GitBook PDF Generator(s)

Documentation is not finished yet. Before the documentation is done, you may check the discussion at GitbookIO/gitbook#1470 for ideas.

Installation

1. npm install -g gitbook-pdfgen
2. Install wkhtmltopdf and add wkhtmltopdf to path.
3. Download the sample project at GitbookIO/gitbook#1470 to project path
4. cd [project path] && npm install && gitbook install
5. run gitbook-pdfgen at the project path, which contains book.json. The pdf generated is book_wk.pdf
6. run gitbook-pdfgen --help for help of the command line.
7. Modify the book.

Configuration

• Do the configuration in book.json of the book.
• Check gen_pdf_wk_config_schema.json in the npm package for details. (Sorry I cannot pretty print the schema yet.)
• Check the sample project and wkhtmltopdf help for how to modify the TOC, header and footer.

Known issues

• If a font-face is not used in the first page (usually README.md), the font will not be embedded correctly in the pdf. This is an issue with wkhtmltopdf. (Workaround: see the sample project to add some hidden text.)
• Will not work if the book summary is not in the same format as the sample project. (i.e. One part only, no multilanguage.)
• Cannot set a different margin in different pages, including cover. (Workaround: to add a real cover to your book, use PDFTK Builder.)
• Will not work if the book contains a book.js instead of book.json.