wkhtmltopdf installed, civi claims executable path does not exist

[shayaknyc]

Hey Everyone,

After reading about how dompdf isn't the best way to generate PDF receipts (and discovering that paid event confirmation emails with PDF attachments fail with dompdf), we decided to install on our ubuntu server wkhtmltopdf 0.9.9 via the ubuntu repo. The executable can be run from shell when referencing the full path: /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf

However, when entering that full path to the executable, in ../civicrm/admin/setting/misc and hit save, we get the error that the path to the executable does not exist or is not valid.

Tried entering /usr/bin/ and that didn't work either, tried /usr/bin (without trailing slash) and that didn't work. Found another location where the executable is stored at /usr/bin/X11/wkhtmltopdf and that didn't work either.

At this point, not sure what else to do to make this work.

Using Civi 4.3.7. Tested on existing installation and on a fresh install from scratch, and got the same error.

[torstenzenk]

Hi,

i have the same problem using 4.4 and wkhtmltopdf-0.11.0_rc1 on debian wheezy. I have tried without symlink

whereis wkhtmltopdf
wkhtmltopdf: /bin/wkhtmltopdf

and with symlink
which wkhtmltopdf
/usr/local/bin/wkhtmltopdf

I have treid a lot of different ways the path could look but without luck. Can someone please reply how to correctly set this up?

[shayaknyc]

Has anyone successfully managed to install wkhtmltopdf and used it with Civi?

[Donald Lobo]

i just gave this a quick shot locally to ensure it works. I had installed wkhtmltopdf (via apt-get) a few years back.

a. i entered and saved the path - /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf . the form saved and accepted the path

b. I tried generating a report pdf and i got an error about "this version of wkhtmltopdf" needs an x server etc. So i went to the site and downloaded the static version, i.e. wkhtmltopdf-0.11.0_rc1-static-i386.tar.bz2 and replaced my current version with this one

c. went back and tried the contribution report and it worked fine

lobo

[clarkac]

I had wkhtmltopdf installed by my hosting site at /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf and it ran successfully.  However, I quickly abandoned it as there were then problems with table page breaks that I couldn't fix.  These are fairly well known problems as there are discussions about it on the web.  But it seems to be OK if you steer clear of html tables!

[torstenzenk]

Hi thank you for the replies,
BUT even exchanging my current wkhtml version with the i386 version and symlinking to /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf didn´t succeed.
Anyway thanks for the replies.

[Donald Lobo]

You'll need to debug that form and figure out whats happening and why

lobo

[shayaknyc]

i just gave this a quick shot locally to ensure it works. I had installed wkhtmltopdf (via apt-get) a few years back.

a. i entered and saved the path - /usr/bin/wkhtmltopdf . the form saved and accepted the path

b. I tried generating a report pdf and i got an error about "this version of wkhtmltopdf" needs an x server etc. So i went to the site and downloaded the static version, i.e. wkhtmltopdf-0.11.0_rc1-static-i386.tar.bz2 and replaced my current version with this one

c. went back and tried the contribution report and it worked fine

lobo

Tried the same thing, didn't work. Then installed 32-bit version, that didn't work either. At this point, going to abandon all hope on implementing this and hope that the default PDF option doesn't create additional issues later down the line....

[Donald Lobo]

I think it will help your org / you and other folks to debug and figure out whats happening and why. i suspect its something simple and OS specific.

the relevant code is: CRM/Admin/Form/Setting/Miscellaneous.php, function formRule

thanx

lobo

[friendswoodtech]

Here's a suggestion for anyone that may be having issues getting wkhtmltopdf to work due to Civi stating that the path doesn't exist or isn't valid.  Be sure to check your php.ini config for the open_basedir path.  I have a VDS and installed wkhtmltopdf to /usr/local/bin.  Once this path was set in open_basedir, I was able to specify wkhtmltopdf as the path in civi for all domains hosted without issue.