RustyPDF (rustypdf)

CLI tool to compress and merge PDF files using a Rust backend exposed to Python via PyO3/maturin.

Features

• compress: Reduce embedded image dimensions (PNG) with a scale factor (1-10). Placeholder JPEG handling.
• merge: Concatenate multiple PDFs preserving page order.

Installation (local build)

pip install maturin
maturin develop  # or: maturin build --release && pip install target/wheels/rustypdf-*.whl

CLI Usage

rustypdf --help

rustypdf compress --input input.pdf --output out.pdf --scale 7

rustypdf merge --inputs a.pdf b.pdf c.pdf --output merged.pdf

Scale meaning: 1 = minimal compression, 10 = maximum (down to ~25% linear dimension for PNG images). JPEG currently left unchanged (placeholder logic).

Python API

from rustypdf import compress_pdf, merge_pdfs
merge_pdfs(["a.pdf", "b.pdf"], "merged.pdf")
compress_pdf("in.pdf", "out.pdf", 5)

Notes / Limitations

• Compression is basic and may not always reduce file size, especially for PDFs with already-compressed JPEGs or complex content.
• rustypdf compress will automatically detect Ghostscript and, if missing, will best-effort install it using the platform package manager:
  • Linux: apt/dnf/yum/zypper/pacman (requires appropriate privileges)
  • macOS: Homebrew (brew) or MacPorts (port)
  • Windows: winget/chocolatey/scoop If installation fails or permissions are insufficient, the command falls back to Rust-only compression and prints a note.
• Not all PDFs may be supported; complex structures or encrypted PDFs are out of scope for this minimal example.

License

MIT