resource and xdg-mimeto install icons, .desktop and mime files in the RPM post install scriplet, use symlinks to the original files.
• Has option to not include problematic Internet Access Plug-in (EFS.api) in the RPM that is built. See top of AdobeReader.spec file for more details.

Prerequisites

Install prerequisite packages with:

sudo dnf install rpmdevtools git execstack

Create directories for RPM building under your home directory

To build RPMs with an unprivileged user, create a directory structure under your home directory with the following command :

rpmdev-setuptree

Which results in the following directory structure under your home directory:

rpmbuild/
├── BUILD/
├── RPMS/
├── SOURCES/
├── SPECS/
└── SRPMS/

Fetch files, extract library files and copy to rpmbuild sub-directories

git clone https://github.com/eait-cups-printing/adobe-reader-rpm.git
cd adobe-reader-rpm/
cp -p AdobeReader.spec ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/

curl -O ftp://ftp.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.5/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm
curl -O https://archives.fedoraproject.org/pub/archive/fedora/linux/releases/31/Everything/x86_64/os/Packages/p/pangox-compat-0.0.2-15.fc31.i686.rpm
curl -O https://vault.centos.org/8.5.2111/AppStream/x86_64/os/Packages/libidn-1.34-5.el8.i686.rpm

cp -p AdbeRdr9.5.5-1_i486linux_enu.rpm ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES/

rpm2cpio libidn-1.34-5.el8.i686.rpm | cpio -idm
cp -p usr/lib/libidn.so.11.6.18 ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES/

rpm2cpio pangox-compat-0.0.2-15.fc31.i686.rpm | cpio -idm
cp -p usr/lib/libpangox-1.0.so.0.0.0 ~/rpmbuild/SOURCES/

Build the new AdobeReader-9.5.5-2.i686.rpm binary RPM

cd ~/rpmbuild/SPECS/
rpmbuild --target i686 -ba AdobeReader.spec

Install the new AdobeReader-9.5.5-2.i686.rpm binary RPM

sudo dnf install ~/rpmbuild/RPMS/i686/AdobeReader-9.5.5-2.i686.rpm

If you encounter a "nothing provides libgdk_pixbuf_xlib-2.0.so.0" error, then you will need to enable a PowerTools/CRB "CodeReady Builder" repository which contains the missing gdk-pixbuf2-xlib i686 RPM:

CentOS 9 Stream, Alma Linux 9, Rocky Linux 9

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled crb

RedHat Enterprise Linux 9

sudo dnf config-manager --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-9-x86_64-rpms

CentOS 8 Stream, Alma Linux 9, Rocky Linux 9

sudo dnf config-manager --set-enabled powertools

RedHat Enterprise Linux 8

sudo dnf config-manager --enable codeready-builder-for-rhel-8-x86_64-rpms

cups-filters 1.x pdf2ps filter

cups-filters 1.x includes a pdf2ps filter that can be configured to use Adobe Reader to convert PDF to PostScript. Adobe Reader seems to have fewer problems ingesting PDFs sent to the print server and the generated PostScript has few problems with PostScript interpreters on printers.