Errors using pdfx package to generate PDF/A

Question

I need to submit my thesis in PDF/A format. I am using LyX, but I don't think that is relevant for my question.

I get this error message when running pdfx package:

! pdfTeX error (ext5): cannot open file for embedding.
l.137 ...eam attr{/N 4}  file{sRGBIEC1966-2.1.icm}

The documentation says to put any color file in the pdfx folder and rename it to sRGBIEC1966-2.1.icm.

I have tried this and get the same error. Anyone know how to fix this?

How about just placing the file in your working folder (where your original .tex file is located)? — Werner, Sep 12 '12 at 01:53
I've tried that also. Did not work. I download the color icc file from http://www.color.org/srgbprofiles.xalter and changed the filename to icm. — Mendy, Sep 12 '12 at 02:02
Then I suggest producing a minimal working example (MWE) that reproduces the problem so community members can work with something. Do this by exporting a small file you've created in LyX (...that replicates the problem) and posting that as part of your question via an edit. — Werner, Sep 12 '12 at 02:06
And even when using a working pdfx, I was not able to get a compliant PDF/A document — sebschub, Sep 12 '12 at 10:02

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 05 '12 at 08:37

pdfTeX looks for the file with the name sRGBIEC1966-2.1.icm exactly. Depending on the operating system/file system also uppercase/lowercase matters. Renaming the file name extension from .icc to .icm is not enough, also the file name must match.
If the file is put in the folder pdfx, then this folder is probably inside the texmf distribution tree (a better place would be a local/home tree). Then the file name database must be updated. texhash/mktexlsr in case of TeX Live and in case of MiKTeX the action must be done in admin mode (Maintennance (Admin)). Otherwise the file name databases for the system texmf tree is skipped and not updated.
The program kpsewhich can be used on the command line in both TeX Live and MiKTeX to check, whether a file would be found by TeX:
```
kpsewhich sRGBIEC1966-2.1.icm
```
It should report the file name with the complete path.

Could you explain what sRGBIEC1966-2.1.icm is / does? I got it from https://github.com/bencomp/pdfx-ext/blob/master/sRGBIEC1966-2.1.icm and file says Microsoft ICM Color Profile, but I am on a Linux machine using TeXLive, so I wonder why I need it / what it is good for. — Martin Thoma, Jun 14 '15 at 07:11
@moose Wikipedia page: ICC profile. The PDF/A standard requires a color profile to be embedded. — Heiko Oberdiek, Jun 14 '15 at 07:58

1 Answers1