With some effort, I've managed to compile Xpdf version 3.00pl3 (the latest as of this writing) for OpenVMS/Alpha. This is an up-to-date PDF viewer (analogous to Adobe Acrobat) for VMS users.
Xpdf requires two shared libraries: T1Lib and Freetype. As of this writing, the latest versions of each are 5.0.2 and 2.1.10, respectively. Xpdf also requires Ghostscript, in order to use the Type 1 fonts that come with it (especially the 13 required PostScript fonts).
To make it convenient to install and remove, I have packaged the compiled binaries in PCSI (PolyCenter Software Installation utility) format, and included the Ghostscript package from the Freeware CD-ROM. The easiest way to install Xpdf is to download all four required packages (of course, you can skip any that are already installed on your computer)
into a single directory, unpack the self-extracting archives, and then run
$ PRODUCT INSTALL XPDF
from inside that directory. The PCSI utility should automatically install the needed dependencies.
These packages have been tested on OpenVMS/Alpha version 7.3-1, the latest version available on the Hobbyist CD Media.
I decided to put all the header files that come with the two shared libraries (T1Lib and FreeType) into text libraries. I find it easier to add a text library to the end of the compile command, thus:
$ CC FOO.C+SYS$LIBRARY:FREETYPE2.TLB
rather than go through all the usual logical name gymnastics required to deal with include paths with subdirectories (e.g. "#include <sys/types.h>").
The source code with my modifications to create the OpenVMS/Alpha packages above is available below. In each case, it should be possible to unpack the archive, set your default directory to the toplevel directory created by the archive, and run MMS/EXT to build the binaries and create the package.