Running the speedata publisher on the command line – speedata Publisher
Description: The speedata Publisher is started via the command line (also: terminal, command window). On the one hand there are commands, on the other hand the commands can …

Version 5.9.2

# Running the speedata publisher on the command line

The speedata Publisher is started via the command line (also: terminal, command window). On the one hand there are commands, on the other hand the commands can be controlled via parameters.

    $ sp <Command> <Parameter> <Parameter> ...

| On Windows/PowerShell you have to run `sp.exe` since `sp` is an internal command of PowerShell.

The default command is `run`. So the call of

    $ sp

the same as

    $ sp run

Besides the command `run` there are other commands (see below).

With

    $ sp --help

you can display a list of the allowed commands and parameters.

## Description of the commands

`clean`
  Deletes all generated intermediate files and keeps the PDF file.
`checkupdate`
  Checks if a new version of the Publisher is available. Return code is 0 if the version is up to date. 1 if a new version is available.
`clearcache`
  Removes files from the image cache.
`compare`
  Recursively check a directory for layout changes. See the topic about quality assurance.
`doc`
  Shows the manual in the browser. If the manual is part of the installation (directory `share/doc`), it is served through a local web server; the address is also printed on the console, and the server runs until ctrl-c. The German or the English edition is opened, depending on the language setting of the system (environment variables `LC_ALL`, `LC_MESSAGES`, `LANG`). With `--no-autoopen` the browser is not opened. Without a local manual, the command opens the online documentation at https://doc.speedata.de, also in the matching language.
`list-fonts`
  Lists all font files found in the Publisher directories. Together with `--xml` this command allows you to copy and paste the output into the layout rules. See Using fonts.
`new [DIRECTORY]`
  Create simple layout and data file to start. Provide optional directory.
`run`
  Start publishing (default).
`server`
  Run as http-api server on localhost port 5266 (configure with `--address` and `--port`). See the chapter Server-Modus (REST API).
`watch`
  Start watchdog / hotfolder. See Starting the Publisher via the Hotfolder.

## Description of the commandline parameters

Most parameters correspond to a key in the configuration file and are described on the page Configuration. The following table maps the parameters to the keys; values given on the command line take precedence over the configuration file.

Parameter | Configuration key
--- | ---
`--address=IPADDRESS` | `address` (section `server`)
`--autoopen` | `autoopen`
`--cache=METHOD` | `cache`
`--data=NAME` | `data`
`--dummy` | `dummy`
`-x`, `--extra-dir=DIR` | `extra-dir`
`--filter=FILTER` | `filter`
`--grid`, `--no-grid` | `grid`
`--ignore-case` | `ignore-case`
`--imagecache=PATH` | `imagecache`
`--inkscape=PATH` | `inkscape`
`--jobname=NAME` | `jobname`
`--layout=NAME` | `layout`
`--[no-]local` | `addlocalpath`
`--logfile=NAME` | `logfile` (section `server`)
`--loglevel=LVL` | `loglevel`
`--mode=NAME[,NAME…]` | `mode`
`--pdfversion=VERSION` | `pdfversion`
`--port=PORT` | `port` (section `server`)
`--runs=NUM` | `runs`
`--startpage=NUM` | `startpage`
`--systemfonts` | `systemfonts`
`--tempdir=DIR` | `tempdir`
`--timeout=SEC` | `timeout`
`-v`, `--var=VAR=VALUE` | `vars`
`--verbose` | `verbose`
`--wd=DIR` | `wd`

The following parameters exist only on the command line:

`-h`, `--help`
  Show this help
`-c`, `--config=NAME`
  Read the config file with the given NAME. Default: `publisher.cfg`
`--credits`
  Show credits and exit
`--[no-]cutmarks`
  Display cutmarks in the document
`--generate-completion=SHELL`
  Print a shell completion script (`bash`, `zsh` or `fish`) to standard output and exit. See the section Shell completion below.
`--mainlanguage=NAME`
  The document’s main language in locale format, for example `en` or `en_US`.
`--option=OPTION`
  Set a specific option that has no command line parameter.
`--outputdir=DIR`
  Copy PDF and protocol to this directory.
`--progress`
  Show progress information on standard output. Displays the current page number and elapsed time during a publishing run. If the publisher has been run before, it also shows the expected total number of pages (from the previous run) and the previous run duration. This option disables `--verbose`.
`--quiet`
  Run publisher in silent mode
`--show-gridallocation`
  Show the allocated grid cells
`-s`, `--suppressinfo`
  Suppress optional information (timestamp) and use a fixed document ID
`--trace`
  Show debug messages and some tracing PDF output
`--varsfile=NAME`
  Set variables for the publishing run from a file with each line containing `key=value` pairs. Lines starting with a `#` are ignored. See also `-v`, `--var`.
`--version`
  Show version information
`--xml`
  Output as (pseudo-)XML (for list-fonts)

## Shell completion

`sp` can produce tab-completion scripts for `bash`, `zsh` and `fish`. The script is written to standard output, so redirect it to wherever your shell expects completion files.

The completion knows all options and commands; for options that take a value it offers file completion as a generic default.

### Bash

Per user (requires the `bash-completion` package):

    $ sp --generate-completion=bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/sp

System-wide (e.g. from a distribution package): `/usr/share/bash-completion/completions/sp`.

### Zsh

Per user, one possible setup:

    $ mkdir -p ~/.zsh/completions
    $ sp --generate-completion=zsh > ~/.zsh/completions/_sp

Then add the following to `~/.zshrc` before the `compinit` call:

    fpath=(~/.zsh/completions $fpath)

System-wide locations are `/usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/_sp` (Debian/Ubuntu) or `/usr/share/zsh/site-functions/_sp`.

### Fish

Fish picks completions up automatically from the user configuration directory:

    $ sp --generate-completion=fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/sp.fish

System-wide path: `/usr/share/fish/vendor_completions.d/sp.fish`.

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