Embed joboptions file in PDF export like in Distiller

In fact it wouldn't be very useful because PDF/X standards don't support attachments in PDFs.

Yes, there is that. Hadn't considered it is an attachment.

I can (and do) test any PDF against a set of spec's. (I don't use the Acrobat default preflights. I write my own.)

I was given a .joboptions file, from a print vendor, that I was instructed to use for files submitted to them that does attach the file. (It was in reading this spec that I discovered the option.) It does not create a PDF/X-compatible file (clearly). I can create a preflight that checks all the criteria their .joboptions file creates (it's not that much, actually) but it cannot verify that it was their joboptions file that was used. (It's actually very generic.) Which is why I'm assuming their profile embeds itself.

In my case, I get questions like, "why is my color different?" or "where is my logo?" and when I test them against our press standards (that I write) the PDF "passes" because there's nothing in it that would affect printing. When I ask, "I don't know what happened, how did you export your PDF?" they insist they used the PDF export settings I gave them and that they did not modify them. When I use their same design files and same settings I do not get their same results — it works when I do it.

So I'm looking for the actual settings they used to create the file: did they change the Output Intent? Did they use a different color profile or resolution? Did they turn on compression? 

"It goes in the square hole." At the end of the day, it does not really matter if the file is a rectangle, a triangle, a circle, etc. as long as it meets the requirements of the "hole" you're putting it in. But when someone wants to know, was this cut on a lathe? With a jigsaw? Why is my circle coming out as an arch? It doesn't matter if it all fits in the square hole, we want to troubleshoot how that file was created.

This may be a moot point, as the direction we're moving in removing humans from generating the PDFs, and having the whole process automated (Switch, Pitstop). This is a much better use of our time than instructing every new designer on why they can't just use "High Quality Print."

And I just realised it's because you want to examine the files supplied to you - so sending a script to many people wouldn't be an option. 

to answer your question, as a troubleshooting and forensic tool.

it's helpful to know who made the PDF and how, using which preset.

Because I keep getting asked: "why didn't my PDF come out right? here's the PDF I made..." to which I'm endlessly asking which of the presets we gave them did they use, which they will always insist they've used correctly.

And because when a particular vendor messes up file in processing, and they insist it's because we didn't use their export settings, they can be embedded in the file.

And because it's available in Distiller, and so should programatically be available in other PostScript/PDF engines.