Gerber2PDF

Gerber2PDF is a command-line tool to convert Gerber files to PDF for proofing and hobbyist printing purposes.

Installation:

To build from source for Windows, Linux, or macOS, see Source.

Alternatively, download and run Gerber2pdf.exe (Windows) or Gerber2pdf (Linux 64-bit). This will display the copyright and usage information.

Usage:

A batch-file or script is recommended, but a simple "Open with..." link will also work, resulting in a single Gerber converted to a PDF with the same file-name as the Gerber.

Malware Warning:

The SourceForge automated malware warnings are set up to be quite aggressive, with a high probability of false-positives. My suggestion is to trust your personal antivirus software instead.

Source:

The source is available from the git repository and GitHub.

To build on Linux, run git submodule update --init --recursive && make.

To build on macOS, run git submodule update --init --recursive && make.

To build on Windows, install MinGW and run git submodule update --init --recursive && mingw32-make from within a POSIX-like environment, such as Git Bash.

Building Issues

A common issue with building is the Git submodules. If the Engine/Toolbox folder is empty, GNU make will issue a very cryptic "No rule to make target".

To solve the issue, run git submodule update --init --recursive so that all submodules are initialised and up to date.

You can also download the files manually from the Toolbox repo and save it in the Engine/Toolbox folder, but it is highly recommended to let Git sort it out for you.

Changes:

2024-08-09

• Version-bump to 1.11
• The aperture macro rotation argument is now optional

2024-01-13

• Version-bump to 1.10
• Increased the arc rounding error tolerance even further
• The global options page_size, orientation and scale_to_fit can now be overridden with next_page_size, next_orientation and next_scale_to_fit.

2023-12-28

• Version-bump to 1.9
• Replaced custom Deflate algorithm with the standard ZLib library

2022-12-03

• Reduced the border around "scale-to-fit" to 5 mm
• Added the -orientation option, so that the user can specify portrait or landscape on standard paper sizes.

2022-12-02

• Version-bump to 1.8
• Added automatic translation to the output PDF to place the global PDF origin at the bottom-left of the page.
• Bugfix: Increased the rounding error tolerance on arc calculations.
• Added the -scale_to_fit option.

2021-04-03

• Strokes2Fills is now tolerant to rounding errors in the Gerber. Segments closer than 1 μm apart are considered to be coincident.

2021-02-20

• Added the -CMYK option, which converts the output PDF to use the CMYK colour space.

2021-02-06

• Version-bump to 1.7
• The -strokes2fills option now joins disjointed line and arc segments into a single polygon.
• The -strokes2fills option now supports holes in boards.

2020-11-20

• Bugfix: The polygon aperture type expects an integer number of sides, but some Gerber files specify it with a trailing ".0000".

2020-11-11

• Bugfix: Gerbers that issue a move command before selecting a tool now renders without problems.

2020-05-09

• Empty coordinates, although not conforming to the Gerber file format specification, now returns a warning instead of an error.

2019-03-02

• Version-bump to 1.6
• Removed the background colour limitation. The same Gerber can now be rendered in different background colours on different pages.

2019-02-04

• Added Unicode file-name support
• Various internal architecture improvements (see Git log for details)

2019-01-13

• Version-bump to 1.5
• Removed the limitation where -strokes2fills applies to all instances of the Gerber file

2018-11-20

• Version-bump to 1.4
• Added the -page_size command-line option

2017-12-20

• Fixed bug relating to explicit positive numbers

2017-08-13

• Implemented a new "-strokes2fills" command-line option.
• Fixed bug relating to the Open Contour warning.

2016-10-09

• Fixed bug relating to Gerbers that specify units by means of the deprecated codes G70 or G71, instead of the mandatory %MO??*% parameter.

2016-09-25

• Added an option to change the background colour

2016-09-24

• Fixed bug relating to arc bounding box calculation

2016-09-21

• Fixed bug relating to the first coordinate of an imaging level

2016-07-20

• Fixed bug relating to closed contour warnings

2015-11-12

• Fixed bug relating to arc bounding box calculation

2015-02-21

• Added silent exit feature

2015-01-20

• Fixed bug where paths were handled wrong when terminated with a flash instead of a move.

2014-12-04

• Multiple instances of negative image Gerbers now render correctly.

2014-08-28

• Fixed bug regarding the calculation of arc centres.
• Fixed bug where paths were sometimes drawn as regions.

2014-06-22

• Added a "-nocombine" option.

2014-06-21

• Added transparency to the layers. Transparency is specified by adding an optional alpha value to the colour.
• Optimised for smaller PDF output by reusing previous Gerber conversions.
• Added warnings for deprecated features (optionally disabled by the "-nowarnings" option).
• Added an icon to Gerber2pdf.exe.
• Fixed step-and-repeat bug

2014-06-20

• Fixed bug regarding aperture macros and primitives with "exposure off".
• Added an option to change the layer colour.
• Added an option to combine layers onto a single page.
• Added an option to mirror the output.