4 ms·

Okular does that already, except easier than MuPDF and with the option to copy as an image as well (and more). Edit: I tried installing MuPDF, and it doesn't h

by mkl 5y ago

Okular does that already, except easier than MuPDF and with the option to copy as an image as well (and more). Edit: I tried installing MuPDF, and it doesn't hold a candle to Okular, which is far easier to use in practically every way, and which is far more capable. MuPDF is fast at rendering pages, but is extremely limited (e.g. it can't even scroll or display pages side by side).

adrian_b 5y ago
I use both MuPDF and Okular, which is much better than using only one of them. MuPDF is very noticeably faster than Okular, so I use MuPDF for most cases when I just want to read quickly a PDF file or search through it. Therefore MuPDF is the default application for opening a PDF file, because it opens the file instantaneously, saving me a lot of time when I browse through many PDF files. Whenever I find a PDF file with which MuPDF has difficulties or I need a feature available only in Okular, I use Okular.
michaelmrose 5y ago
Zathura can use mupdf as a backend. You get the same rendering speed but an interface that doesn't suck and it works for epubs and pdfs.
- the_third_wave 5y ago
  I just tried Zathura but found it did not support EPUB where mupdf has no problems with that format: $ zathura Books/nonfiction/English/Douglas_Murray/Douglas_Murray-The_War_on_the_West-2022-HarperCollins-English.epub error: Could not determine file type. This is the version currently on Debian/Sid, with all packages installed (zathura, zathura-ps, zathura-djvu, zathura-cb). I also noticed zathura renders PDF differently (and noticeably slower) compared to mupdf. It does not use mupdf as a backend, instead depending on libpoppler: Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libgirara-gtk3-3 (>= 0.2.7), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.16.0), libpoppler-glib8 (>= 0.18.0), zathura-abi-4 Which version of Zathura do you have installed? [edit] Checking around I noticed that Zathura can use mupdf as a backend but this is not enabled in the build currently on Debian/Sid. It is available in e.g. Arch [1] but Debian does not package this part. I'll build it myself and give it a try. [1] https://archlinux.org/packages/?name=zathura-pdf-mupdf https://archlinux.org/packages/?name=zathura-pdf-mupdf
the_third_wave 5y ago
Okular also pulls in a sizeable part of KDE as dependencies: Depends: kinit, kio, libc6 (>= 2.33), libfreetype6 (>= 2.2.1), libjpeg62-turbo (>= 1.3.1), libkf5activities5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5archive5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5bookmarks5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5codecs5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5completion5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5configcore5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5configgui5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5configwidgets5 (>= 5.83.0), libkf5coreaddons5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5crash5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5i18n5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5itemviews5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5jobwidgets5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5kexiv2-15.0.0 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5kiocore5 (>= 5.69.0), libkf5kiowidgets5 (>= 5.69.0), libkf5parts5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5pty5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5purpose-bin, libkf5purpose5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5service-bin, libkf5service5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5textwidgets5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5wallet-bin, libkf5wallet5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5widgetsaddons5 (>= 5.77.0), libkf5windowsystem5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5xmlgui5 (>= 5.80.0), libokular5core9 (= 4:21.12.3-2), libphonon4qt5-4 (>= 4:4.8.0), libpoppler-qt5-1 (>= 21.11.0), libqmobipocket2 (>= 4:17.08~), libqt5core5a (>= 5.15.1), libqt5dbus5 (>= 5.14.1), libqt5gui5 (>= 5.14.1) | libqt5gui5-gles (>= 5.14.1), libqt5printsupport5 (>= 5.13.0~), libqt5texttospeech5 (>= 5.12.0~), libqt5widgets5 (>= 5.15.1), libqt5xml5 (>= 5.13.0~), libspectre1 (>= 0.2.3), libstdc++6 (>= 11), phonon4qt5, zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4) Compare this to mupdf: Depends: freeglut3 (>= 2.8.1), libc6 (>= 2.33), libfreetype6 (>= 2.6), libgl1, libgumbo1 (>= 0.9.2), libharfbuzz0b (>= 0.9.11), libjbig2dec0 (>= 0.19), libjpeg62-turbo (>= 1.3.1), libmujs1 (>= 1.0.7), libopenjp2-7 (>= 2.0.0), libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0), libx11-6, libxext6, zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.0) If you're already using KDE Okular is a natural choice. If you're not there are better alternatives, e.g. Atril for Mate-users, Evince for Gnome users and, yes, mupdf for those who do not use any "desktop environment". Those who use older hardware (like me) appreciate the nimbleness of tools like mupdf. It also fits in perfectly when using a tiling window manager (Xmonad etc) as it does not have any UI elements getting in the way, only showing what you're actually interested in. It supports (according to the man page) PDF, XPS, EPUB, XHTML, CBZ, and various image formats such as PNG, JPEG, GIF, and TIFF. This is akin to vi vs VS-Code, to each his own I'd say.
- SanchoPanda 5y ago
  This is how I finally gave in to using FlatPak. I wanted Okular, but also wanted the rest of the QT stuff it's own little sandbox as I wasn't using it anywhere else. I did the AppImage thing for a while, but it was too difficult to keep up to date without the developers prodiving that themselves. Side Note: Flatpak is actually pretty nice, the lengthas I went to avoid it were pretty unreasonable in retrospect.

