Arch Linux User Repository

There are reports about this software dying after 15s again.
known workarounds:
• use another pdf-reader whereever possible
• use acroread windows version in wine (HowTo: https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=27093&iTestingId=92286)
• remove /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/EFS.api (this might have unknown consequences regarding your data and software functionality, especially related to internet connectivity)
• comment out the ipv6 line (::1) in /etc/hosts (this might impair your ipv6 connectivity and functionality of locally communicating programs)

This package *is not* out-of-date, it serves outdated software.

Another workaround for the crash on reading /etc/hosts is to start acroread as follows:

sudo unshare -n sudo -u ${USER} ACRO_ALLOW_SUDO=1 acroread

This disables network access for the application, apparently that's enough to keep it from crashing.

@fordprefect:
Thank you so much. I removed /opt/Adobe/Reader9/Reader/intellinux/plug_ins/EFS.api and now acroread is working again.

The problem with other pfd-reader is the printing part. I always find some shortcomings. For printing acroread works best for me. That's why I still use it. For viewing I use qpdfview, mupdf or zathura.

Got this error while opening a form:
You need to install the Traditional Chinese Language Support Package to view or fill in this form. If you continue without installing this package, the form will not work correctly. Under the current configuration, this resource is not available. You can download it from http://www.adobe.com/go/acroasianfontpack

Neither installing aur/acroread-fonts nor aur/acroread-fonts-systemwide solved the problem.
On the Adobe website
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10&platform=Windows
I found in the category "add-ons" the "Adobe Reader X Font Packs - Chinese Traditional".
Downloaded the .msi-file, extracted it with msiextract from aur/msitools and copied all the files from 'Program Files/Adobe/Reader 10.0/*' to '/opt/Adobe/Reader9/'

Hopefully this hint saves someones time..

@c3924754: thank you for providing an automated workaround. much appreciated.
because of personal reasons (rl that sucker) investigation stalled at some point with libxcb/gcc6, i do not expect them to go forward before end of july. i'm sorry but cannot do too much about it. if anyone likes to investigate on my behalf feel free to contact me.

http://pastebin.com/MjGiDiPY
---------------------------------------------

New version. To be perfectly clear (and I'm sorry I wasn't before) this little trick I created just helps address the problem people have with commenting the IPV6 line, as in, it just applies the workaround described in the 4th point of fordprefect's pinned comment and then procedes to undo it so you don't have any connectivity problems.

Quoting for reference: "comment out the ipv6 line (::1) in /etc/hosts (this might impair your ipv6 connectivity and functionality of locally communicating programs)"

If my script does not work it is possible that you are suffering from another problem and this workaround does not apply to your case. The script is now more verbose and checks for a running instance first. Give it a try either way. Again, this comments the IPV6 address, launches Reader and then uncomments for other applications to be able to use it.
If you have problems with this script please first try to edit your hosts file yourself and see if the workaround works for you.

Usage (cli): Let's say you have a PDF file in your home directory.
script.sh ~/file.pdf

I suggest you use it in an application chooser via GUI, try to add the script to your 'Open with...' dialog in your DE/WM/File manager.

@c3924754 - you are right, I didn't try it with sudo and didn't have "notify-send" installed. I did that now. The script runs through, but acroread isn't even opened. I set the sleep to 30, no luck.

@c3924754: I tried the script and it does not work for me.

I am now able to open files, but acroread still crashes within one minute

@fordprefect: Sorry for the late reply: yes I´m on x86_64 as well

@DrMartinus: What seems to be the problem with the script? Do you have every dependecy I talked about? Maybe try to increase the sleep value i.e. 25.

@DrMartinus: i know what you mean, we all need acroread for one or the other reason. PSO provided a solution that works for him (including some i686 files from the repo), but i was not yet able to reproduce and shape into final workaround. sadly this is not happening in the next week either since i am on vacation.
nevertheless you may fear not. use the workarounds for the time beeing (EFS.api is definitely not needed for printing) and you will notice when there is enough progress to show for you to test. this is definitely not given up by now.

tl;dr: working on it, but wont come tomorrow.