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From "Jukka Zitting" <>
Subject Re: [DISCUSS] PDFBox proposal
Date Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:20:59 GMT

We're getting closer to finalizing the PDFBox proposal [1] (current
wiki source included below). I plan to call a vote on the proposal in
a few days, so any questions, comments and suggestions are welcome. If
you're interested, there's also a vacant spot for a third mentor.



Jukka Zitting


Proposal Draft

= PDFBox =

=== Abstract ===


=== Proposal ===

The PDFBox library allows creation of new PDF documents, manipulation
of existing documents and the ability to extract content from
documents. PDFBox also includes several command line utilities. Future
development plans include extending PDFBox with advanced data
extraction and high level PDF creation functionality.

In addition to PDFBox, this proposal also covers the !FontBox and
!JempBox companion libraries. !FontBox is a Java font library used to
obtain low level information from font files. !JempBox is a Java
library that implements Adobe's XMP specification. All these
components would be incubated as a single Apache PDFBox podling

=== Background ===

The PDFBox project started in 2002 and was originally written by Ben
Litchfield in 2002 and currently lives on SourceForge. The initial
purpose of PDFBox was to extract text content to be indexed by the
Lucene search engine.  In addition to text extraction the library also
supports a low level API for PDF creation and manipulation.  In the
past, several developers have helped develop specific features in
PDFBox but none have continued once their specific needs where met.

In 2006 discussions began with the FOP team to collaborate on a single
PDF library within the Apache organization.  New projects have
expressed interest in advancing the functionality of PDFBox.

Recently, Tika also expressed interest in advancing the content
extraction capabilities of PDFBox.

The !FontBox and !JempBox libraries have no dependencies to PDFBox,
but their primary purpose is to support PDFBox and the development
community is largely overlapping. It makes sense to include all three
libraries in a single project.

=== Rationale ===

The PDF document format is a common format found on internet and
across industries as a way of sharing documents.  Several Apache
projects utilize PDF technologies but there is not a single
independent PDF library within the Apache organization.

The Apache XML Graphics project (FOP/Batik) has a write-only PDF
library and is in need of PDF parsing functionality. Many features
overlap those of PDFBox. This is currently a duplication of effort,
bringing PDFBox into Apache and combining our efforts will result in a
more robust PDF library that will be able to support many more use
cases for working with PDF technologies.

!FontBox, FOP and Batik all contain font loading/handling code that
could likely be merged into a single common library either within the
PDFBox podling or outside it.

=== Initial Goals ===

The initial goals are:

  * Advanced text extraction techniques
  * Increase community involvement
  * Cooperation with existing Apache projects such as XML Graphics
  * Increasing support for PDF document features
  * Adding a high level API for document creation
  * Adding a streaming API for document creation
  * PDF/A creation and validation functionality
  * Review licensing of both bundled and external dependencies
  * Manage export control notices for cryptographic features
  * Figure out how to handle font handling code across !FontBox, FOP, and Batik
  * Replace !JempBox with Adobe's XMP library

== Current Status ==

=== Meritocracy ===

Not all initial committers are familiar with the meritocracy
principles of Apache.  It is expected that the committers that are not
will learn the meritocracy rules and they will be followed through the
life of the project.

=== Community ===

PDFBox has existed for several years on SourceForge and has an active
community and continues to grow each day.  There are hundreds of
existing projects that utilize the current version of PDFBox.

=== Core Developers ===

Ben Litchfield is the main developer on this project although it is
expected that developers from a variety of existing Apache projects
will become part of the team.

=== Alignment ===

The ability to search PDF documents is a basic requirement for any
enterprise search solution.  PDFBox provides the basic content that is
needed for content indexing.  This functionality aligns with the those
of Lucene, Nutch, Tika and UIMA and all users of these projects will
benefit from continued development of PDFBox.

PDFBox shares similar font loading and handling needs as FOP and
Batik, and the code in the !FontBox companion library could well be
merged with similar code in the other projects.

