[OS X TeX] External Editor Auto Preview Update

[Elliott Roper]

> 
> I noticed this problem while testing drawings with ghostscript. Aquamacs fails to typeset them, whatever way I try, including by XeLaTeX, which worked last month. Including Herb's test file. TeXShop typesets them finely, by Herb's GhostsciptTransparencyEngines.
> 
> Best Regards,
> Roussanka

It seems to me that the start of your problem is getting Aquamacs/AucTeX to set drawings with transparency using MacTeX 2021 using the XeLaTeX engine.

Last year my sister and I completed a 560 page book. I did the the typeset commands, restored and placed over 100 very old photos, maps and line drawings most of which were included as .jpg, but there were a few .png where I used transparency to show the frayed edges. I used Aquamacs/AucTeX and she used TeXshop, translating from Russian and Polish (with help from her husband), as she typed.

On reading your post I immediately re-set the book with MacTeX 2021. It was fine. (Huge sigh of relief)

What I do differently to you is there is no messing with Ghostscript or any clever commands to the XeLaTeX engine. I use the LuaLaTex engine from Aquamacs without anything special. It just works.

Given Herb's remark "Interestingly for TeX Live 2020 transparency for xelatex used to work but no longer does at the end of life. I won't go further.", ---- 

I'd suggest doing a test using LuaLaTeX. It's a 1-click command to change engines in Aquamacs. (and similarly easy in TeXshop).

Why do my sister and I use different editors? She's in Australia and I am in the UK. Teaching her Emacs from that distance was too much of a challenge. We would share work with odd and even version numbers and I would merge with the amazing Emacs ediff, which is one reason why you will have to prise my Emacs keyboard from my cold dead fingers.

I think it would be not worth the trouble to teach Aquamacs and TeXshop to look for each other's .pdf outputs especially as it seems Aquamacs displays with Skim by default and your TeXshop seems to be using Preview (I think that is configurable). Just close your .tex and .pdf before swapping editors. Anything else would be unsafe. How do you discover how each remembers point's position between .tex and .pdf? What happens when the other editor sees something has been messing with files it might have cached? I know what Aquamcs does. It cries and cries and offers among other things to steal it back.

best!
Elliott Roper
+44 7454 402200 mobile, facetime
01663 747334 UK landline