New DjVuVersion Utility Fixes Compatibility Issues

a posting by PlanetDjVu, July 22, 2003




On July 15th, we published an article titled New DjVu Version 25 Has Compatability Issues, in which we described the various problems and issues with DjVu Version numbers.


The compatability issues can be summarized as follows:


1. If the DjVu Version number is higher than the Version number that is supported by the DjVu viewer, then an upgrade message will automatically be displayed by the viewer when the DjVu file is opened. For example, a DjVu file created in the current DjVu Editor 4.0 for Windows (Version 24), will display an upgrade message when viewed in the DjVu Browser Plugin 3.6.2 for Windows (upgrade messages after Version 23).


2. If the DjVu Version number is 25, then the DjVu file will not decode in legacy viewers like DjVu Solo and the ActiveX Control for MS Office.


If you have not added Annotations to the file using DjVu Editor 4.0, then the DjVu Version number can safely be reduced to Version 22, thereby eliminating upgrade messages in all current viewers and all decoding problems in all current DjVu software. This is good news for those who are hosting DjVu document collections, and do not want the upgrade message to ever appear for their users, regardless of which DjVu browser plugin they are using.


We are pleased to offer you a utiity for modifying the Version number of a DjVu file.  We offer this to you in two forms, supplied within the downloadable ZIP file:


1. A compiled command-line executable for Windows that can be run in a batch file or command window.


2. C-source code that you can compile into any application on any platform.



How to use the Command Line Utility


Usage: djvuversion [--version=<n>] ...djvufiles...


Action: reduce the version of DjVu files to <n> at most.


Default: the default version is 22.



Volunteers needed to create .bat or GUI files for batch version updating


If you write a batch file or a GUI application for batch version updating of entire folder or folder tree, using DjVuVersion, please consider sharing this with other DjVu users. Send it to this email address, and we will publish it here. Thanks!



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           
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