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PDFtk provides an installer for Windows. Many Linux distributions provide a PDFtk package you can download and install using their package manager.
Microsoft Windows
Download the PDFtk Server installer for Windows 10 and 11 using the following command:
winget install --id PDFLabs.PDFtk.Server
Then run the installer:
.\pdftk_server-2.02-win-setup.exe
After installation, open a command prompt, type pdftk and press Enter. PDFtk will respond by displaying brief usage information.
Linux
On Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions:
sudo apt-get install pdftk
On Red Hat/Fedora-based distributions:
sudo dnf install pdftk
PDFtk Server GPL License
PDFtk Server (pdftk) is not public domain software. It can be installed and used at no charge under its GNU General Public License (GPL) Version 2. PDFtk uses third-party libraries. The licenses and source code for these libraries are described here under Third-Party Materials.
PDFtk Server Redistribution License
If you plan to distribute PDFtk Server as part of your own software, you will need a PDFtk Server Redistribution License. The exception to this rule is if your software is licensed to the public under the GPL or another compatible license.
The commercial redistribution license allows you, subject to the terms of the license, to distribute an unlimited number of PDFtk Server binaries as part of one distinct commercial product. Please read the full license:
PDFtk Server Redistribution License (PDF)
Now available for $995:
PDFtk Server Redistribution License
Build PDFtk Server from Source
PDFtk Server can be compiled from its source code. PDFtk Server is known to compile and run on Debian, Ubuntu Linux, FreeBSD, Slackware Linux, SuSE, Solaris and HP-UX.
Download and unpack the source:
curl -LO https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/pdftk-2.02-src.zip
unzip pdftk-2.02-src.zip
Review the pdftk license information in: license_gpl_pdftk/readme.txt.
Review the Makefile provided for your platform and confirm that TOOLPATH and VERSUFF suit your installation of gcc/gcj/libgcj. If you run apropos gcc and it returns something like gcc-4.5, then set VERSUFF to -4.5. The TOOLPATH probably does not need to be set.
Change into the pdftk sub-directory and run:
cd pdftk
make -f Makefile.Debian
Substitute your platform's Makefile filename as needed.
PDFtk has been built using gcc/gcj/libgcj versions 3.4.5, 4.4.1, 4.5.0, and 4.6.3. PDFtk 1.4x fails to build on gcc 3.3.5 due to missing libgcj features. If you are using gcc 3.3 or older, try building pdftk 1.12 instead.