PDF Joiner

A simple command-line tool to join multiple PDF files into a single PDF document on macOS and Linux.

Requirements

macOS

• macOS (the tool uses the built-in macOS PDF joining utility)
• Go 1.24 or higher (for development)

Linux

• Linux distribution with one of the following PDF tools installed:
  • pdfunite (from poppler-utils) - Recommended, available on most distributions
  • ghostscript (gs) - Widely available fallback
  • qpdf - Alternative option
• Go 1.24 or higher (for development)

Installation of Linux PDF Tools

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt-get install poppler-utils  # for pdfunite
# or
sudo apt-get install ghostscript    # for gs
# or
sudo apt-get install qpdf           # for qpdf

RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:

sudo dnf install poppler-utils      # for pdfunite
# or
sudo dnf install ghostscript        # for gs
# or
sudo dnf install qpdf               # for qpdf

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S poppler              # for pdfunite
# or
sudo pacman -S ghostscript          # for gs
# or
sudo pacman -S qpdf                 # for qpdf

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/vinitkumar/pdf-joiner.git
cd pdf-joiner
go build -o pdf-joiner

From Releases

Download the latest binary from the Releases page.

Usage

# Join PDFs with default output filename (timestamp-based)
./pdf-joiner file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf

# Join PDFs with a custom output filename
./pdf-joiner -o output.pdf file1.pdf file2.pdf file3.pdf

Features

• Cross-platform support: Works on macOS and Linux
• Automatic tool detection: Uses the best available PDF tool on each platform
• Multiple backends on Linux: Supports pdfunite, ghostscript, and qpdf with intelligent fallback
• Join multiple PDF files into a single document
• Specify custom output path
• Automatic output filename generation with timestamp
• Verification of input files

How It Works

The tool automatically detects your operating system and uses the appropriate PDF joining method:

• macOS: Uses the built-in /System/Library/Automator/Combine PDF Pages.action/Contents/MacOS/join utility
• Linux: Automatically detects and uses the best available tool in this priority order:
  1. pdfunite (from poppler-utils) - Fastest and most reliable
  2. ghostscript (gs) - Widely available, stable fallback
  3. qpdf - Alternative option

If none of the Linux tools are available, the program will provide clear instructions on which packages to install.

Development

Testing

go test -v ./...

Building

go build -o pdf-joiner

License

MIT

Author

Vinit Kumar ([email protected])