[OS X TeX] Using \usepgfplotslibrary{external}

[Herbert Schulz]

> On Aug 4, 2016, at 10:29 AM, Martin Bergren <martin.berggren at cs.umu.se> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>> On 04 Aug 2016, at 17:23, Herbert Schulz <herbs at wideopenwest.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> On Aug 4, 2016, at 9:35 AM, Martin Bergren <martin.berggren at cs.umu.se> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 04 Aug 2016, at 16:20, Herbert Schulz <herbs at wideopenwest.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> On Aug 4, 2016, at 9:09 AM, Martin Bergren <martin.berggren at cs.umu.se> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 04 Aug 2016, at 15:57, Herbert Schulz <herbs at wideopenwest.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Aug 4, 2016, at 7:56 AM, Martin Bergren <martin.berggren at cs.umu.se> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On 04 Aug 2016, at 14:52, Herbert Schulz <herbs at wideopenwest.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> On Aug 4, 2016, at 7:22 AM, Martin Bergren <martin.berggren at cs.umu.se> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I would like to be able to use
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> \usepgfplotslibrary{external}
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> for pgfplots, which apparently should be able to store the pgfplots or tikz figures as pdfs to shorten latexing time. The problem seem to be write18. 
>>>>>>>>> Is there a way around it?
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Martin Berggren
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Howdy,
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Assuming you are using TeXShop:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> One thing you can use is the sepdflatexmk engine. This is set up to use latexmk so that all processing through bibtex/biber and makeindex is taken care of if necessary and the pdflatex has the --shell-escape flag set. To use it simply place the line
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> % !TEX TS-program = sepdflatexmk
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> at the top of your file and then typeset the document by simply using Typeset->Typeset (Cmd-T).
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> But this is not a bibtex/biber and makeindex issue. This is about pgfplots,  which I think is running (in my case) lualatex in the background to produce the plots.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Martin Berggren
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Howdy,
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> If it's really using lualatex you need to somehow have it load the luatex85 package and the shellesc package under lualatex. I don't know if your initial file is run under lualatex but you might try to include
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> \ifx\directlua\@undefined
>>>>>> \else
>>>>>> \RequirePackage{luatex85}
>>>>>> \RequirePackage{shellesc}
>>>>>> \fi
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> before the \documentclass command. Otherwise you need to see how to have that included in the lualatex call.
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> I think tikz-fct uses gnuplot and, assuming you have gnuplot in your PATH, using the shell escape provided by the sepdflatexmk engine should do the job.
>>>>> 
>>>>> No, luatex is not the issue (same problem with pdftex), and I don’t think this is a gnuplot issue either. The error I get is the following:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Package tikz Error: Sorry, the system call 'lualatex -halt-on-error -interact
>>>>> ion=batchmode -jobname "portoptreport1-figure0" "\def\tikzexternalrealjob{porto
>>>>> ptreport1}\input{portoptreport1}"' did NOT result in a usable output file 'port
>>>>> optreport1-figure0' (expected one of .pdf:.jpg:.jpeg:.png:). Please verify that
>>>>> you have enabled system calls. For pdflatex, this is 'pdflatex -shell-escape'.
>>>>> Sometimes it is also named 'write 18' or something like that. Or maybe the com
>>>>> mand simply failed? Error messages can be found in 'portoptreport1-figure0.log'
>>>>> . If you continue now, I'll try to typeset the picture. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> That’s why I in my first post said that it seems to be a write18 issue. To me it seems like lualatex (or pdflatex)  is supposed to run as a system command to produce the picture files. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> (The point with the  \usepgfplotslibrary{external} command is that tikz and pgfplot should not need to interpret the figures each time but instead produce a pdf-file, save it to a subdirectory, and use that in order to speed up the process).
>>>>> 
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>> 
>>>>> Martin Berggren
>>>> 
>>>> Howdy,
>>>> 
>>>> Pretty confusing message. It says it can't get output from a lulatex command (which doesn't contain --shell-escape --- and even then it would need to include those packages since luatex in TL2016 does system calls through a different mechanism, hence the addition of the luatex85 and shellesc packages) and then talks about pdflatex --shell-escape. The sepdflatex engine in TeXShop does call pdflatex with --shell-escape but has no control over any internal call to lualatex.
>>>> 
>>>> I'd suggest putting the question on Stack Exchange, <http://tex.stackexchange.com>, which is monitored by many experienced folks.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> As I understand it, it is only a few system commands that are allowed through \write18{}, namely those explicitly listed in /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/web2c/texmf.cnf, which is 
>>> 
>>> shell_escape_commands = \
>>> bibtex,bibtex8,\
>>> extractbb,\
>>> gregorio,\
>>> kpsewhich,\
>>> makeindex,\
>>> mpost,\
>>> repstopdf,\
>>> 
>>> I tried to set shell_escape = a in my local texmf.cnf file, but that does not work either. It is regarded a security issue, it seems. 
>>> 
>>> Cheers,  
>>> 
>>> Martin Berggren
>> 
>> Howdy,
>> 
>> Not quite... The restricted shell escape list allows pdftex to execute the programs on that list even without --shell-escape being set. If you do set --shell-escape it allows pdftex to execute anything you ask for and is therefore not secure.
>> 
>> Part of the problem is that luatex in TL2016 no longer uses \write18 to execute external commands even if allowed to using --shell-escape. That is why requiring the luatex85 and shellesc packages in lualatex is necessary to simulate the use of \write18.
> 
> 
> I tried various version; with -shell-escape option, using luatex85, setting  shell_escape = a in my local texmf.cnf file. Nothing helped. I did not try shellesc package, though. Didn’t know about that.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Martin Berggren

Howdy,

Are you compiling with pdflatex and pgfplots is running lualatex or are you compiling with lualatex directly? It would be helpful if you gave a minimal and compilable example that demonstrates your problem with instructions about compiling it.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)