Q: cupsfilter not working after El Capitan upgrade

Hello

FYI, cupsfilter conversion from text/rtf to application/pdf is done by filter named nstexttopdf located at:

/usr/libexec/cups/filter/nstexttopdf

(under OS X 10.6.8)

Is there this filter under OS X 10.11?

H

Hiroto,

OS X El Capitan build omitted the nstexttopdf filter. This is the default (only) filter that converts RTF to PDF, and does work on Yosemite 10.10.5. Well, it works if you don't mind it stripping out html links. I copied the nstexttopdf filter (from Yosemite) to its rightful spot in El Capitan, and same permissions/ownership as the other filters. The El Capitan cupsfilter command continues to utter the “No filter to convert from text/rtf to application/pdf.” Even when I force the -p nstexttopdf and -i text/rtf options. It would appear that Apple must have a list of valid filters in cupsfilter and removed nstexttopdf entry.

I was thinking, about an NSAttributedString to PDFkit solution to process RTF/RTFD into PDF. Something that you can whip up in a few lines of Python bridge code?

Just a note. RubyCocoa 1.2.0 for Yosemite will not install on El Capitan due to operating system too new.

Hello

As I understand, cupsfilters are to be defined in the form as:

source-mime-type    destination-mime-type   cost    filter

in

/usr/share/cups/mime/apple.convs
/usr/share/cups/mime/mime.types

Under OS X 10.6.8, the following entry is in /usr/share/cups/mime/apple.convs:

text/rtf        application/pdf 33  nstexttopdf

And mime types with detection rules are to be defined in:

/usr/share/cups/mime/apple.types
/usr/share/cups/mime/mime.types

Under OS X 10.6.8, the following entry is in /usr/share/cups/mime/apple.types:

text/rtf            rtf string(0,"{\rtf") priority(200)

cf.

mime.convs(5), mime.types(5)

---

As for converting rtf or rtfd to pdf via cocoa methods, we'd need to load NSAttributedString obtained from rtf or rtfd into NSTextView and perform NSPrintOperation on the view. I have written a rubycocoa script as proof of concept some years ago. It is simple but I'd like to refine it decently if I should publish it here.

Regards,

H

Oops. The lines

/usr/share/cups/mime/apple.convs
/usr/share/cups/mime/mime.types

should read

/usr/share/cups/mime/apple.convs
/usr/share/cups/mime/mime.convs

H

Hiroto,

For El Capitan, the only file in /usr/share/cups/mime directory that contains an rtf string as you noted above, is in apple.types. The mime.convs, and mime.types files are read only, and apparently, even by root, and with me as a member of group wheel, these permissions are unchangeable (no ACLS set).

Hello

It is some System Integrity Protection (SIP) newly introduced in OS X 10.11, I'd presume. You'd need to boot to Recovery OS, run the following command in Terminal and reboot to disbale SIP:

csrutil disable

cf.

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Security/Conceptual/System _Integrity_Protection_Guide/

https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Security/Conceptual/System _Integrity_Protection_Guide/System_Integrity_Protection_Guide.pdf

Honestly it would be the first thing I do if I were to use OS X 10.11.

H

Hiroto,

Thanks for the SIP information. You and I know what to do about that.

Even if I could re-engineer the cups mime content to support the nstexttopdf filter again, I am not certain that I want to glorify defeating SIP, and the several root privilege steps to the potential solution, in an open community.

The nstexttopdf filter drops hyperlinks in the RTF to PDF conversion on Yosemite, and soffice in the LibreOffice package does not. In the latter case, I set up a Bash function (to_pdf) to reduce typing. On the occasion where I have an RTFD document, I drop it on an AppleScript application that uses Pages '09 to do the RTFD to PDF conversion.

Hi dbh789. As mentioned by VikingOSX, until the cupsfilter issue is resolved one alternative is to use LibreOffice in headless mode. Assuming LibreOffice is installed in your Applications folder and the intended destination for the PDF is the current working directory, you can use the command:

/Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless --convert-to pdf /path/to/file

Or you can specify the directory destination:

Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless --convert-to pdf /path/to/file --outdir /path/to/directory

The soffice conversion won't be as fast as using cupsfilter. There is also at least one conversion bug I'm aware of: emoji won't appear in the PDF.

I have used a bash function set up in my .bashrc file that allows me to forego the long headless LibreOffice command syntax. In my .bash_profile, I check for the .bashrc file, and then source it so this Bash to_pdf function is always present. LibreOffice cannot handle RTFD documents (with attachments). LibreOffice will retain formatting, text attributes, and hyperlinks.

.bashrc

to_pdf () {
for file in "$@";
do
    if [ -s $file ]; then
    /Applications/LibreOffice.app/Contents/MacOS/soffice --headless --convert-to pdf "${file}"
  else
  printf "\n%s\n\n" ">>> $file not found or zero length."
    continue
  fi
done
}

The above will write the PDF in the same directory as the RTF document. By adding --outdir /path/to/PDF folder, you can redirect the conversion output.

Usage in Bash shell:

to_pdf foo.rtf bar.rtf baz.rtf

to_pdf *.rtf

.bash_profile

[[ -s ~/.bashrc ]] && source ~/.bashrc