Xpdf

Xpdf is a cross-platform, open-source suite for viewing and processing PDF documents. The package includes the xpdf viewer and a set of command-line utilities such as pdftotext for extracting plain text, pdftohtml for HTML conversion, pdftoppm for rendering pages to bitmap images, and pdfimages for extracting embedded images. It also provides the libxpdf library, which software developers can embed in other programs to render PDFs.

Originating in the late 1990s, Xpdf was designed as a lightweight, portable alternative to commercial PDF viewers. Over time it gained broader platform support, including Windows, macOS, and Unix-like systems. The project is maintained by a small team and a community of volunteers and is distributed under a permissive open-source license.

Impact and lineage: The Xpdf codebase served as the foundation for the Poppler project, a widely used PDF rendering library in many Linux desktop environments. Poppler represents a fork with additional features and governance, but it remains compatible with many xpdf-derived tools and APIs, contributing to a broader ecosystem of PDF software.

Usage and distribution: Xpdf is included in numerous Linux distributions and is also available for Windows and macOS. It is used for quick viewing, text extraction, and automated document processing tasks via its command-line utilities, making it a practical option for developers and system administrators seeking a lightweight PDF toolkit.