by mkl 5y ago

adrian_b 5y ago

I use both MuPDF and Okular, which is much better than using only one of them. MuPDF is very noticeably faster than Okular, so I use MuPDF for most cases when I just want to read quickly a PDF file or search through it. Therefore MuPDF is the default application for opening a PDF file, because it opens the file instantaneously, saving me a lot of time when I browse through many PDF files. Whenever I find a PDF file with which MuPDF has difficulties or I need a feature available only in Okular, I use Okular.

michaelmrose 5y ago

Zathura can use mupdf as a backend. You get the same rendering speed but an interface that doesn't suck and it works for epubs and pdfs.

the_third_wave 5y ago
I just tried Zathura but found it did not support EPUB where mupdf has no problems with that format: $ zathura Books/nonfiction/English/Douglas_Murray/Douglas_Murray-The_War_on_the_West-2022-HarperCollins-English.epub error: Could not determine file type. This is the version currently on Debian/Sid, with all packages installed (zathura, zathura-ps, zathura-djvu, zathura-cb). I also noticed zathura renders PDF differently (and noticeably slower) compared to mupdf. It does not use mupdf as a backend, instead depending on libpoppler: Depends: libc6 (>= 2.4), libgirara-gtk3-3 (>= 0.2.7), libglib2.0-0 (>= 2.16.0), libpoppler-glib8 (>= 0.18.0), zathura-abi-4 Which version of Zathura do you have installed? [edit] Checking around I noticed that Zathura can use mupdf as a backend but this is not enabled in the build currently on Debian/Sid. It is available in e.g. Arch [1] but Debian does not package this part. I'll build it myself and give it a try. [1] https://archlinux.org/packages/?name=zathura-pdf-mupdf https://archlinux.org/packages/?name=zathura-pdf-mupdf

the_third_wave 5y ago

Okular also pulls in a sizeable part of KDE as dependencies: Depends: kinit, kio, libc6 (>= 2.33), libfreetype6 (>= 2.2.1), libjpeg62-turbo (>= 1.3.1), libkf5activities5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5archive5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5bookmarks5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5codecs5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5completion5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5configcore5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5configgui5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5configwidgets5 (>= 5.83.0), libkf5coreaddons5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5crash5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5i18n5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5itemviews5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5jobwidgets5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5kexiv2-15.0.0 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5kiocore5 (>= 5.69.0), libkf5kiowidgets5 (>= 5.69.0), libkf5parts5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5pty5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5purpose-bin, libkf5purpose5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5service-bin, libkf5service5 (>= 4.96.0), libkf5textwidgets5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5wallet-bin, libkf5wallet5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5widgetsaddons5 (>= 5.77.0), libkf5windowsystem5 (>= 5.68.0~), libkf5xmlgui5 (>= 5.80.0), libokular5core9 (= 4:21.12.3-2), libphonon4qt5-4 (>= 4:4.8.0), libpoppler-qt5-1 (>= 21.11.0), libqmobipocket2 (>= 4:17.08~), libqt5core5a (>= 5.15.1), libqt5dbus5 (>= 5.14.1), libqt5gui5 (>= 5.14.1) | libqt5gui5-gles (>= 5.14.1), libqt5printsupport5 (>= 5.13.0~), libqt5texttospeech5 (>= 5.12.0~), libqt5widgets5 (>= 5.15.1), libqt5xml5 (>= 5.13.0~), libspectre1 (>= 0.2.3), libstdc++6 (>= 11), phonon4qt5, zlib1g (>= 1:1.1.4) Compare this to mupdf: Depends: freeglut3 (>= 2.8.1), libc6 (>= 2.33), libfreetype6 (>= 2.6), libgl1, libgumbo1 (>= 0.9.2), libharfbuzz0b (>= 0.9.11), libjbig2dec0 (>= 0.19), libjpeg62-turbo (>= 1.3.1), libmujs1 (>= 1.0.7), libopenjp2-7 (>= 2.0.0), libssl1.1 (>= 1.1.0), libx11-6, libxext6, zlib1g (>= 1:1.2.0) If you're already using KDE Okular is a natural choice. If you're not there are better alternatives, e.g. Atril for Mate-users, Evince for Gnome users and, yes, mupdf for those who do not use any "desktop environment". Those who use older hardware (like me) appreciate the nimbleness of tools like mupdf. It also fits in perfectly when using a tiling window manager (Xmonad etc) as it does not have any UI elements getting in the way, only showing what you're actually interested in. It supports (according to the man page) PDF, XPS, EPUB, XHTML, CBZ, and various image formats such as PNG, JPEG, GIF, and TIFF. This is akin to vi vs VS-Code, to each his own I'd say.

SanchoPanda 5y ago
This is how I finally gave in to using FlatPak. I wanted Okular, but also wanted the rest of the QT stuff it's own little sandbox as I wasn't using it anywhere else. I did the AppImage thing for a while, but it was too difficult to keep up to date without the developers prodiving that themselves. Side Note: Flatpak is actually pretty nice, the lengthas I went to avoid it were pretty unreasonable in retrospect.