Implement Cross-Platform PDF Generation without MS Word dependency #2111

abhijit9040 · 2026-02-01T07:17:21Z

Key Changes
PDF Conversion Engine:-

Prioritized LibreOffice (headless mode) for PDF generation across all platforms.
Added automatic detection of LibreOffice on Windows, including the default installation path when it is not available in PATH.
Implemented a temporary user profile using -env:UserInstallation to:
Prevent file locking
Enable parallel and reliable PDF conversions
Improve stability in CI/CD and Docker environments

Template Migration:-

Replaced .docx guide templates with .odt (OpenDocument Text) to ensure consistent, pixel-accurate PDF output via LibreOffice.
Updated scripts/convert.py to prioritize .odt templates for the guide layout.
Enhanced XML Processing
Refactored replace_text_in_xml_file to robustly support:
ODT internal XML (content.xml, styles.xml)
Existing IDML XML structures
Optimized replacement logic by sorting keys from longest to shortest, preventing partial placeholder corruption during substitution.

Script Robustness:-

Moved Microsoft Word–dependent imports (docx, docx2pdf) into targeted functions, allowing:
The script to run without these libraries when LibreOffice is available
Cleaner execution in Linux, Docker, and CI environments
Improved metadata extraction and language file matching to better handle:
Legacy naming conventions
Edge cases such as against-security editions
Variations in language code formats

Cleanup and Performance:-

Automated cleanup of intermediate .odt files after successful PDF generation.
Added more granular debug-level logging to improve observability and troubleshooting of the conversion pipeline.

Issue:-#2110 – Implement Cross-Platform PDF Generation without MS Word dependency

scripts/convert.py

sydseter

Have a look at my comments. Thank you for your efforts!

sydseter · 2026-02-01T10:32:10Z

Remember to make sure you run the tests before pushing your commits.

sydseter · 2026-02-01T11:30:14Z

nc

…rn to Dict

abhijit9040 · 2026-02-02T12:25:29Z

Hi @sydseter , Please review my PR and let me know if any further changes are needed.

sydseter · 2026-02-03T10:45:34Z

I will need some time to test it out. I'll get back to you.

sydseter · 2026-02-03T13:04:27Z

This works quite well. It would be great if we also could do a couple of the following things:
Could we document the installation for Libreoffice: here? https://github.com/owasp/cornucopia/blob/master/scripts/README.md

Windows: winget install -e --id TheDocumentFoundation.LibreOffice
Mac OS X: ?
Ubuntu: ?

abhijit9040 · 2026-02-03T14:07:35Z

Yes, that makes sense. I’ll add LibreOffice installation instructions to scripts/README.md

abhijit9040 · 2026-02-03T16:47:05Z

Hi @sydseter , Take a final look ,I have updated LibreOffice installation instructions . Let me know if any further changes are needed.

sydseter · 2026-02-03T17:14:51Z

copi.owasp.org/Dockerfile

 # install build dependencies
-RUN apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y build-essential git nodejs npm \
-    && apt-get clean && rm -f /var/lib/apt/lists/*_*
+RUN apt-get update -y && (apt-get install -y build-essential git nodejs npm || (sleep 10 && apt-get update -y && apt-get install -y build-essential git nodejs npm)) \


Why installing these packages?

as this is work on the converter it’s better not to do fixes on copi. If you believe this could be an improvement open an issue and explain why you believe we should do these changes.

opened a separate issue proposing this as an improvement, with an explanation of why it could be useful.

sydseter · 2026-02-03T17:15:34Z

copi.owasp.org/Dockerfile

 #   - Ex: hexpm/elixir:1.14.2-erlang-25.1.1-debian-bullseye-20220801-slim
 #
-FROM --platform=linux/amd64 hexpm/elixir:1.19-erlang-28.3-debian-bullseye-20251208@sha256:9d1e59c326674de89a2eac9cd7f118ae2917e1c6cde02e8fa4cd785198ca9be0 as builder
+FROM hexpm/elixir:1.19-erlang-28.3-debian-bullseye-20251208@sha256:9d1e59c326674de89a2eac9cd7f118ae2917e1c6cde02e8fa4cd785198ca9be0 AS builder


maybe revert this?

sydseter · 2026-02-03T17:17:46Z

cornucopia.owasp.org/data/website/pages/about/en/index.md


 Cornucopia is developed, maintained, updated and promoted by a worldwide team of volunteers. The contributors to date have been:

+- Abhijit


you can also add your full name. Your choice.

sydseter · 2026-02-04T05:49:39Z

copi.owasp.org/Dockerfile

 # start a new build stage so that the final image will only contain
 # the compiled release and other runtime necessities
-FROM --platform=linux/amd64 hexpm/elixir:1.19-erlang-28.3-debian-bullseye-20251208@sha256:9d1e59c326674de89a2eac9cd7f118ae2917e1c6cde02e8fa4cd785198ca9be0
+FROM hexpm/elixir:1.19-erlang-28.3-debian-bullseye-20251208@sha256:9d1e59c326674de89a2eac9cd7f118ae2917e1c6cde02e8fa4cd785198ca9be0


Fix in separate issue.

can be done together with the retry mechanism, but not here.

Implement Cross-Platform PDF Generation without MS Word dependency

a212186

abhijit9040 requested review from cw-owasp, rewtd and sydseter as code owners February 1, 2026 07:17

sydseter reviewed Feb 1, 2026

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sydseter reopened this Feb 1, 2026

fixed all

c66a05c

abhijit9040 requested a review from sydseter February 2, 2026 05:20

abhijit9040 added 7 commits February 2, 2026 12:05

fixed run test

89a2cbc

Updated

6b66963

final Update

9381744

final Update2

e892cab

Fix mypy errors: add import-untyped ignore for docx and cast Any retu…

0ce5109

…rn to Dict

Fix redundant cast mypy error

c61bb55

final Update4

c7e8cca

This was referenced Feb 3, 2026

Fix the layout on the guide templates #2133

Open

Releasing guide documents as pdfs #2134

Open

README file update

c9f9970

sydseter requested changes Feb 3, 2026

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abhijit9040 mentioned this pull request Feb 4, 2026

Add retry mechanism to apt-get install in copi.owasp.org/Dockerfile #2138

Open

sydseter requested changes Feb 4, 2026

View reviewed changes


		Cornucopia is developed, maintained, updated and promoted by a worldwide team of volunteers. The contributors to date have been:

		- Abhijit

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