Free PDF Development Libraries

libHaru

libHaru is a free, open source, cross-platform C library for creating PDF files. It can handle text and images, outlines, text annotations, link annotations, embedded PNG and JPEG images, embedded Type 1 and TrueType fonts, encrypted PDF files, a variety of character sets and encodings, etc. It has been compiled and tested in Windows,Linux,FreeBSD and NetBSD with a number of compilers, but since the source is in ANSI C, it can presumably be compiled and used under other operating systems as well. You can link the library statically or dynamically into your programs. The library is licensed under the zlib/libPNG licence.

PDF Clown Project

The PDF Clown Project is a software library that you can use in your own programs to create, access (useful if you are implementing your own PDF reader) and manipulate PDF files. It supports JPEG images, standard Type 1 fonts, embedded OpenType and TrueType fonts, device colour spaces (RGB, CMYK, Gray), a variety of page formats/sizes, creation, reading and modification of bookmarks, compressed PDF files, etc. Other features include splitting of PDF files, merging of multiple files, inserting and appending of pages to a PDF document, placing existing pages as thumbnails, adding of watermarks, adding a foreground stamp, and so on. It is written as a class library inJava andC#. The library is licensed under the GNU LGPL or the GPL at your option.

iText - Free Java PDF Library

iText is a Java-based PDF library that allows you to generate PDF files from your software. It supports the generation of dynamic documents from XML or databases, interactive features in your PDF files, bookmarks, page numbers, watermarks, automating the filling of PDF forms, adding digital signatures to PDF files, splitting, concatenating and manipulation of PDF pages, etc. This PDF library requires you to have JDK 1.5 (a.k.a.Java 5) or later. There's apparently even a book on this software: iText in Action: Creating and Manipulating PDF. The software is licensed under the Mozilla Public License (MPL).

iTextSharp

iTextSharp is a port of the iText library (see elsewhere on this page) toC#. It is useful if you need to use a PDF library on the .NET platform. It allows you to generate PDF files on the fly.