Subject: [bug#39674] [PATCH] enable PostScript backend in Evince

From: Ludovic Courtès <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2020 11:02:30 +0100

Hi Nicolò & raingloom!

(+ Cc: guix-security)

Nicolò Balzarotti <[email-masked]> skribis:

> Thanks!
>
> I was wondering why it could not open .eps files!  I tested the patch,
> applies, build and now I can open them.  guix size reports +3%
> (1009.6 -> 1038.0).
>
> +1 for merging

I think PostScript support is often disabled by default because of
security issues: PostScript is a very versatile language and Ghostscript
has had a series of problems due to its inability to “sandbox”
PostScript code.

A particularly important issue is thumbnail generation: you could find
yourself running PostScript code without explicitly opening a file.

FWIW, I resort to gv (or ps2pdf) when I need to open a PostScript that I
deem trustworthy.

Leo, Mark, WDYT?

Thanks,
Ludo’.