any decent open-source PDF annotation pgms out there?

[Mike Kupfer]

Johnny Rosenberg wrote:

> Den 2010-09-11 17:35:59 skrev Robert P. J. Day [elided -mdk]:
> 
> >   every so often, i poke around looking for a working program that
> > will let me annotate PDF files and have yet to find one.
[...]
> >   ideally, i'd like one that's multi-platform so i'm just about to
> > look at the sun import pdf extension for open office.  but if anyone
> > has a suggestion for one that really and truly works, i'm all ears.

I've been reasonably productive using Xournal.  I'm not sure how
multi-platform you need; I use the binary package on Ubuntu, and I build
from source on Solaris.  I do have to turn off XInput support (under
Options) on Solaris.

By default, Xournal saves a separate file, which includes the absolute
path of the original PDF.  So if you move the PDF, the next time you
open the Xournal file, Xournal complains and asks for the new path.
There is an option to export a new PDF, which contains your annotations.
I've given it some light testing, and the good news is that the exported
PDF is only slightly bigger than the original.  (I've tried printing
articles from IEEE Spectrum and ended up with a 5-page article that's
twice as big as the entire 80-page magazine.)  The bad news is that you
can no longer edit your annotations, as they are baked into the PDF.

I have seen exactly once a problem where the annotations that I made on
Ubuntu were rendered at the wrong location when I opened the document on
Solaris.  Dunno what happened there.  If I see it again, I may spend
some time trying to track it down.

I have also tested PDF annotation with Okular.  It seems to work okay,
and by default it keeps a copy of the original PDF with your
annotations.  But ISTR it requires a bunch o' KDE libraries.

> what do you mean by ”annotate PDF files”? Exactly what do you want to  
> do with the PDF files?

I can't speak for Robert, but I use Xournal to add textual notes and to
highlight sections of the original text.  These are things I would do if
I were working with hardcopy, but I'm getting more and more magazines
and journals as PDFs.

mike