FOSS replacement for PDF [Re: editing a PDF]

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On 3/21/23 6:55 PM, Ulrich Deiters wrote:
> Am 21.03.23 um 22:57 schrieb gebser@mousecar.com:
> > Better than that, what FOSS app(s) would be happy replacement for the 
> > Acrobat-Industrial Complex?
>
> This depends on what you want. Printing a document takes
> (at least) three stages:
>
> (1) One composes the text using a language that contains formatting
> commands. The best open-source choice is LaTeX. LaTeX code is human-
> readable and can be edited with emacs; in fact, emacs has a LaTeX
> mode. There are also free programs that assist writing LaTeX code,
> or which let one compose XML code, which is then translated into LaTeX.
>
> (2) One processes the LaTeX code; the results are DVI, PostScript,
> or PDF files. Such files basically consist of instructions of the
> type "choose font F, go to location (X, Y), and print character C". 
> Therefore these files are long and, if converted to a human-readable
> format, very boring. You do not want to edit these.
>
> (3) The intermediate code is processed to produce a bitmap, which is
> then transferred to the paper.
>
> So you see, the stage at which editing makes sense is Stage (1).
>
> Exceptions are graphics designers and artists, who work with PostScript
> or similar languages directly in order to achieve special effects.

Thanks for the very thorough reply.  This question really wasn't for me, 
but rather for people I know and meet who write pdf docs, who take pdf 
as a "standard".  I'm afraid that latex would be far too technological 
for them... and for most people.  Even something like Libreoffice's 
Write would have a more familiar UI-- for that reason alone they'd be 
more like likely to try it.