tags:

views:

71

answers:

2
+2  Q: 

Looking for a free PDF Render library or command line utility

Good Day,

I spent many hours looking for a free PDF (.NET or ActiveX) rendering library or command line utility that can be used in a commercial application.

There are a few well-known tools and libs under GPL and numerous of expensive PDF Rendering libraries. GPL: xpdf, poppler, mupdf, GhostScript Commercial: PDFVew4Net, AbcPDF, TallComponents, PDFTron, ...

May be I missed something and someone can suggest me a command line tool or .NET library to render PDF documents that is free and can be used in commercial application?

Thanks in advance.

BR Murat

+1  A: 

You may use the GPL utilities, as long as you don't incorporate them into your program (principally by linking libraries).

Export the document to an input format that a GPL tool understands and invoke it to convert to PDF, or pipe the output of your program to a PDF tool.

Adrian  2010-10-12 19:30:28
Adrian, thanks for the reponse. You can see on xpdf distribution conditions that they required the additional commercial licensing. The same answer I got from muPDF team: anybody needs to obtain commercial license for using MuPDF or GhostScript in a commercial application.
Murat  2010-10-12 20:07:49
So I am a bit confusing: from one side I can dinamically link a compiled exe file to my commercial application (according GPL), from the other side the fact that library developers said I need to buy a special OEM license.
Murat  2010-10-12 20:10:38
Both programs are distributed under the GPL (specifically not including AFPL Ghostscript). GPL permits commercial distribution of the software (provided you stick to the rules and also distribute sources for the GPL programs). Your program does NOT become a derivative work just by virtue
Adrian  2010-10-17 14:54:52
Darn, enter submits ; edit time too short : Both programs are distributed under the GPL (excluding AFPL Ghostscript). GPL prohibits you from adding restrictions to GPL versions like "must not be used WITH commercial software". Your program is NOT a derivative work just by virtue of being bundled with GPL programs. You MAY export data from a commercial program and use a GPL program to process it. You MAY NOT build GPL code into your program without it being GPL too. See GPL FAQ sects; http://bit.ly/JG5h1#DoesTheGPLAllowMoney http://bit.ly/JG5h1#GPLInProprietarySystem
Adrian  2010-10-17 15:14:40
A: 

Here is a commercial PDF library with a resonable pricing: EzPDFlibrary

Sarah  2010-10-27 13:19:39

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