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| -rw-r--r-- | doc/guix.texi | 142 |
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diff --git a/doc/guix.texi b/doc/guix.texi index dc6cb9842e..b83871bf0e 100644 --- a/doc/guix.texi +++ b/doc/guix.texi @@ -175,6 +175,7 @@ Weblate} (@pxref{Translating Guix}). * Home Configuration:: Configuring the home environment. * Documentation:: Browsing software user manuals. * Installing Debugging Files:: Feeding the debugger. +* Using TeX and LaTeX:: Typesetting. * Security Updates:: Deploying security fixes quickly. * Bootstrapping:: GNU/Linux built from scratch. * Porting:: Targeting another platform or kernel. @@ -38632,6 +38633,147 @@ Note that there can be packages for which @option{--with-debug-info} will not have the desired effect. @xref{Package Transformation Options, @option{--with-debug-info}}, for more information. +@node Using TeX and LaTeX +@chapter Using @TeX{} and @LaTeX{} + +@cindex @TeX{} packages +@cindex @LaTeX{} packages +Guix provides packages for the @TeX{}, @LaTeX{}, ConTeXt, LuaTeX, and +related typesetting systems, taken from the +@uref{https://www.tug.org/texlive/, @TeX{} Live distribution}. However, +because @TeX{} Live is so huge and because finding your way in this maze +is tricky, we thought that you, dear user, would welcome guidance on how +to deploy the relevant packages so you can compile your @TeX{} and +@LaTeX{} documents. + +@TeX{} Live currently comes in two flavors in Guix: + +@itemize +@item +The ``monolithic'' @code{texlive} package: it comes with @emph{every +single @TeX{} Live package} (more than 7,000 of them), but it is huge +(more than 4@tie{}GiB for a single package!). + +@item +The ``modular'' @code{texlive-} packages: you install +@code{texlive-base}, which provides core functionality and the main +commands---@command{pdflatex}, @command{dvips}, @command{luatex}, +@command{mf}, etc.---together with individual packages that provide just +the features you need---@code{texlive-listings} for the +@code{listings} package, @code{texlive-hyperref} for @code{hyperref}, +@code{texlive-beamer} for Beamer, @code{texlive-pgf} for PGF/TikZ, +and so on. +@end itemize + +We recommend using the modular package set because it is much less +resource-hungry. To build your documents, you would use commands such +as: + +@example +guix shell texlive-base texlive-wrapfig \ + texlive-hyperref texlive-cm-super -- pdflatex doc.tex +@end example + +You can quickly end up with unreasonably long command lines though. The +solution is to instead write a manifest, for example like this one: + +@lisp +(specifications->manifest + '("rubber" + + "texlive-base" + "texlive-wrapfig" + + "texlive-microtype" + "texlive-listings" "texlive-hyperref" + + ;; PGF/TikZ + "texlive-pgf" + + ;; Additional fonts. + "texlive-cm-super" "texlive-amsfonts" + "texlive-times" "texlive-helvetic" "texlive-courier")) +@end lisp + +You can then pass it to any command with the @option{-m} option: + +@example +guix shell -m manifest.scm -- pdflatex doc.tex +@end example + +@xref{Invoking guix package, @option{--manifest}}, for more on +manifests. In the future, we plan to provide packages for @TeX{} Live +@dfn{collections}---``meta-packages'' such as @code{fontsrecommended}, +@code{humanities}, or @code{langarabic} that provide the set of packages +needed in this particular domain. That will allow you to list fewer +packages. + +The main difficulty here is that using the modular package set forces +you to select precisely the packages that you need. You can use +@command{guix search}, but finding the right package can prove to be +tedious. When a package is missing, @command{pdflatex} and similar +commands fail with an obscure message along the lines of: + +@example +doc.tex: File `tikz.sty' not found. +doc.tex:7: Emergency stop. +@end example + +@noindent +or, for a missing font: + +@example +kpathsea: Running mktexmf phvr7t +! I can't find file `phvr7t'. +@end example + +How do you determine what the missing package is? In the first case, +you'll find the answer by running: + +@example +$ guix search texlive tikz +name: texlive-pgf +version: 59745 +@dots{} +@end example + +In the second case, @command{guix search} turns up nothing. Instead, +you can search the @TeX{} Live package database using the @command{tlmgr} +command: + +@example +$ guix shell texlive-base -- tlmgr info phvr7t +tlmgr: cannot find package phvr7t, searching for other matches: + +Packages containing `phvr7t' in their title/description: + +Packages containing files matching `phvr7t': +helvetic: + texmf-dist/fonts/tfm/adobe/helvetic/phvr7t.tfm + texmf-dist/fonts/tfm/adobe/helvetic/phvr7tn.tfm + texmf-dist/fonts/vf/adobe/helvetic/phvr7t.vf + texmf-dist/fonts/vf/adobe/helvetic/phvr7tn.vf +tex4ht: + texmf-dist/tex4ht/ht-fonts/alias/adobe/helvetic/phvr7t.htf +@end example + +The file is available in the @TeX{} Live @code{helvetic} package, which is +known in Guix as @code{texlive-helvetic}. Quite a ride, but we found +it! + +There is one important limitation though: Guix currently provides a +subset of the @TeX{} Live packages. If you stumble upon a missing +package, you can try and import it (@pxref{Invoking guix import}): + +@example +guix import texlive @var{package} +@end example + +@quotation Note +@TeX{} Live packaging is still very much work in progress, but you can +help! @xref{Contributing}, for more information. +@end quotation + @node Security Updates @chapter Security Updates |