OS: Linux (Kubuntu 26.04) - 64 bit
Description:
When running XnViewMP on Kubuntu 26.04, the majority of PDF files fail to load properly. While a few PDFs display correctly, most do not. Problematic PDFs show no thumbnail, no color code, no preview, and no info-panel data, and they cannot be opened. Investigation via terminal shows a Ghostscript API mismatch (Unrecoverable error: rangecheck in .putdeviceprops BLOB length 75).
Prior Research & Forum Context:
I noticed that similar PDF rendering issues have been discussed in the forum a few times before. However, those older threads only provided solutions for much earlier versions of XnViewMP or Ghostscript. I could not find any existing threads or solutions regarding this specific error on current setups.
Effect:
Display glitch (missing thumbnails/previews) and functional failure (files cannot be opened in XnViewMP).
To reproduce:
1. Open XnViewMP on a Linux system with Ghostscript version 10.06.0 installed.
2. Navigate to a folder containing PDFs generated by native export features (e.g., from LibreOffice, SoftMaker Office, or PDF-XChange).
3. Observe that these files fail to generate thumbnails or previews.
4. Try to open one of these problematic PDFs.
5. (Optional) Run XnViewMP from the terminal to see the repeated error output: Unrecoverable error: rangecheck in .putdeviceprops BLOB length 75
Additional Observations:
• Native Exports vs. Print-to-PDF: Almost all PDFs generated via native exports (LibreOffice, SoftMaker, PDF-XChange) are broken. Only PDFs exported via a print dialog (e.g., in Firefox or Okular) work flawlessly.
• Environment & Packages: The issue persists across all package formats (.deb, AppImage, Flatpak, and tar.gz).
• Cross-Platform: On Windows 11, XnViewMP displays all these PDFs without any issues. Native Linux tools like Dolphin or Gwenview also handle them perfectly.
Actual behaviour (bug):
XnViewMP fails to render or open PDFs created by native exporters, failing silently in the GUI while throwing a Ghostscript API rangecheck error in the terminal.
Expected behaviour:
XnViewMP should interact correctly with the Ghostscript 10.06.0 API, rendering thumbnails/previews and opening all PDF files regardless of whether they were created via native export or a print dialog.