Lettergen

Generate scrlltr2 letters like a pro!

Lettergen takes an input file in yaml format and generates a beatifully typeset pdf using the excellent LaTeX komascript class scrlttr2.

Dependencies

Runtime

• Texlive (core and latexextra)
• libyaml
• pcre
• gc (boehm garbage collector)

Build

• Crystal (and Shards)

Install

ArchLinux

Install lettergen from AUR.

Other systems

Clone the project and run make && make install

Usage

Usage: lettergen [options] letter.yml
    -s FILE, --stamp-file=FILE       Use stamp from FILE
    -p PAGE, --stamp-page=PAGE       Use stamp from PAGE (default: 1)
    -r ROW, --stamp-row=ROW          Use stamp from ROW (default: 1)
    -c COLUMN, --stamp-column=COLUMN Use stamp from COLUMN (default: 1)
    -h, --help                       Show this message

Example

$> genletter path/to/my-letter.yml

This will generate a pdf path/to/my-letter.pdf

For an example output see examples/letter.pdf

YAML Format

See examples/letter.yml for a generated example using all currently supported options.

The following options are optional:

• from.phone
• from.email
• from.url
• from.bank
• from.customer
• date (this will default to the current date)

You can write prettier yaml than the one in examples/letter.yml by making use of the |- yaml modifier:

text: |-
  This is a multi-line text.
  Newlines are preserved.

Any newlines in any address or bank field will be replaced with \\\n. So LaTeX will force a line break.

Advanced Topics

Postage

You can use "Internetmarke" from Deutsche Post to include a digital stamp in your letter. See lettergen --help for details. NOTE: The layout of the pdf was changed by the Deutsche Post so the current package postage.sty won't work. There is however a pull request addressing this issue. One possible workaround is to download the file postage.sty from the fork and install it to TEXMFHOME. See https://texfaq.org/FAQ-privinst.

Modifying the template

If you're not satisfied with the LaTeX template, you can clone this repository and modify src/letter.tex.ecr to your liking. This template will be baked into the binary, so you'll have to recompile.

License

Licensed under GPLv3

Copyright (c) 2020 Joakim Repomaa