The Software — what is PDF Clown?

The Team — who is behind PDF Clown?

The Mission — why PDF Clown?

The License — how can PDF Clown be used?

The Software

PDF Clown is a free/libre and open-source general-purpose Java and .NET library for manipulating PDF files through multiple abstraction layers, rigorously adhering to PDF 1.7 Specification (ISO 32000-1).

If you want to know more, please see the Overview.

The Team

Stefano Chizzolini is PDF Clown’s lead developer, an Italian guy adhering to the principles of free culture and shared knowledge promoted by institutions like the Free Software Foundation, to which software is a “technical means to a social end“.

Lots of users have contributed code and bugfixes during these years of development: the most relevant contributions are credited in the documentation.

The Mission

Our goal is to produce a neatly-designed (smooth API, solid architecture) PDF library which adheres to open standards and whose source code is freely available.

The License

LGPL v3PDF Clown is available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL), which grants users the following rights:

  • freedom to run the program for any purpose
  • freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish
  • freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
  • freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements (and modified versions in general) to the public, so that the whole community benefits

Along with the aforementioned GPL freedoms, LGPL specifies an additional provision allowing the library to be linked with non-(L)GPLed programs: this practically implies that you can use PDF Clown with any software, may it be open- or closed-source.

If you want to know more, please read the FAQ.