[poppler] PDF 2.0 Spec (answer from FSFE)

[Albert Astals Cid]

El dimarts, 5 de març de 2019, a les 9:08:34 CET, Tobias Deiminger va escriure:
> Hi folks,

Hi
 
> below is a copy of an answer from FSF Europe regarding
> what we can do to get access to PDF ISO standard. Thanks
> again to Max Mehl and LUGOS, in case you're reading here.
> 
> The bottom line is, we should try to find an organisation that
> is/becomes member of a national standardisation body (170€/year)
> on behalf of poppler, and poppler devs need to be member of that
> org in turn. This way we get (free) access to drafts of standards
> and could even influence the standards development.
> 
> Friendly orgs to ask may be
> - KDE e.V.
> - GNOME Foundation
> - The Document Foundation
> 
> What's your opinion / preference about that? Would you be ok with
> becoming a member of one of that orgs? 

I guess the question is also, would those orgs accept us as members? I mean i may not have any issue being part of X but why would X want me if i am really not part of their community?

Cheers,
  Albert

> If you're interested,
> I can carry on contacting named orgs regarding the idea.
> 
> Cheers
> Tobias
> 
> 
> 
> --- snip, copy of answer starts here ---
> 
>  From: FSFE <contact at fsfe.org> (Free Software Foundation Europe e.V.)
> To: tobias.deiminger at posteo.de
> CC: aacid at kde.org
> 
> Dear Tobias,
> 
> Some weeks ago you've asked us for help with the latest PDF
> specification.
> 
> 21/12/2018 09:57 - FSFE wrote:
> > 12/12/2018 19:54 - Tobias Deiminger wrote:
> > > Poppler developers need access to the PDF specification,
> > > which used to be available free of charge. Things changed in
> > > 2017 when there was a new major release of the PDF standard.
> > > The old version 1.7 was (C) Adobe [1], but the new version
> > > 2.0 is (C) ISO and they claim 198 CHF [2] or 229,40 € [3]
> > > for one copy. I talked to DIN, they have other licensing
> > > models, but still too expensive for private volunteers.
> > 
> > Thanks for your request and your work on this important project.
> > 
> > > Does FSFE already have some contact with ISO and a known
> > > procedure regarding getting standards for free software
> > > projects, from similar cases? And no matter if yes or no,
> > > could you contact ISO and ask them if they can give away some
> > > copies - 6 would be nice - for free, for a charitable project?
> > > You're experienced in dealing with big organisations, and a
> > > request from you would be loaded with some political weight.
> > 
> > As far as I know we have no direct contact with ISO, but I will ask our
> > core team whether someone has some connections. Otherwise, I will send 
> > a
> > mail to ISO on my own, but I can't promise anything of course.
> 
> We've discussed that, and this is the latest status on it, given by a
> member of the Slovenian NGO LUGOS:
> 
>    Update from LUGOS’ side after we discussed internally and with
>    SIST (Slovenian Institute for Standardisation), a member of which
>    LUGOS is as well:
> 
>    Firstly – and most importantly – the spec in question is already
>    being superseeded by a newer¹ one. The ISO 32000-2:2017 standard
>    that Tobias was asking for is currently in 90.92/Review phase and
>    is going to be superseeded by ISO/CD 32000-2.
> 
>    BTW, the ISO/CD 32000-2, is currently in the 30.60/Committee Draft
>    (CD) phase, so a perfect time for organisations to influence the
>    new standard (revision) in the making.
> 
>    Members of national standardisation bodies have (free) access to
>    drafts of standards and can influence the development. In almost
>    all cases the very last draft is identical to the final standard.
> 
>    SIST itself is not following the ISO/TC 171/SC 2 yet, but LUGOS
>    can make a request to join that Technical Committee (TC). We are
>    discussing it, and probably will join.
> 
>    Even then, LUGOS would not be allowed to share the standard draft
>    outside of its membership, due to copyright protection.
> 
>    But, I should let you know that the price for an NGO to be a
>    member of the national standardisation body is very much
>    affordable – LUGOS pays cca. 170 €/year to be member of SIST – the
>    easiest way to get your hands on a standard (in the making) would
>    be to have KDE e.V. or FSFE e.V. join DIN and request to follow
>    ISO/TC 171/SC 2 (and other TC of interest).
> 
>    To keep things kosher, it would be prudent to either make all who
>    have access to the standard members of the e.V., or to make the
>    PDF 2.0 feature an (official) project of said e.V., so people who
>    would be working on this project would be able to have access to
>    the docs legally.
> 
> As the FSFE is not doing any software development, I would recommend to
> team up with KDE e.V. or The Document Foundation, which both have some
> projects in this regard. If you need some contacts to these
> organisations, I'd be happy to help.
> 
> Best,
> Max
> 
>