Version: (using KDE KDE 3.5.5) Installed from: Ubuntu Packages I'm writing a presentation and I try to be able to execute a simulation by clicking on a link. I've had a hyperlink to my simulation program in my presentation but when I click on the link, the following message appears: "The pdf file is trying to execute an external application and for your safety kpdf does not allow that." I can understand that kpdf does not allow this by default. What I can't understand is why it isn't possible to specify somewhere that I really want to be able to execute this application (for example xpdf ask a confirmation before executing the application). It would be great to ask if the user really wants to execute the link with a warning about possible security problem.
We kpdf developers want to add it, but kde core developers won't allow it. See http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-commits&m=109511421422160&w=2 (Press [next in thread] to see the whole thread) and http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-core-devel&m=110470798901386&w=2 So unless you can convince the non believers you are not going to get that feature, sorry :-/
Since I'm unable to answer on the kde-core-devel mailing list, I post here my try to convince the non believers... Apparently the main issue was the potential security problem and the fact that some users which don't read/understand the popup dialogs must be protected. I think a simple way to tacke this problem is the following: - By default the execution of external link is not allowed and a dialog warn the user that the command is not executed (like now). - The user can activate an option deep in the menus (something like Settings->configure kpdf->Security) where the potential security problem is clearly stated. When this option is checked, each time the user click on a link, a confirmation box with the command is presented to the user. With this scheme, the basic users never see a question so they can't make a big mistake. Since this feature is seldom used, there is no reason for the distributions to change the default settings.
Bertrand, could you please attach that pdf you where creating so we can make some tests? Thanks
Created attachment 19308 [details] a pdf test case A pdf with two links to external applications. The first link tries to call 'kcalc'(\href{run:kcalc}) and the second link tries to call the script 'myscript' in the current directory (\href{run:./myscript}).
Created attachment 19309 [details] the script called by the second link Don't forget to make it executable
*** Bug 164407 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
\href{run:OpenProgramm.shell}{[Open Editor]} ~]$ bash OpenProgramm.shell ~]$ cat OpenProgramm.shell #!/bin/bash kate /home/user/folder1/somefile.c -l 393 //on KDE open System Settings->File Associations->Add //Filename Pattern: *.shell //Application Preference Order: bash or search for mimetype x-konsole and add Application Preference Order: bash Now when you click on the link the script will be executed.
Thank you for your bug report or feature suggestion. The "KPDF" application is no longer maintained, and all tickets are now closed. We recommend to switch to the "Okular" application. Due to the high number of bugs/suggestions in "KPDF" we are not able to go through all of them and verify if they are still valid in "Okular". That's why are we asking you to help us by checking if your bug/suggestion is still valid in Okular and if it still is opening a new bug/suggestion against it. Thank you for your effort in making KDE better :) (This is an automatic message from the KDE bug triaging team)