figconv

A useful script for scientific writing that converts multiple formats to PDF.

• converts all supported formats into PDF when modification time changes
• output PDFs are automatically cropped
• tested on Linux (Mint, Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS)

How to use

cd /path/to/my/latex/paper/images
figconv       # generates PDFs
figconv --png # generates PDFs and PNGs

How to install - Debian derivatives

On Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint, you can install the latest release as a deb package. This has some optional dependencies. After downloading the file figconv_<VERSION>.deb, install it using the following command:

sudo dpkg -i figconv_<VERSION>.deb

How to install - Other Unix distros

You can install figconv directly from github into your /usr/local directory. It is generally not recommended to run sudo make ... on stuff downloaded from the Internet. So you have been warned!

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/vsimko/figconv.git
cd figconv
sudo make install

Uninstallation also works:

sudo make uninstall

You can install/uninstall it somewhere else as follows:

INSTALL_PATH=/path/to/other/dir make install
INSTALL_PATH=/path/to/other/dir make uninstall

Supported output formats

• PDF (default and also used for intermediate conversion to other formats)
• PNG (requires Ghostscript gs)

Supported input formats

• OpenOffice / LibreOffice formats:

  • requires unoconv utility
  • ODT (Writer): Every page exported as a single PDF
  • ODG (Draw): Every page exported as a single PDF
  • ODS (Calc): Every sheet exported as a single PDF

• SVG

  • requires Inkscape
  • SVG filters such as Duotone will be resterized

• Dia diagrams

• Plots generated in R language

  • single R file per diagram
  • global parameters pdf.width and pdf.heigth

Runtime Dependencies

• see deb-control file

How to contribute

• see CONTRIBUTING.md

Other links

• https://www.openhub.net/p/figconv