Inkscape: Convert SVG with text to a stencil image, from command line CLI - svg

Question

I have an SVG that consists of a main outline shape plus text, that I want to convert into a "stencil" where the text is cut out from the main image (the text is in a stencil font).
I went through the process manually in the Inkscape GUI, converting the text to paths, using Union to combine all the letters into a single path, then using Path-Exclude to cut the text path from the main outline.
Now I want to automate this process through the Inkscape command line, exporting the result as a bitmap/PNM image (which will get converted to a DXF with potrace). But I can't seem to find the correct Inkscape CLI commands for this.
This is on Windows 10.

Answer 1

I found a much easier way to accomplish this, avoiding Inkscape entirely:
Use imagemagick to convert the source SVG (with embedded text) into an intermediate B&W PNM image, then use potrace to convert that to a DWG (or a flat SVG):
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Convert monochrome SVG to cuttable DWG
# potrace manpage: http://potrace.sourceforge.net/potrace.1.html
declare magick='/c/Program Files/ImageMagick-7.0.10-Q8/magick.exe'
declare potrace='/c/Program Files/potrace-1.16.win64/potrace.exe'
declare input_svg="${0%/*}/SVG/test-input.svg"
declare intermediate="${0%/*}/SVG/intermediate.pnm"
declare output="${0%/*}/SVG/test.svg"
declare idim=2000x2000 # dimensions of intermediate pixel file
declare -a potrace_opts=(
--backend svg # output type: svg|dxf
--flat # for SVG
--tight # No margins, trim surrounding whitespace
--width 8in
#--height 16in
#--resolution 20 # dpi - for dimension-based backends
#--scale 0.1 # for pixel-based backends
--opttolerance 0.1 # default 0.2. Larger values allow more consecutive Bezier curve segments to be joined together in a single segment, at the expense of accuracy.
--alphamax 1.08 # corner threshold (default 1); smaller=more sharp corners; 0=output is a polygon; >1.33 = output is completely smooth.
)
"$magick" convert -size $idim "$input_svg" "$intermediate" || exit
"$potrace" "${potrace_opts[#]}" "$intermediate" -o "$output" || exit