Ubuntu Manpage: latexmk - generate LaTeX document

NAME

       latexmk - generate LaTeX document

SYNOPSIS

       latexmk [options] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

Latexmk completely automates the process of compiling a LaTeX document. Essentially, it is like a
specialized relative of the general make utility, but one which determines dependencies automatically and
has some other very useful features. In its basic mode of operation latexmk is given the name of the
primary source file for a document, and it issues the appropriate sequence of commands to generate a
.dvi, .ps, .pdf and/or hardcopy version of the document.

By default latexmk will run the commands necessary to generate a .dvi file, which copies the behavior of
earlier versions when only latex was available.

Latexmk can also be set to run continuously with a suitable previewer. In that case the latex program
(or one of its relatives), etc, are rerun whenever one of the source files is modified, and the previewer
automatically updates the on-screen view of the compiled document.

Latexmk determines which are the source files by examining the log file. (Optionally, it also examines
the list of input and output files generated by the -recorder option of modern versions of latex (and
pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex). See the documentation for the -recorder option of latexmk below.) When
latexmk is run, it examines properties of the source files, and if any have been changed since the last
document generation, latexmk will run the various LaTeX processing programs as necessary. In particular,
it will repeat the run of latex (or a related program)) often enough to resolve all cross references;
depending on the macro packages used. With some macro packages and document classes, four, or even more,
runs may be needed. If necessary, latexmk will also run bibtex, biber, and/or makeindex. In addition,
latexmk can be configured to generate other necessary files. For example, from an updated figure file it
can automatically generate a file in encapsulated postscript or another suitable format for reading by
LaTeX.

Latexmk has two different previewing options. With the simple -pv option, a dvi, postscript or pdf
previewer is automatically run after generating the dvi, postscript or pdf version of the document. The
type of file to view is selected according to configuration settings and command line options.

The second previewing option is the powerful -pvc option (mnemonic: "preview continuously"). In this
case, latexmk runs continuously, regularly monitoring all the source files to see if any have changed.
Every time a change is detected, latexmk runs all the programs necessary to generate a new version of the
document. A good previewer will then automatically update its display. Thus the user can simply edit a
file and, when the changes are written to disk, latexmk completely automates the cycle of updating the
.dvi (and/or the .ps and .pdf) file, and refreshing the previewer's display. It's not quite WYSIWYG, but
usefully close.

For other previewers, the user may have to manually make the previewer update its display, which can be
(e.g., with some versions of xdvi and gsview) as simple as forcing a redraw of its display.

Latexmk has the ability to print a banner in gray diagonally across each page when making the postscript
file. It can also, if needed, call an external program to do other postprocessing on generated dvi and
postscript files. (See the options -dF and -pF, and the documentation for the $dvi_filter and $ps_filter
configuration variables.) These capabilities are leftover from older versions of latexmk, but are
currently non-functional. More flexibility can be obtained in current versions, since the command
strings for running *latex can now be configured to run multiple commands. This also extends the
possibility of postprocessing generated files.

Latexmk is highly configurable, both from the command line and in configuration files, so that it can
accommodate a wide variety of user needs and system configurations. Default values are set according to
the operating system, so latexmk often works without special configuration on MS-Windows, cygwin, Linux,
OS-X, and other UNIX systems. See the section "Configuration/Initialization (rc) Files", and then the
later sections "How to Set Variables in Initialization Files", "Format of Command Specifications", "List
of Configuration Variables Usable in Initialization Files", "Custom Dependencies", and "Advanced
Configuration"

A very annoying complication handled very reliably by latexmk, is that LaTeX is a multiple pass system.
On each run, LaTeX reads in information generated on a previous run, for things like cross referencing
and indexing. In the simplest cases, a second run of LaTeX suffices, and often the log file contains a
message about the need for another pass. However, there is a wide variety of add-on macro packages to
LaTeX, with a variety of behaviors. The result is to break simple-minded determinations of how many runs
are needed and of which programs. Latexmk has a highly general and efficient solution to these issues.
The solution involves retaining between runs information on the source files, and a symptom is that
latexmk generates an extra file (with extension .fdb_latexmk, by default) that contains the source file
information.

LATEXMK OPTIONS AND ARGUMENTS ON COMMAND LINE

In general the command line to invoke latexmk has the form

latexmk [options] [file]

All options can be introduced by single or double "-" characters, e.g., "latexmk -help" or "latexmk
--help".

Note 1: In the documentation, '*latex' means any of the supported engines, i.e., currently latex,
lualatex, pdflatex, xelatex. Mention of a specific one of these normally refers that specific engines.
Earlier versions of this documentation weren't so consistent. Which of these is used to compile a
document, depends on the configuration and the command line arguments.

