How to generate PDF from markdown using pure ruby

Question

I'm currently using Kramdown to generate HTML from Markdown in Ruby. I know that I can generate a latex file using kramdown and convert it to pdf usaing a command line utility. But I want a pure ruby solution.

Is there a way to convert markdown to pdf using only ruby without using command-line utilities?

Solution 1

You can use https://github.com/walle/gimli

I made it just for this purpose. Though, I use textile. But gimli supports all formats supported by GitHub-Markup.

Solution 2

Prawn: The Pure Ruby PDF Generation Library
http://www.rubyinside.com/prawn-ruby-pdf-library-987.html

Solution 3

The wkhtmltopdf gem is also available: http://rubygems.org/gems/wkhtmltopdf

Comments

[Fredrik Wallgren]

I don't have access to a Windows machine. So I haven't been able to test. What is the problem with running it on Windows?

[Artem Oboturov]

Not possible to install all the required components via gems. And then one should configure and debug.

[Ciro Santilli OurBigBook.com]

@FredrikWallgren does it use another backend, or does it have its own?

[Fredrik Wallgren]

@CiroSantilli It uses github.com/wkhtmltopdf/wkhtmltopdf to generate the PDF from the HTML generated from the markup.