HowTo's

About Inkscape extensions in general

Extension calls are possible in different ways. You may find some description at http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Extension_requirements. Inkscape can run extension from a lot of different interpreters and executors like Python, Ruby, Perl, binary executables, bash scripts and so on.

The "..." dots indicator in Inkscape user interface (menus)

Please note that extensions with "..." indicate the extension will have some GUI / menu to use. Extensions with out will perform action directly on current selection or the whole document!

Clone and build Inkscape executable for noobs

Based on the official building sources of Inkscape on how to compile, this is some extended note on how to clone a specific commit of another branch, for instance when trying to test a developer's feature implementation, which is not yet merged into master branch.

Clone the repository

cd ~/
git clone https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape.git

Install prequisites

https://gitlab.com/inkscape/inkscape-ci-docker/-/raw/master/install_dependencies.sh?inline=false

Get the desired commit / branch

cd ~/inkscape/
git remote add pbs https://gitlab.com/pbs3141/inkscape.git
git fetch pbs

#look for the branch if its available npw
git branch -r | grep "split-nonintersecting"
git checkout pbs/split-nonintersecting
git status
git log
git pull --recurse-submodules && git submodule update

Build

mkdir build
cd build
cmake -S .. -B . -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=${PWD}/install_dir -DCMAKE_C_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache -DCMAKE_CXX_COMPILER_LAUNCHER=ccache
make -j8
make install

Run

~/inkscape/build/bin/inkscape

Contribute documentation to Inkscape (reStructuredText)

This page is also available on https://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/Contribute_to_Documentation_with_reStructuredText

To contribute to recent Inkscape documentations, we have to write our docs in reStructuredText file format (*.rst). It's similar to Markdown, but still different.

The Inkscape documentation is built up on Sphinx, which is some kind of special engine. To easily contribut without being a professional developer, we can use VSCodium and some plugin to edit those *.rst files and preview (render) them.

Install VS Code or VSCodium

With VSCodium we can edit *.rst files with ease. There's native syntax highlighting. But we cannot render the final result by default (needs a separate extension).

Downloads:

Install Esbonia Extension

This extension is required to render *.rst files. Rendering helps to validate, that the code we wrote is valid before we commit and push to Inkscape repositories. It can show a live HTML preview of the documentation, so the preview contents change whenever the document is updated. Syncronised scrolling between the source and preview is also supported.

Download/Install: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=swyddfa.esbonio

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Install additional requirements

Ubuntu:

We install Sphinx globally to system, that's why we use the python3-* packages:

sudo apt install python3-sphinx python3-doc8

After this, we have following commands available for CLI also:

sphinx-apidoc
sphinx-autogen
sphinx-build
sphinx-quickstart

See also https://www.sphinx-doc.org/en/master/usage/installation.html

Clone the documentation

cd ~/
git clone https://gitlab.com/inkscape/extensions.git

Open the folder within VSCodium and begin contribute

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Troubleshooting

My opened *.rst file is not rendered

Opening a single file without an active workspace is not currently supported and will lead to errors, which might not be communicated to the user visually. Open the folder containing your documentation project in VSCode instead!

Lint and validate *.inx files

For validation purposes of all inx files we can use the following step:

sudo apt-get update && apt-get install libxml2-utils # install require stuff  

cd ~/.config/inkscape/extensions/mightyscape-1.2/extensions/fablabchemnitz
./000_validate.sh # does not support linting for deeper folders (no recurse)

# or lint a single file in an extensions' dir:
cd <yourExtension>
xmllint --noout --relaxng ../inkscape.extension.rng *.inx

If there is an error message instead of the export/import dialog, check the file or console log from Inkscape:

#Windows
%AppData%\Roaming\inkscape\extension-errors.log

#Linux
~/.config(inkscape/extension-errors.log

Counting INX files and folders:

cd ~/.config/inkscape/extensions/mightyscape-1.2/extensions/fablabchemnitz
find ./ -type f -name "*.inx" | wc -l
ls -d */ | wc -l

This information was also contributed to https://inkscape.gitlab.io/extensions/documentation/authors/inx-overview.html#relax-ng-xml-schema-and-inx-file-validation

SVG Attribute reference

Where to find more Inkscape extensions?

Inkscape extensions are spread over the net. Some good soures to find new stuff:

Use Inkscape with Flatpak

This is a trick from ZAM Erlangen to run Inkscape with Flatpak and having permissions to USB devices (e.g. to use Inkscape with AxiDraw or EggBot)

flatpak run --device=all org.inkscape.Inkscape

See also https://flathub.org/apps/com.github.tchx84.Flatseal about adjusting permissions

Install Inkscape from trunk

Problem:

Inkscape-trunk-data : Conflicts: inkscape but 1:1.4.2+202505120737+ebf0e940d0~ubuntu24.04.1 is to be installed

Solution:

sudo apt purge inkscape-trunk
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudp apt install inkscape