Note 2: In addition to the options in the list below, latexmk recognizes almost all the options
recognized by the *latex programs in their current TeXLive and MiKTeX implementations. Some of the
options for these programs trigger special action or behavior by latexmk, in which case they have
specific explanations in this document; in this case they may or may not be passed to *latex as well.

Run latexmk with the -showextraoptions to get a list of the options that latexmk accepts and that are
simply passed through to *latex. See also the explanation of the -showextraoptions option for more
information.

Definitions of options and arguments

file One or more files can be specified. If no files are specified, latexmk will, by default, run on
all files in the current working directory with a ".tex" extension. This behavior can be changed:
see the description concerning the @default_files variable in the section "List of configuration
variables usable in initialization files".

If a file is specified without an extension, then the ".tex" extension is automatically added,
just as LaTeX does. Thus, if you specify:

latexmk foo

then latexmk will operate on the file "foo.tex".

There are certain restrictions on what characters can be in a filename; certain characters are
either prohibited or problematic for the latex etc programs. These characters are: "$", "%", "\",
"~", the double quote character, and the control characters null, tab, form feed, carriage return,
line feed, and delete. In addition "&" is prohibited when it is the first character of a
filename.

Latexmk gives a fatal error when it detects any of the above characters in the TeX filename(s)
specified on the command line. However before testing for illegal characters, latexmk removes
matching pairs of double quotes from a filename. This matches the behavior of latex etc, and
deals with problems that occasionally result from filenames that have been incorrectly quoted on
the command line. In addition, under Microsoft Windows, the forward slash character "\" is a
directory separator, so latexmk replaces it by a backward slash "/", which is also a legal
directory separator in Windows, and is accepted by latex etc.

-auxdir=FOO or -aux-directory=FOO
Sets the directory for auxiliary output files of *latex (.aux, .log etc). This achieves its
effect by the -aux-directory option of *latex, which currently is only implemented on the MiKTeX
version of *latex.

See also the -outdir/-output-directory options, and the $aux_dir, $out_dir, and
$search_path_separator configuration variables of latexmk. In particular, see the documentation
of $out_dir for some complications on what directory names are suitable.

If you also use the -cd option, and the specified auxiliary output directory is a relative path,
then the path is interpreted relative to the document directory.

-bibtex
When the source file uses bbl files for bibliography, run bibtex or biber as needed to regenerate
the bbl files.

This property can also be configured by setting the $bibtex_use variable to 2 in a configuration
file.

-bibtex-
Never run bibtex or biber. Also, always treat .bbl files as precious, i.e., do not delete them in
a cleanup operation.

A common use for this option is when a document comes from an external source, complete with its
bbl file(s), and the user does not have the corresponding bib files available. In this situation
use of the -bibtex- option will prevent latexmk from trying to run bibtex or biber, which would
result in overwriting of the bbl files.

This property can also be configured by setting the $bibtex_use variable to 0 in a configuration
file.

-bibtex-cond
When the source file uses bbl file(s) for the bibliography, run bibtex or biber as needed to
regenerate the bbl files, but only if the relevant bib file(s) exist. Thus when the bib files are
not available, bibtex or biber is not run, thereby avoiding overwriting of the bbl file(s). Also,
always treat .bbl files as precious, i.e., do not delete them in a cleanup operation.

This is the default setting. It can also be configured by setting the $bibtex_use variable to 1
in a configuration file.

The reason for using this setting is that sometimes a .bbl file is available containing the
bibliography for a document, but the .bib file is not available. An example would be for a
scientific journal where authors submit .tex and .bbl files, but not the original .bib file. In
that case, running bibtex or biber would not work, and the .bbl file should be treated as a user
source file, and not as a file that can be regenerated on demand.

(Note that it is possible for latexmk to decide that the bib file does not exist, even though the
bib file does exist and bibtex or biber finds it. The problem is that the bib file may not be in
the current directory but in some search path; the places latexmk and bibtex or biber cause to be
searched need not be identical. On modern installations of TeX and related programs this problem
should not arise, since latexmk uses the kpsewhich program to do the search, and kpsewhich should
use the same search path as bibtex and biber. If this problem arises, use the -bibtex option when
invoking latexmk.)

Note that this value does not work properly if the document uses biber instead of bibtex.
(There's a long story why not.)

-bibtex-cond1
The same as -bibtex-cond except that .bbl files are only treated as precious if one or more
bibfiles fails to exist.

Thus if all the bib files exist, bibtex or biber is run to generate .bbl files as needed, and then
it is appropriate to delete the bbl files in a cleanup operation since they can be re-generated.

This property can also be configured by setting the $bibtex_use variable to 1.5 in a configuration
file.

