Error during converting jpg to pdf

Problem

Each time you try to convert a JPG file to PDF using the command convert *.jpg pictures.pdf, you receive the error message convert: not authorized 'pictures.pdf' @ error/constitute.c/WriteImage/1028.

Cause

This problem occurs from a security update in the ImageMagick package. A bug was reported in the Ubuntu bug tracker, and it's related to the kb.cert.org security update.

Solution 1: Temporarily disable the safety check

One temporary solution is to edit the /etc/ImageMagick-6/policy.xml file and change the PDF rights from none to read|write. This will allow you to convert images without any issues.

Solution 2: Use an alternative command

Another solution is to use the command pdftoppm -jpeg input.pdf output.jpg from the poppler-utils package. This command allows you to convert PDFs to JPEGs without using ImageMagick.

Solution 3: Use sed to fix the policy XML file

A more straightforward solution is to use the sed command to fix the policy.xml file. You can create a one-liner command like this:

sudo sed -i 's#<policy domain="coder" rights="none" pattern="PDF" />#<policy domain="coder" rights="read|write" pattern="PDF" />#' /etc/ImageMagick-6/policy.xml

This will update the policy.xml file and allow you to convert images without any issues.

Solution 4: Use a programmatic way to fix the policy XML file

If you prefer a more programmatic approach, you can create a script that updates the policy.xml file automatically.

Final solution

To fix this issue on your Ubuntu distribution, you can use any of the solutions above. The final solution involves running the sed command to fix the policy.xml file.

sudo sed -i 's#<policy domain="coder" rights="none" pattern="PDF" />#<policy domain="coder" rights="read|write" pattern="PDF" />#' /etc/ImageMagick-6/policy.xml

This will update the policy.xml file and allow you to convert images without any issues.