[pdfmod] the one true evince/pdfmod merge or not thread (was requesting your input on releases, etc)

[Gabriel Burt <gabriel burt gmail com>]

I've split this off into it's own thread, so it's easier to find in
the archives etc.

On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 6:16 PM, Brett Alton<brett jr alton gmail com> wrote:
>> == Other ==
>> Any opinions on proposing pdfmod for inclusion in the GNOME desktop?
>> Sandy, I'd be especially interested in your input on this.
>>
>> Any other advice, input, or questions?
>
> I haven't been on this mailing list for long, so please excuse my
> ignorance if I raise such dialogue, but what are the possibilities of
> making pdf-mod a plugin _of_ Evince?

Quoting myself from my reply to your comment on my blog
(https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=33979271&postID=6013553952206830497&pli=1):

    I think it's better as a separate tool. Having it all in one would
make it overly complicated, confusing with respect to which mode
you're in, accidentally editing things when you're just viewing a
document, etc.

On https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=33979271&postID=2272864362741705600
David Prieto said

    I think all the functionality shown in the screenshots could be
available by right-clicking the thumbnails in Evince's left pane, and
you wouldn't have to install a specific app for such basic operations.

This doesn't account for the drag and drop functionality, which
conflicts with Evince's ability to select text.

> The reason I raise this question - and raise it again as many have
> asked before - is because a couple people were suggesting Evince be
> merged with pdf-mod (or give pdf-mod the capabilities of Evince) while
> others were pushing for pdf-mod to stay as it's own separate entity
> and neither of these choices seem like a good idea to me.
>
> The reason I don't believe this is a good idea is Evince is already a
> PDF viewer. pdf-mod is a PDF editor. Why keep the two separated? To me
> that feels like having OpenOffice.org or Abiword as a program to view
> documents and having another program to edit them (e.g.
> openoffice.org-edit or abiword-edit). It just doesn't sit well to me
> to have two separate programs that are so closely related.

I think it's more analogous to Eye of GNOME being a viewer (evince)
and GIMP being an editor (pdfmod).  For that matter, you can use
OpenOffice for doing what PDF Mod does, but in my experience it does
not have good rendering fidelity.

What it comes down to:  I do not plan to merge them.  PDF Mod is as it
was intended to be: a simple, standalone tool for modifying PDFs.
Though you are welcome to work on merging them if you're so inclined.

Gabriel