This quick tutorial is going to show you how to install the latest MuPDF viewer 1.13.0 in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

MuPDF is a lightweight PDF, XPS, and E-book viewer that consists of a software library, command line tools, and viewers for various platforms.

The latest MuPDF 1.13.0 is primarily a bugfix release that features:

• New “mutool sign” tool for showing and verifying digital signatures.
• Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cyrillic, and Greek font support in mutool create.
• Improvements to annotation editing API.
• And some security fixes.

How to Install MuPDF 1.13.0 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint:

Besides building the tool from source, there’s an unofficial PPA with the packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T or searching for “Terminal” from start menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type in password (no visual feedback due to security reason) when it asks and hit Enter.

2. Then install mupdf and mupdf-tools packages either via Synaptic Package Manager or by running following commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mupdf mupdf-tools

If you have a previous release installed, simply launch Software Updater to upgrade the tool after checking for updates.

To use the PDF/XPS viewer, right-click on your file and select open with MuPDF. You can also set MuPDF as default in the Properties window.

Uninstall:

To restore MuPDF to the stock version available in your Ubuntu’s main archive, run command in terminal to purge the PPA:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

MuPDF, a lightweight PDF, XPS, and E-book viewer, has reached the release candidate for version 1.10.

MuPDF 1.10 features FictionBook (FB2) e-book support, simple SVG parser, mutool convert (a new document conversion tool and interface), multi-threaded rendering in mudraw, luratech decoders for JBIG2 and JPEG2000, optional JPEG-XR support (not included by default for security reasons), updated base 14 fonts from URW, new CJK font with language specific variants, hyperlink support in EPUB.

There are also interface changes and cleanups, code size and memory usage improvements:

• New tool muraster: example printer driver with limited RAM usage and automatic banding.
• Alpha channel is now optional in pixmaps.
• More aggressive purging of cached objects.
• Partial image decoding for lower memory use when banding.
• Reduced default set of built-in CMap tables to the minimum required.
• FZ_ENABLE_PDF, _XPS, _JS, to disable features at compile time.
• Function level linking.
• Dropped pdf object generation numbers from public interfaces.
• Simplified PDF page, xobject, and annotation internals.
• Closing and freeing devices and writers are now separate steps.
• Improved PDF annotation editing interface (still a work in progress).
• Document writer interface.
• Banded image writer interface.

Install MuPDF 1.10 RC in Ubuntu:

Besides building the new release from source, there’s an unofficial PPA available for Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04 and derivatives.

Open terminal from the Dash / Launcher / or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut keys, then do following steps to install it:

1. Run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type in password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter.

2. To upgrade from a previous release, launch Software Updater and install updates after checking for updates.

Or run command in terminal to install /upgrade mupdf:

sudo apt install mupdf mupdf-tools

Once installed, right-click on your PDF file and select open with MuPDF PDF Viewer.

You can set MuPDF as the default viewer from PDF file’s Properties window -> Open With tab.

Uninstall:

To restore MuPDF to the stock version available in your Ubuntu’s main archive, run command in terminal to purge the PPA:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

The lightweight PDF and XPS viewer MuPDF 1.9 has been released. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and its derivatives.

According to the news page, MuPDF 1.9 brings following changes:

Headline changes:

• New command line tools: create and run.
• New low-level Java interface for desktop and android.
• Bidirectional layout for Arabic and Hebrew scripts.
• Shaping complex scripts for EPUB text layout.
• Noto fallback fonts for EPUB layout.

mutool create:

• Create new PDF files from scratch.
• Read an annotated content stream in a text file and write a PDF file, automatically embedding font and image resources.

mutool run:

• Run javascript scripts with MuPDF bindings.
• The interface is similar to the new Java interface.

mutool draw:

• Optional multi-threaded operation (Windows and pthreads).
• Optional low memory mode (primarily for testing).

How to Install MuPDF in Ubuntu:

1. Launch terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add PPA (unofficial):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type in your password when it asks and hit Enter to continue. No visual feedback while typing password. You can lately manage the PPA in Software & Updates -> Other Software.

2. Then update package index and install the software via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mupdf mupdf-tools

After installation, right-click on a PDF/XPS file and select open with MuPDF. You may also set MuPDF as default viewer in file’s Properties settings window.

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab .deb packages for mupdf and mupdf-tools at PPA Index page.