give pandoc a try

readme.md

how to

0. install pandoc and tinytex
1. get markdown files: https://github.com/Vonng/ddia.git
2. replace all the markdown tables with html ones
3. bash build.sh

notes

1. template.latex comes from tzengyuxio
2. titlesec.tex is used to make sure each chapter separated by pagebreak

known issues

1. cannot convert markdown tables
2. broken markdown anchor
3. incorrect PDF outlines

build.sh

pandoc \
preface.md \
part-i.md \
ch1.md \
ch2.md \
ch3.md \
ch4.md \
part-ii.md \
ch5.md \
ch6.md \
ch7.md \
ch8.md \
ch9.md \
part-iii.md \
ch10.md \
ch11.md \
ch12.md \
glossary.md \
-o ddia_cn.pdf \
--include-in-header titlesec.tex --pdf-engine=xelatex --template=template \
-V mainfont="PingFang SC" \
-V "title:Designing Data-Intensive Applications 中文版"

template.latex

\documentclass[$if(fontsize)$$fontsize$,$endif$$if(lang)$$lang$,$endif$$if(papersize)$$papersize$,$endif$]{$documentclass$}
\usepackage{geometry} 		% 設定邊界
\geometry{
  top=1in,
  inner=1in,
  outer=1in,
  bottom=1in,
  headheight=3ex,
  headsep=2ex
}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{amssymb,amsmath}
\usepackage{ifxetex,ifluatex}
\usepackage{fixltx2e} % provides \textsubscript
\def\tightlist{}
% use upquote if available, for straight quotes in verbatim environments
\IfFileExists{upquote.sty}{\usepackage{upquote}}{}
\ifnum 0\ifxetex 1\fi\ifluatex 1\fi=0 % if pdftex
  \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
$if(euro)$
  \usepackage{eurosym}
$endif$
\else % if luatex or xelatex
  \usepackage{fontspec} 	% 允許設定字體
  \usepackage{xeCJK} 		% 分開設置中英文字型
  \setCJKmainfont{PingFang SC} 	% 設定中文字型
  \setmainfont{Georgia} 	% 設定英文字型
  \setromanfont{Georgia} 	% 字型
  \setmonofont{PragmataPro}
  \linespread{1.2}\selectfont 	% 行距
  \XeTeXlinebreaklocale "zh" 	% 針對中文自動換行
  \XeTeXlinebreakskip = 0pt plus 1pt % 字與字之間加入0pt至1pt的間距，確保左右對整齊
  \parindent 0em 		% 段落縮進
  \setlength{\parskip}{20pt} 	% 段落之間的距離
  \ifxetex
    \usepackage{xltxtra,xunicode}
  \fi
  \defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text,Scale=MatchLowercase}
  \newcommand{\euro}{€}
$if(mainfont)$
    \setmainfont{$mainfont$}
$endif$
$if(sansfont)$
    \setsansfont{$sansfont$}
$endif$
$if(monofont)$
    \setmonofont{$monofont$}
$endif$
$if(mathfont)$
    \setmathfont{$mathfont$}
$endif$
\fi
% use microtype if available
\IfFileExists{microtype.sty}{\usepackage{microtype}}{}
$if(geometry)$
\usepackage[$for(geometry)$$geometry$$sep$,$endfor$]{geometry}
$endif$
$if(natbib)$
\usepackage{natbib}
\bibliographystyle{plainnat}
$endif$
$if(biblatex)$
\usepackage{biblatex}
$if(biblio-files)$
\bibliography{$biblio-files$}
$endif$
$endif$
$if(listings)$
\usepackage{listings}
$endif$
$if(lhs)$
\lstnewenvironment{code}{\lstset{language=Haskell,basicstyle=\small\ttfamily}}{}
$endif$
$if(highlighting-macros)$
$highlighting-macros$
$endif$
$if(verbatim-in-note)$
\usepackage{fancyvrb}
$endif$
$if(tables)$
\usepackage{longtable}
$endif$
$if(graphics)$
\usepackage{graphicx}
% We will generate all images so they have a width \maxwidth. This means
% that they will get their normal width if they fit onto the page, but
% are scaled down if they would overflow the margins.
\makeatletter
\def\maxwidth{\ifdim\Gin@nat@width>\linewidth\linewidth
\else\Gin@nat@width\fi}
\makeatother
\let\Oldincludegraphics\includegraphics
\renewcommand{\includegraphics}[1]{\Oldincludegraphics[width=\maxwidth]{#1}}
$endif$
\ifxetex
  \usepackage[setpagesize=false, % page size defined by xetex
              unicode=false, % unicode breaks when used with xetex
              xetex]{hyperref}
\else
  \usepackage[unicode=true]{hyperref}
\fi
\hypersetup{breaklinks=true,
            bookmarks=true,
            pdfauthor={$author-meta$},
            pdftitle={$title-meta$},
            colorlinks=true,
            urlcolor=$if(urlcolor)$$urlcolor$$else$blue$endif$,
            linkcolor=$if(linkcolor)$$linkcolor$$else$magenta$endif$,
            pdfborder={0 0 0}}
\urlstyle{same}  % don't use monospace font for urls
$if(links-as-notes)$
% Make links footnotes instead of hotlinks:
\renewcommand{\href}[2]{#2\footnote{\url{#1}}}
$endif$
$if(strikeout)$
\usepackage[normalem]{ulem}
% avoid problems with \sout in headers with hyperref:
\pdfstringdefDisableCommands{\renewcommand{\sout}{}}
$endif$
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
%\setlength{\parskip}{6pt plus 2pt minus 1pt}
\setlength{\emergencystretch}{3em}  % prevent overfull lines

\title{\huge Designing Data-Intensive Applications 中文版} % 設置標題，使用巨大字體
\author{Martin Kleppmann} 		% 設置作者
\date{2017} 		% 設置日期
\usepackage{titling}
\setlength{\droptitle}{-8em} 	% 將標題移動至頁面的上面

\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\usepackage{lastpage}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}

$if(numbersections)$
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{5}
$else$
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{0}
$endif$
$if(verbatim-in-note)$
\VerbatimFootnotes % allows verbatim text in footnotes
$endif$
$if(lang)$
\ifxetex
  \usepackage{polyglossia}
  \setmainlanguage{$mainlang$}
\else
  \usepackage[$lang$]{babel}
\fi
$endif$
$for(header-includes)$
$header-includes$
$endfor$

$if(title)$
\title{$title$}
$endif$
\author{$for(author)$$author$$sep$ \and $endfor$}
\date{$date$}

\begin{document}
$if(title)$
\maketitle
$endif$

$for(include-before)$
$include-before$

$endfor$
$if(toc)$
{
\hypersetup{linkcolor=black}
\setcounter{tocdepth}{$toc-depth$}
\tableofcontents
}
$endif$
$body$

$if(natbib)$
$if(biblio-files)$
$if(biblio-title)$
$if(book-class)$
\renewcommand\bibname{$biblio-title$}
$else$
\renewcommand\refname{$biblio-title$}
$endif$
$endif$
\bibliography{$biblio-files$}

$endif$
$endif$
$if(biblatex)$
\printbibliography$if(biblio-title)$[title=$biblio-title$]$endif$

$endif$
$for(include-after)$
$include-after$

$endfor$
\end{document}

titlesec.tex

\usepackage{titlesec}
\newcommand{\sectionbreak}{\clearpage}