Question: Ghostscript, OCRmypdf, unoconvert, rar

[topoldo]

Hi.
I installed the new Stirling-PDF (portable server) for Windows.
At first I installed v. 1.4.0 and then 1.5.0 under Windows 11 25H2.
While StirlingPDF versions until 1.3.x reported NO WARNING when I launched them because I had also installed all the additional tools needed to make it work as described here, new versions gave me the surprise that it seems I need to get and configure at least 3 more programs, to have all the features included with versions 1.4.0+

A screenshot of the log during startup of PDF-server is shown in the image below.

As you can see Stirling-PDF claims for the lack of Ghostscript, OCRmypdf and rar.
But the Stirling-pdf for Windows howto is still the same of the version 1.3.x.
No new tricks were added since then.

Beside, there is a fourth and last warning concerning unoconvert.
In this case it was not simple solving the PDF to Word conversion in Windows even using Stirling-PDF v. 1.3.0 and lower.

However by reading some issue questions about this subject, I was able to solve this problem by using this trick:

LibreOffice (LO)

• If you do not have LO installed yet, download from its official site and install it.
• To make LO to interact with Stirling-PDF you need to use the "UNO" module of the python version shipped with LO and NOT with other python(s) already present on the PC. Otherwise it is a nightmare!
  This is what you need to do:

1. Start an instance of LO listening on a socket.
   This can be done most easily using the command line or using a shell script:

C:\ProgramFiles\LibreOffice\program\>start soffice --accept=socket,host=localhost,port=2002;urp;

2. Next, run the the python version shipped with LO which has its UNO module already installed by default:
   C:\ProgramFiles\LibreOffice\program\>python.exe >>> import uno

So my final question is:
"If I want to have all the features of Stirling-PD (local server) 1.4.0+ in Windows:
a. Do have I to install Ghostscript, OCRmypdf and rar? If so, which tricks I need to use?
b. What about unoconvert vs "UNO" module of the python shipped with LO?"

Regards,
Topoldo

[dosubot]

To enable all features in Stirling-PDF 1.4.0+ on Windows, you do need to install Ghostscript (for PDF repair/compression), OCRmyPDF (for OCR features), and rar (for PDF to CBR conversion). These tools must be installed separately and their executables added to your system PATH so Stirling-PDF can detect them at startup—otherwise, related features will be disabled and you'll see warnings in the logs. For rar, download it from the official Rarlab site and ensure it's in your PATH; it's free for personal use but requires a license for commercial use. There are no hidden tricks—just standard PATH configuration and making sure the correct binaries are accessible (docs, rar info).

For document conversions (like PDF to Word), Stirling-PDF relies on LibreOffice and either unoconvert or the UNO Python module. On Windows, the most reliable method is to use the Python interpreter bundled with LibreOffice (not a separate Python install) because it includes the UNO module needed for communication. Start LibreOffice in listening mode (as you described), then use the bundled python.exe for UNO-based conversions. If you want to use unoconvert, it also requires both LibreOffice and Python, and both must be correctly installed and on PATH. The codebase doesn't automate UNO server startup, so manual setup is necessary (docs, conversion info).

The Windows installation guide hasn't changed since 1.3.x, but the app now checks for more dependencies at startup and disables features if they're missing. There are no new tricks—just careful PATH setup and using the right Python for UNO/LibreOffice integration.

To reply, just mention @dosu.

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[Frooodle]

Sorry we are terrible for updating our documentation
Will make sure this gets updated in our docs

[Frooodle]

Ghostscript and rar are no tricks... Just ensure it's in your PATH

It's only libre office/Uno stuff that is extremely awkward with pathing etc

[topoldo]

Hi again!
I noticed I had already Ghostscript 64bit v. 9.2!
In any case I upgraded it to its latest version, i.e 10.06 (64bit).
After the installation, I noticed the program automatically added its bin subdirectory to the path as reported in the image below:

Beside, by running the executable gswin64.exe from the command line, wherever the prompt is, Ghostscript starts showing its initial window. So I an affirm Ghostscript executable IS in the path.

However when I start StirlingPDF I still have this log:

which warns me about Ghostscript which is not installed or found.
Does StirlingPDF search for an executable with a name different from gswin64.exe?

Regards.
Topoldo

[balazs-szucs]

Hi,

Could you run;

where rar and where gs?

[topoldo]

For what rar is concerned I did not installed yet.
BTW, I use 7zip. Is it mandatory to use winrar instead (or i addition) to it?

Regarding to gs I discovered that both the commands:
where gs
and
where gswin
do not work.

You need to give the command:
where gswin64
to receive the answer:
C:\Program Files\gs\bin\gswin64.exe

Regards

[balazs-szucs]

You only need to install rar if you want to convert PDFs to CBR format; for other features, rar is not required.

For Ghostscript, ensure that the binary is named gs.exe rather than gswin64.exe. Rename the file and restart Stirling-PDF to resolve the issue. I think that should work.

[topoldo]

I preferred to create a gs.bat file I put in:
C:\Program Files\gs\bin
whose content is:

@echo off
gswin64.exe

This way, if other programs I have, search for gswin64.exe, they do not drive mad.

Regards

[balazs-szucs]

Ah, yes, I forgot about that. Other apps might also use gs. I think this should be a relatively easy fix for us. Basically, we need to make checkDependencyAndDisableGroup try to find the Ghostscript binary even if it’s not named gs. Sorry for the headache, I think this was a recent change in the Ghostscript binary naming scheme, so we weren’t really accounting for it. I'll try to raise PR for both of the documentation-side and code-side, although this'll be obsolete quite quickly since V2 moves the Desktop app to Tauri that should make the installing much easier for the end-user.

Thanks for raising this!

[topoldo]

You wrote:

I'll try to raise PR for both of the documentation-side and code-side, although this'll be obsolete quite quickly since V2 moves the Desktop app to Tauri that should make the installing much easier for the end-user.

I thought V2 will not be free...
Am I wrong?

Regards,
Topoldo

[balazs-szucs]

I thought V2 will not be free...
Am I wrong?

V2 will be free, in fact it will be available under the same conditions as the current V1. e.g., open-source/open-core,few features under proprietary/ majority MIT license.

Here is the announcement page: https://www.stirling.com/blog/introducing-v2

Here is the source-code for V2: https://github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF/tree/V2

There was thread already discussing this see here: #4616 (comment)