[pdftex] How to covert pdf file into latex file?

[jonathan d p ferguson]

On Jul 13, 2006, at 4:16 AM, Robin Fairbairns wrote:
>
<snip>

> however, this presumes foresight.  "i know i'm going to lose this
> source, so i'll make an extra copy in the pdf".  doesn't seem a
> particularly efficient way of ensuring you've still got a copy (i'm a
> believer in backup procedures, myself).
>
> what's more, nothing said so far (beyond "make plain text and re-mark
> it up") seems actually to have offered the op any sort of help.
>

I agree that it requires a cautionary foresight--- so does  
distributing the source files and making backups.

I am often faced with the task to alter a "we lost the source" PDF---  
made by someone other than myself. For such a task I must use Acrobat  
Pro or Illustrator. I know of no other reasonable way. If the changes  
are extensive, I'll cut-and-paste the text and completely reformat  
the piece.

Usually such lost source PDF's originate with Word, but irrespective  
of proprietary software, the task of editing an existing PDF  
motivated chen hong-jun to ask in the first place, so using the  
attachfile package or \pdfobj could ease the pain of future editing  
situations--- assuming of course, that the source file was originally  
written in *TeX.

Needless to say, I agree with James Quirk, (as I quietly remember  
OpenDoc):

> Using PDF as a source-code container makes perfect sense in a number
> of applications. For example it allows the generation of
> self-substantiating, computational articles that allow the
> interested reader to sample the reported work first hand.
> The motivation for the approach is described in:
>
>     http://www.amrita-eook.org/doc/amr2003
>
> and for an interesting essay on the concept of ``reproducible  
> research''
> I would recommend:
>
>     http://www-stat.stanford.edu/~donoho/Reports/1995/wavelab.pdf


Anyway, thanks for pointing out the brand-new attachfile package!
It works marvelously!

have a nice day.yad
jdpf