[OS X TeX] Scientific Wordprocessing on MacOSX

[Herbert Schulz]

On May 21, 2013, at 3:37 PM, Andreas Höschler <ahoesch at advanced-science.com> wrote:

> Hi Herbert,
> 
>> Can you please elaborate (for the non-expert) these few lines you wrote:
>>> 
>>>> However, Cassiopeia can work with any LaTeX distribution. One just has to edit the two scripts
>>>> 
>>>> 	
>>> 	/Library/Frameworks/SDMFoundation.framework/Resources/generateLaTeXPDF
>>>> 	
>>> 	/Library/Frameworks/SDMFoundation.framework/Resources/generateLaTeXPDFWithIndex
>>>> 
>>>> that have content like
>>>> 
>>>> #!/bin/csh
>>>> setenv PATH /usr/local/teTeX/bin/powerpc-apple-darwin-current:...
>>>> pdflatex $1
>>>> bibtex $1
>>>> pdflatex $1
>>>> pdflatex $1
>>>> 
>>>> and add the path to the bin directory of the LaTeX distribution in use.
>>> 
>>> Thank you.
>>> 
>>> Iraj.
>>> 
>> 
>> That must be a rather ancient script! For any recent MacTeX installed system one should use /usr/texbin:$PATH for the PATH variable. Also, doesn't csh (most folks use bash nowadays---another item that shows the age of this script) is path rather than PATH?
> 
> I hope 
> 
>>>> #!/bin/csh
>>>> setenv PATH /usr/texbin:...:$PATH
>>>> pdflatex $1
>>>> bibtex $1
>>>> pdflatex $1
>>>> pdflatex $1
> 
> or 
> 
>>>> #!/bin/bash
>>>> PATH=/usr/texbin:...:$PATH
> export PATH
>>>> pdflatex $1
>>>> bibtex $1
>>>> pdflatex $1
>>>> pdflatex $1
> 
> will do it then (make the script compatible with recent MacTeX distributions)!? 
> 
>> Not only that, there are really nice ways to automate the running of pdflatex, bibtex, makeindex, etc.
> 
> Would this be of any benefit for the integration into Cassiopeia? The script being called by Cassiopeia is already automization in itself, isn't it? How do you think could this be even more improved?
>  
> Thanks,
> 
>   Andreas

Howdy,

E.g., the latexmk program can automatically run bibtex and or makeindex if needed as well as follow up on the correct number of additional runs of pdflatex to resolve all cross-references. There are occasions when it takes more than two extra runs of pdflatex after running bibtex.

Not only that, there are several packages that allow for multiple glossaries and/or acronym lists and latexmk can be set up to automate that processing (it uses makeindex).

Then there is the fact that many folks are using the biblatex package along with biber, rather than bibtex, for creating bibliography lists and latexmk can automatically detect when it should use biber rather than bibtex by looking at the output of the biblatex package.

Should I go on? There is more.

You can take a look at the documentation for the latexmk engines for TeXShop. If you've never run TeXShop before you'll need to run it once and then look at the documentation found in ~/Library/TeXShop/Engines/Inactive/Latexmk. Note: under OS X 10.7 or 10.8 ~/Library, the Library folder in your HOME folder, is hidden. To get to it hold the Option key down when you click on the Go Menu in Finder and there will be an item to take you there.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)