Can't index PDF files

I can't seem to index my PDF files. They always stay unindexed - doesn't matter if I try indexing them individually or from the preferences menu all at once. It is also the same if I link the PDF from an external folder or if it is imported (btw - is there any difference between linking and importing other than the location on the harddrive?)

System Info:
=========

openSUSE 10.3 (x86_64)
Firefox 2.0.0.10
Zotero 1.0.2.r2157

Debug Info:
========

zotero(3): Running pdfinfo /windows/D/Zotero/storage/12143/Baranano2001.pdf" "/windows/D/Zotero/storage/12143/.zotero-ft-info"

zotero(3): Running pdftotext -nopgbrk "/windows/D/Zotero/storage/12143/Baranano2001.pdf" "/windows/D/Zotero/storage/12143/.zotero-ft-cache"

zotero(3): Cache file doesn't exist!

zotero(5): Committing transaction

zotero(3): Resetting Notifier event queue

zotero(5): SELECT indexedPages AS indexed, totalPages AS total FROM fulltextItems WHERE itemID=?

zotero(5): Binding parameter 1 of type int: 12143

zotero(5): SELECT indexedPages AS indexed, totalPages AS total FROM fulltextItems WHERE itemID=?

zotero(5): Binding parameter 1 of type int: 12143


Is there anything I'm doing wrong?

Thank you,

Claudius
  • Do the .zotero-ft-* files exist?

    Try running the pdftotext program manually with the above parameters and see what the output is.
  • If I run pdfinfo manually I get a printout of relevant info about that PDF file - but no .zotero-ft-info file is created. If I run pdftotext manually nothing happens - and no .zotero-ft-cache file is created either. Weird...
  • Did you install the Xpdf utilities via the Zotero preferences pane, or are you linking to preinstalled versions on your system?
  • They were installed via Zotero preferences.
  • And are you sure when you test from the command line, you're running the same versions? When you run pdfinfo via the command line without any arguments, do you see the line "pdfinfo version 3.02-zotero" at the top? (The official version doesn't write to a file and only prints out information, which is why I ask.)

    You might try installing strace (if you don't have it already), prepending that on the pdftotext command line, and sending the trace output to us at support@zot....org.

    Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll need to do a bit more debugging from the command line on your end to figure out what's going on. If you can't get pdftotext to work from the command line, it won't work from within Zotero.
  • I think you are right - I am only running "pdfinfo version 3.02". I didn't know the zotero version was different in that regard. Sorry. How do I tell zotero to use the zotero-specific version of pdftotext that is in the zotero folder?

    Thanks for all your help - the support on this great tool is incredible!

    Claudius
  • What's the debug output when you first open Zotero? It should display some info about registering the PDF tools.

    Zotero should use the the versions in your data directory, but you'll need to test those versions to make sure they're working. To test on the command line, cd into the data directory and use ./pdfinfo-Linux-x86_64 and ./pdftotext-Linux-x86_64 (or whatever the actual filenames are) to run those versions instead of the versions in your path.
  • Zotero seems to register the PDF tools fine upon startup:

    Startup Debug Info:
    ==============

    zotero(3): pdftotext version 3.02 registered at /windows/D/Zotero/pdftotext-Linux-x86_64

    zotero(3): pdfinfo version 3.02 registered at /windows/D/Zotero/pdfinfo-Linux-x86_64

    But when I try to run them manually on the command line I get a "Permission denied". Even as root. I checked the permissions of the files and every user has read/write access + they are marked as executable.
  • What's the output of mount? Are those files on a volume mounted noexec?

    What's the output of ls -la in that directory?
  • Thank you! That was it (volume was mounted noexec)! Sorry for not catching that on my own.

    Thanks again - great support!

    Have a great weekend,

    Claudius
  • You're welcome.
This discussion has been closed.