pytask-latex 0.1.1

Compile LaTeX documents with pytask.

---

pytask-latex

pytask-latex allows you to compile LaTeX documents.

It also tries to infer the dependency of the LaTeX document such as included images, bibliography files and other .tex files automatically to compile LaTeX documents when it is possible.

Installation

pytask-latex is available on PyPI and Anaconda.org. Install it with

$ pip install pytask-latex

# or

$ conda install -c conda-forge pytask-latex

You also need to have latexmk installed which determines the necessary number of compilation steps (here is an explanation for what latexmk achieves). To test whether it is installed, type the following on the command line

$ latexmk --help

If an error is shown instead of a help page, you can install latexmk with one of the popular LaTeX distributions, like MiKTeX, TeX Live, MacTeX or others.

Usage

Here is an example where you want to compile document.tex to a PDF.

import pytask


@pytask.mark.latex
@pytask.mark.depends_on("document.tex")
@pytask.mark.produces("document.pdf")
def task_compile_latex_document():
    pass

When the task is executed, you find a document.pdf in the same folder as your document.tex, but you could also compile the report into a another folder by changing the path in produces.

Multiple dependencies and products

In general, you might not need to add dependencies other than the main LaTeX file because pytask-latex tries to infer other dependencies automatically. See the explanation for infer_latex_dependencies below.

What happens if you need to add more dependencies to a task because they are not found automatically? You could use a list, but ensure that the LaTeX document which should be compiled is in the first position of the list.

@pytask.mark.latex
@pytask.mark.depends_on(["document.tex", "image.png"])
@pytask.mark.produces("document.pdf")
def task_compile_latex_document():
    pass

If you use a dictionary to pass dependencies to the task, pytask-latex will, first, look for a "source" key in the dictionary and, secondly, under the key 0.

@pytask.mark.depends_on({"source": "document.tex", "image": "image.png"})
def task_compile_document():
    pass


# or


@pytask.mark.depends_on({0: "document.tex", "image": "image.png"})
def task_compile_document():
    pass


# or two decorators for the function, if you do not assign a name to the image.


@pytask.mark.depends_on({"source": "document.tex"})
@pytask.mark.depends_on("image.png")
def task_compile_document():
    pass

The same applies to the compiled document which is either in the first position, under the key "document" or 0.

Command Line Arguments

To customize the compilation, you can pass some command line arguments to latexmk via the @pytask.mark.latex marker. The default is the following.

@pytask.mark.latex(["--pdf", "--interaction=nonstopmode", "--synctex=1", "--cd"])
def task_compile_latex_document():
    pass

For example, to compile your document with XeLaTeX, use

@pytask.mark.latex(["--xelatex", "--interaction=nonstopmode"])
def task_compile_latex_document():
    pass

The options --jobname, --output-directory and the .tex file which will be compiled are automatically handled and inferred from the @pytask.mark.depends_on and @pytask.mark.produces markers.

The @pytask.mark.latex accepts both, a string or a list of strings with options.

For more options and their explanations, visit the latexmk manual or type the following commands.

$ latexmk -h
$ latexmk -showextraoptions

Parametrization

You can also parametrize the compilation, meaning compiling multiple .tex documents as well as compiling a .tex document with different command line arguments.

The following task compiles two latex documents.

@pytask.mark.latex
@pytask.mark.parametrize(
    "depends_on, produces",
    [("document_1.tex", "document_1.pdf"), ("document_2.tex", "document_2.pdf")],
)
def task_compile_latex_document():
    pass

If you want to compile the same document with different command line options, you have to include the latex decorator in the parametrization just like with @pytask.mark.depends_on and @pytask.mark.produces.

@pytask.mark.depends_on("document.tex")
@pytask.mark.parametrize(
    "produces, latex",
    [
        (
            "document.pdf",
            ("--pdf", "--interaction=nonstopmode", "--synctex=1", "--cd"),
        ),
        (
            "document.dvi",
            ("--dvi", "--interaction=nonstopmode", "--synctex=1", "--cd"),
        ),
    ],
)
def task_compile_latex_document():
    pass

Configuration

latex_source_key

If you want to change the name of the key which identifies the source file, change the following default configuration in your pytask configuration file.

latex_source_key = source

latex_document_key

If you want to change the name of the key which identifies the compiled document, change the following default configuration in your pytask configuration file.

latex_source_key = source

infer_latex_dependencies

pytask-latex tries to scan your LaTeX document for included files with the help of latex-dependency-scanner if the following configuration value is true which is also the default.

infer_latex_dependencies = true

Since the package is in its early development phase and LaTeX provides a myriad of ways to include files as well as providing shortcuts for paths (e.g., \graphicspath), there are definitely some rough edges left. File an issue here or in the other project in case of a problem.

Changes

Consult the release notes to find out about what is new.