Install PrinceXML in WSL Ubuntu Linux

1. Download PrinceXML for Ubuntu 20.04 / 64-bit deb file.

   $ wget https://www.princexml.com/download/prince_13.5-1_ubuntu20.04_amd64.deb
   

2. Install gdebi, if it wasn’t already installed. Note, that the package name actually is gdebi-core. The gdebi package is enormous and hopefully is not necessary.

   $ sudo apt install gdebi-core
   

3. Follow the Installation Guide to install using gdebi. This tool, unlike dpkg, will automatically download and install all necessary dependencies.

   • Dry run to see what dependencies are missing:

     $ sudo gdebi --apt-line prince_13.5-1_ubuntu20.04_amd64.deb
     Reading package lists... Done
     Building dependency tree
     Reading state information... Done
     Reading state information... Done
     libgif7 libjbig0 libjpeg-turbo8 libjpeg8 liblcms2-2 libpixman-1-0 libtiff5 libwebp6
     

   • These dependencies look reasonable, so install PrinceXML and the dependencies:

     $ sudo gdebi prince_13.5-1_ubuntu20.04_amd64.deb
     

   • Verify the installation:

     $ prince --version
     Prince 13.5
     Copyright 2002-2020 YesLogic Pty. Ltd.
     Non-commercial License
     

4. Test the conversion with a sample document, as suggested by the Installation Guide:

   • Download the source file lab_report.html:

     $ wget https://www.princexml.com/doc/first-doc/samples/lab_report.html
     

   • If the above fails, the content of the source file lab_report.html can also be copied from the Installation Guide and saved with a text editor.

   • Process the source file using the command line prince command to generate unstyled PDF output file:

     $ prince lab_report.html
     

   • The previous step will have created a lab_report.pdf file in the current directory. Its contents can be inspected on its own or compared with the sample PDF file offered in the Installation Guide.

Now we have a working PrinceXML installation under WSL Linux!

— Oliver Frolovs, 2020