In previous versions of the Zend framework I would do the following:
Zend_Pdf::load('/path/to/pdf.pdf');
$metaAuthor = $pdf->properties['Author'];
$metaTitle = $pdf->properties['Title'];
$metaSubject = $pdf->properties['Subject'];
$metaKeywords = $pdf->properties['Keywords'];
$metaProducer = $pdf->properties['Producer'];
It seems that Zend has eliminated Zend_pdf from the framework sometime after version 1.9.
Is there another way to get the same details out of a .pdf file with something other than an old version of the Zend framework? (I'm running PHP 5.4 at this point on RedHat if that makes any difference)
There is a standalone version of ZendPdf that you could use. It can be found here:
https://github.com/zendframework/ZendPdf
I mention it because it may be viable solution for you (ie. you get to use what is essentially the old Zend_Pdf but without including the entire framework and with some improvements, like namespaces).
As of two years ago, there was a little bit of trickery required to get it working. I don't know if this advice still applies, but you can read about it here:
Where to get and how to use zend_pdf standalone
I have switched to TCPDF, but I don't think you can extract document properties with it.