== Known Risks ==

=== Orphaned products ===

PDFBox has been in development for over 5 years.  The rate of
development has varied, but the PDFBox user community has grown each
year.  PDFBox implements the PDF specification, which is highly
utilized by companies across the world.  The need for a PDF library is
strong and is unlikely to change in the near future.

=== "Competing" formats ===

In recent times, additional paged document formats have been developed
(or are in development) that have similar goals/functionality:

  * Microsoft's [ XPS]
(XML-based ZIP container, proprietary core-functionality)
  * Adobe's [ Mars] (XML-based
ZIP container, largely based on open standards, extending them where

=== Inexperience with Open Source ===

All developers have experience with Open Source projects.

=== Homogenous Developers ===

The initial set of committers is diverse and the project is likely to
attract new developers.

=== Reliance on Salaried Developers ===

PDFBox is not the primary job for any of the initial committers.

=== Relationships with Other Apache Products ===

PDFBox has relationships with the following Apache Products

  * [ Apache Lucene] Lucene users
typically integrate with PDFBox to add PDF indexing capabilities.
  * [ Lucene Nutch] Nutch currently
utilizes PDFBox to index PDF documents.
  * [ Tika] Tika currently utilizes
PDFBox for extracting PDF content.
  * [ Apache UIMA] UIMA analyzes
unstructured content and would benefit from PDF content.
  * [ Apache FOP] and
[ Apache Batik] There's an
experimental plug-in (currently hosted outside of the project) for FOP
that uses PDFBox to support embedding of existing PDFs in XSL-FO
documents for PDF output. Both Batik and FOP have code to parse fonts
which !FontBox needs to do, too.


Many existing Apache developers are already familiar with PDFBox.
PDFBox was initially written to compliment the functionality of Lucene
and has worked with it's developers over the past several years.
PDFBox will benefit from closer cooperation with several existing
Apache projects.

== Documentation ==

  * PDFBox ([])
  * !FontBox ([])
  * !JempBox ([])

== Initial Source ==

Initial source will come from the existing SourceForge repositories of
the PDFBox, !FontBox, and !JempBox projects.

== Source and Intellectual Property Submission Plan ==

The initial IP submission will be done as a software grant to the ASF.

== External Dependencies ==

The "Adobe AFM License" and the "SUN JAI" licenses described below
need to be reviewed to ensure they comply with Apache license

||Adobe AFM||Adobe AFM License||Resources for extracting font
encoding. Bundled inside PDFBox jar file.||
||Bouncycastle||BSD Variant||Support for encrypting/decrypting PDF documents.||
||IKVM||BSD Variant [1]||Support of PDFBox on .NET platform||
||junit||CPL||Unit Testing Framework||
||Lucene||ASL||Provide classes for easy Lucene integration||
||JAI-CMM||Sun JAI||Provides support from color spaces||

''[1] IKVM itself is BSD but contains either GNU Classpath or the
OpenJDK class library (both GPL with exception). This may need to be
reviewed, too.''

== Cryptography ==

PDFBox implements the RC4 encryption algorithm and utilizes Bouncy
Castle for additional encryption routines.

== Required Resources ==

Mailing lists


Subversion Directory


Issue Tracking


Other Resources

 * none

== Initial Committers ==

'''CLA'''        ||
|| Ben Litchfield    || ben at benlitchfield dot com             || No
|| Daniel Wilson     || williamstonconsulting at gmail dot com   || No
|| Philipp Koch      || pkoch at apache dot org                  ||
Yes              ||

== Affiliations ==

|| '''Name'''        || '''Affiliation''' ||
|| Ben Litchfield    || Independent       ||
|| Daniel Wilson     || DV Brown Company  ||
|| Philipp Koch      || Day Software      ||

== Sponsors ==


 * Jukka Zitting

Nominated Mentors

 * Jukka Zitting
 * Jeremias Maerki
 * ...

Sponsoring Entity

 * Apache Incubator PMC

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