Why does Confluence still use iText 2.1.7 to export PDFs?
Asked by Graham Hannington:

I'm exporting PDFs from Confluence Server 6.7.0.

I want to know in comprehensive detail what CSS rules and properties I can use to customize such PDFs. I have read the Confluence documentation topics "Customize Exports to PDF" and "Advanced PDF Export Customizations", but those topics do not offer the detail I want.

When I open a PDF exported from Confluence in Adobe Acrobat Reader, and then click File \> Properties, the Description tab of the Document Properties dialog box shows the following property:
> PDF Producer: iText 2.1.7 by 1T3TXT

I Googled for iText 2.1.7, intending to find corresponding CSS reference documentation.

One of the search results led me to the question "[Can iText 2.1.7 \[...\] be used commercially?](https://developers.itextpdf.com/question/versions-older-than-5)"

The answer includes the following text:
> If you want to use iText 2.1.7, you need to do the exercise we have done between 2007-2009 at your own expense. This will cost you more than the price of a license. For instance: the individual developers gave permission to iText Group NV to do business with iText, but will they give that permission to you? How will you identify those individual developers? ... iText 2.1.7 dates from July 2009

Atlassian, could you please read that answer in full, and then answer here:

* Why does Confluence still use iText 2.1.7? (If your answer is simply "Because it's free", then I suspect that either you haven't read the answer cited above in full, or I have misunderstood that answer.)
* Do you plan to move to a more recent version of iText (or some other PDF library)?
* If so, when (and what)?

P.S. I understand that questions about "what CSS rules and properties I can use" have been asked before; for example, "[PDF-Export: Which CSS properties do work and which ones not?](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Confluence-questions/PDF-Export-Which-CSS-properties-do-work-and-which-ones-not/qaq-p/99072)". That's not the question I'm asking here, although I am curious---if the answer to that example question is still relevant---to know which version of Flying Saucer is used by Confluence 6.7.0. (I don't have access to the Confluence Server installation files, otherwise I'd do some fossicking myself; I can't see any reference to Flying Saucer when I view the exported PDFs in a text editor.)

P.P.S. I don't want to ask my employer to buy Scroll PDF Exporter.


Answers:
author: NotTheRealStephenSifersNOPENOPENOPENOPE
body: It may be best to place this in as a feature request (suggestion) for Atlassian:

<https://jira.atlassian.com/secure/CreateIssue!default.jspa>

comments: author: Graham Hannington
body: Yes, I agree, thanks for the suggestion.

Done: [CONFSERVER-55407](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFSERVER-55407) (suggestion), "Stop using iText 2.1.7 to export PDF: upgrade, or use something else".

I'll leave this question open for a few days in case Atlassian, or anyone else, decides to respond. If I don't hear anything---that would be disappointing---I'll accept your suggestion as the answer.


author: NotTheRealStephenSifersNOPENOPENOPENOPE
body: Very glad you created a suggestion!

Looking forward to seeing other responses in here as well.


author: Graham Hannington
body: Atlassian either isn't listening or has decided not to respond, so I'm going to accept your suggestion as the answer.

Anyone who wants to follow-up on this can go to that Jira issue I've created.


author: Andreas Rosdal
body: May I suggest you upgrade from iText 2.x to OpenPDF: <https://github.com/LibrePDF/OpenPDF>


Tags: pdf