Where should I install the PDFNet library on my server/desktop system?

[Aaron Gravesdale]

Q: Where, in my system, should I install the PDFNet library?

A: It depends both upon the variant of the PDFNet SDK you're using, and upon your operating system.


C/C++/PHP/Python/Ruby
---------------------

  Windows
  -------

    To install PDFNetC.dll on Windows, you'll need to put it in the search
    path used by Windows to locate a DLL.  According to

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/7d83bc18%28v=vs.90%29.aspx

    Windows searches for DLLs in the following sequence:

        1. The directory where the executable module for the current process is
           located.
        2. The current directory.
        3. The Windows system directory. The GetSystemDirectory function
           retrieves the path of this directory.
        4. The Windows directory. The GetWindowsDirectory function retrieves
           the path of this directory.
        5. The directories listed in the PATH environment variable.


  OS X
  ----

    libPDFNetC.dylib is loaded by the OS X dynamic linker:

        https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/Manpages/man1/dyld.1.html

    The dynamic linker uses the directories pointed to by DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH.
    By default, this environment variable points to:

        $(HOME)/lib
        /usr/local/lib
        /lib
        /usr/lib

    Thus you can place libPDFNetC.dylib into one of these directories.  We
    recommend using /usr/local/lib.

    Alternatively, you can customize the directories searched for by the
    dynamic linker.  It's recommended to add the path to DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH
    instead of changing DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH, since changing DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH could
    have wide effects on your system if misconfigured.  For more details, see:

        http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3146274/is-it-ok-to-use-dyld-library-path-on-mac-os-x-and-whats-the-dynamic-library-s


  Linux
  -----

    libPDFNetC.so is loaded by the program loader:

        http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Program-Library-HOWTO/shared-libraries.html

    The program loader uses the directories pointed to by the LD_LIBRARY_PATH,
    as well as the contents of /etc/ld.so.conf.  The standard directories can vary
    by distribution, but might be one of:

        /lib
        /lib64
        /usr/lib
        /usr/lib64
        /usr/local/lib
        /usr/local/lib64


Java
----

  All Platforms
  -------------

    Installing PDFNet support for Java can be acheived by installing PDFNetC.dll,
    libPDFNetC.dylib, or libPDFNetC.so on the system as described above.

    Alternatively, you can use the -Djava.library.path option. For more
    details, see:

        http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E12825_01/epm.111/epm_manual_deployment_11114/frameset.htm?ch01s05s02s02.html


  OS X
  ----

    Although the above methods work on OS X, you could also install PDFNet
    support for Java by copying libPDFNetC.dylib to to
    /Library/Java/Extensions/libPDFNetC.jnilib.