Help installing static binary for wkhtmltopdf

Question

I am trying to use the static binary of wkhtmltopdf on Ubuntu server 10.0.4. The reason for is that it apparently has a built in modified QT that will allow me to run wkhtmltopdf without an X Server.

Result: Once installed (see steps below), when I execute wkhtmltopdf in the terminal, it does not fire up... just returns me to the prompt - like it ran and did something, no error but no output:

:/usr/bin$ wkhtmltopdf

:/usr/bin$

Same behavior if I put args:

:/usr/bin$ wkhtmltopdf http://www.google.com test.pdf

:/usr/bin$

Am I doing something wrong --- my understanding that the static binary should just fire up. Perhaps missing some dependency? Is there a way to get some verbose output?

These are the steps I have followed:

In /usr/bin:

1) Confirmed that the existing (non-static) wkhtmltopdf resides there and that it executes. When I execute it with no args I get the help/about output from the app.

2) Moved the existing wkhtmltopdf out of the directory (renamed it)

3) Get the static binary: sudo curl -C - -O http: //wkhtmltopdf.googlecode.com/files/wkhtmltopdf-0.9.9-static-i386.tar.bz2

4) Untar: tar xvjf wkhtmltopdf-0.9.9-static-i386.tar.bz2

5) Rename: mv wkhtmltopdf-i386 wkthtmltopdf

6) Get (apparently) necessary packages: sudo apt-get install openssl build-essential xorg libssl-dev

Answer 1

Hi David.

I was having the same problem. I removed the existing wkhtmltopdf and followed the steps bellow and the installation worked.

first, installing dependencies

sudo aptitude install openssl build-essential xorg libssl-dev

for 64bits OS

wget http://wkhtmltopdf.googlecode.com/files/wkhtmltopdf-0.9.2-static-amd64.tar.bz2

tar xvjf wkhtmltopdf-0.9.2-static-amd64.tar.bz2

chown root:root wkhtmltopdf-amd64

mv wkhtmltopdf-amd64 /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf

The only difference is that I put it in /usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf.

here are the rest of the instructions if you need to compile it:

http://bit.ly/9P2Z35

I hope it helps!

Deb