Last Updated on May 22, 2022
This is a series highlighting best-of-breed utilities. We cover a wide range of utilities including tools that boost your productivity, help you manage your workflow, and lots more besides.
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format created by Adobe Systems in 1993 for document exchange. The format includes a subset of the PostScript page description programming language, a font-embedding system, and a structural storage system.
PDF Mix Tool is a small utility that allows you to perform common editing operations on PDF files. It’s a Qt-based tool that’s written in C++.
Installation
We’re installing PDF Mix Tool on a completely fresh installation of Ubuntu 21.10.
We first need to install the software’s dependencies and tools. There’s quite a few we’re missing with a new installation of Ubuntu, although some of them you may already have installed on your system, particularly if you compile software.
$ sudo apt install git cmake build-essential libqpdf-dev imagemagick libmagick++-dev qtbase5-dev qtchooser qt5-qmake qtbase5-dev-tools libqt5svg5-dev qttools5-dev
The build-essential package includes g++ which is needed to compile this software.
Next issue the following commands at a terminal:
$ git clone https://gitlab.com/scarpetta/pdfmixtool
$ cd pdfmixtool
$ mkdir build
$ cd build
$ cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
$ make -j 6
We’re using the make -j option as this enables the compiler to use more CPU cores, which speeds up compilation enormously.
If you don’t want to manually compile the software, you can install the software using flatpak or snap.
Using flatpak
If you’re never used Flatpaks before, you’ll first need to install the flatpak package. At a shell type:
$ sudo apt install flatpak
$ flatpak install flathub eu.scarpetta.PDFMixTool
Run the program with the command:
$ flatpak run eu.scarpetta.PDFMixTool
Using Snap
$ sudo snap install pdfmixtool
$ sudo snap connect pdfmixtool:removable-media
There may also be a convenient package available for your distribution.
Next page: Page 2 – In Operation
Pages in this article:
Page 1 – Introduction / Installation
Page 2 – In Operation
Page 3 – Summary
Complete list of articles in this series:
| Excellent Utilities | |
|---|---|
| AES Crypt | Encrypt files using the Advanced Encryption Standard |
| Ananicy | Shell daemon created to manage processes’ IO and CPU priorities |
| broot | Next gen tree explorer and customizable launcher |
| Cerebro | Fast application launcher |
| cheat.sh | Community driven unified cheat sheet |
| CopyQ | Advanced clipboard manager |
| croc | Securely transfer files and folders from the command-line |
| Deskreen | Live streaming your desktop to a web browser |
| duf | Disk usage utility with more polished presentation than the classic df |
| eza | A turbo-charged alternative to the venerable ls command |
| Extension Manager | Browse, install and manage GNOME Shell Extensions |
| fd | Wonderful alternative to the venerable find |
| fkill | Kill processes quick and easy |
| fontpreview | Quickly search and preview fonts |
| horcrux | File splitter with encryption and redundancy |
| Kooha | Simple screen recorder |
| KOReader | Document viewer for a wide variety of file formats |
| Imagine | A simple yet effective image optimization tool |
| LanguageTool | Style and grammar checker for 30+ languages |
| Liquid Prompt | Adaptive prompt for Bash & Zsh |
| lnav | Advanced log file viewer for the small-scale; great for troubleshooting |
| lsd | Like exa, lsd is a turbo-charged alternative to ls |
| Mark Text | Simple and elegant Markdown editor |
| McFly | Navigate through your bash shell history |
| mdless | Formatted and highlighted view of Markdown files |
| noti | Monitors a command or process and triggers a notification |
| Nushell | Flexible cross-platform shell with a modern feel |
| nvitop | GPU process management for NVIDIA graphics cards |
| OCRmyPDF | Add OCR text layer to scanned PDFs |
| Oh My Zsh | Framework to manage your Zsh configuration |
| Paperwork | Designed to simplify the management of your paperwork |
| pastel | Generate, analyze, convert and manipulate colors |
| PDF Mix Tool | Perform common editing operations on PDF files |
| peco | Simple interactive filtering tool that's remarkably useful |
| ripgrep | Recursively search directories for a regex pattern |
| Rnote | Sketch and take handwritten notes |
| scrcpy | Display and control Android devices |
| Sticky | Simulates the traditional “sticky note” style stationery on your desktop |
| tldr | Simplified and community-driven man pages |
| tmux | A terminal multiplexer that offers a massive boost to your workflow |
| Tusk | An unofficial Evernote client with bags of potential |
| Ulauncher | Sublime application launcher |
| Watson | Track the time spent on projects |
| Whoogle Search | Self-hosted and privacy-focused metasearch engine |
| Zellij | Terminal workspace with batteries included |