I just installed Inkscape 0.47 r22583 (Aug 21 2010) on a CentOS 6 system. I'm trying to learn how to use the command line with inkscape with mixed results. The program seems to work fine when exporting an SVG to PNG using the following comand:

This works exactly as intended. The resulting PNG contains the cropped layer "Layer_1". The problem arises when I try to issue the command from the tutorial which flips the layer vertically:

After executing this the input file remains intact with Layer_1 remaining unflipped. I tried something simpler:

Still no change. Looks like I'm using the --verb option not the way I should or missing something.

Another issue I'm facing is I can't output the exported image to STDOUT. Tried the following:

...and...

Both returning:


Please help!

TpEnEpETE wrote:I just installed Inkscape 0.47 r22583 (Aug 21 2010) on a CentOS 6 system. I'm trying to learn how to use the command line with inkscape with mixed results. (…) The problem arises when I try to issue the command from the tutorial which flips the layer vertically:

Code: Select all

inkscape --select=Layer_1 --verb ObjectFlipVertically --verb FileSave --verb FileClose 12-WINGS-01.svg

After executing this the input file remains intact with Layer_1 remaining unflipped. I tried something simpler:

Code: Select all

inkscape --verb EditClearAll --verb FileSave --verb FileClose 12-WINGS-01.svg

Still no change. Looks like I'm using the --verb option not the way I should or missing something.

This mystery (the commands are correct and work with all recent Inkscape versions as expected) was solved on #inkscape (irc): turned out that the inkscape process was executed on a remote system with no $DISPLAY set (without X server). The solution was to install Xvfb there and use it for Inkscape commands which depend on the GUI (unlike other command line options, verbs ('--verb=') do not work '--without-gui', and in order to open the GUI, Inkscape (on linux) needs to be able to connect to a running X server (normal or virtual)).

See also:

• Inkscape manual - Using the Command Line:
  «It does not appear possible to suppress the GUI when using the --verb argument.»
• Bug #843260 “Allow suppressing the GUI (-z) when using --verb option(s) ”

TpEnEpETE wrote:Another issue I'm facing is I can't output the exported image to STDOUT. Tried the following:

Code: Select all

inkscape --print="> out.png" 12-WINGS-01.svg

(…)

Known bug: Bug #511361 “0.47 crashes when printing from command line (but not gui)”

I think I have a similar problem.

I would like to merge two objects (elipseA UNION elipseB), but I can't.

I tried using inkscape --shell and this option too:


Am I doing it wrong? Or it will never work because of Inkscape command line limitations, or am I forgetting something?
I'm a newbie, :\

Thanks a lot
Henry