-bibtexfudge or -bibfudge
Turn on the change-directory fudge for bibtex. See documentation of $bibtex_fudge for details.

-bibtexfudge- or -bibfudge-
Turn off the change-directory fudge for bibtex. See documentation of $bibtex_fudge for details.

-bm <message>
A banner message to print diagonally across each page when converting the dvi file to postscript.
The message must be a single argument on the command line so be careful with quoting spaces and
such.

Note that if the -bm option is specified, the -ps option is assumed.

-bi <intensity>
How dark to print the banner message. A decimal number between 0 and 1. 0 is black and 1 is
white. The default is 0.95, which is OK unless your toner cartridge is getting low.

-bs <scale>
A decimal number that specifies how large the banner message will be printed. Experimentation is
necessary to get the right scale for your message, as a rule of thumb the scale should be about
equal to 1100 divided by the number of characters in the message. The default is 220.0 which is
just right for 5 character messages.

-commands
List the commands used by latexmk for processing files, and then exit.

-c Clean up (remove) all regeneratable files generated by latex and bibtex or biber except dvi,
postscript and pdf. These files are a combination of log files, aux files, latexmk's database
file of source file information, and those with extensions specified in the @generated_exts
configuration variable. In addition, files specified by the $clean_ext and @generated_exts
configuration variables are removed.

This cleanup is instead of a regular make. See the -gg option if you want to do a cleanup
followed by a make.

Treatment of .bbl files: If $bibtex_use is set to 0 or 1, bbl files are always treated as non-
regeneratable. If $bibtex_use is set to 1.5, bbl files are counted as non-regeneratable
conditionally: If the bib file exists, then bbl files are regeneratable, and are deleted in a
clean up. But if $bibtex_use is 1.5 and a bib file doesn't exist, then the bbl files are treated
as non-regeneratable and hence are not deleted.

In contrast, if $bibtex_use is set to 2, bbl files are always treated as regeneratable, and are
deleted in a cleanup.

Treatment of files generated by custom dependencies: If $cleanup_includes_cusdep_generated is
nonzero, regeneratable files are considered as including those generated by custom dependencies
and are also deleted. Otherwise these files are not deleted.

-C Clean up (remove) all regeneratable files generated by latex and bibtex or biber. This is the
same as the -c option with the addition of dvi, postscript and pdf files, and those specified in
the $clean_full_ext configuration variable.

This cleanup is instead of a regular make. See the -gg option if you want to do a cleanup
followed by a make.

See the -c option for the specification of whether or not .bbl files are treated as non-
regeneratable or regeneratable.

If $cleanup_includes_cusdep_generated is nonzero, regeneratable files are considered as including
those generated by custom dependencies and are also deleted. Otherwise these files are not
deleted.

-CA (Obsolete). Now equivalent to the -C option. See that option for details.

-cd Change to the directory containing the main source file before processing it. Then all the
generated files (.aux, .log, .dvi, .pdf, etc) will be relative to the source file.

This option is particularly useful when latexmk is invoked from a GUI configured to invoke latexmk
with a full pathname for the source file.

This option works by setting the $do_cd configuration variable to one; you can set that variable
if you want to configure latexmk to have the effect of the -cd option without specifying it on the
command line. See the documentation for that variable.

-cd- Do NOT change to the directory containing the main source file before processing it. Then all the
generated files (.aux, .log, .dvi, .pdf, etc) will be relative to the current directory rather
than the source file.

This is the default behavior and corresponds to the behavior of the *latex programs. However, it
is not desirable behavior when latexmk is invoked by a GUI configured to invoke latexmk with a
full pathname for the source file. See the -cd option.

This option works by setting the $do_cd configuration variable to zero. See the documentation for
that variable for more information.

-CF Remove the file containing the database of source file information, before doing the other actions
requested.

-d Set draft mode. This prints the banner message "DRAFT" across your page when converting the dvi
file to postscript. Size and intensity can be modified with the -bs and -bi options. The -bm
option will override this option as this is really just a short way of specifying:

latexmk -bm DRAFT

Note that if the -d option is specified, the -ps option is assumed.

-deps Show a list of dependent files after processing. This is in the form of a dependency list of the
form used by the make program, and it is therefore suitable for use in a Makefile. It gives an
overall view of the files without listing intermediate files, as well as latexmk can determine
them.

By default the list of dependent files is sent to stdout (i.e., normally to the screen unless
you've redirected latexmk's output). But you can set the filename where the list is sent by the
-deps-out= option.

See the section "USING latexmk WITH make" for an example of how to use a dependency list with
make.

Users familiar with GNU automake and gcc will find that the -deps option is very similar in its
purpose and results to the -M option to gcc. (In fact, latexmk also has options -M, -MF, and -MP
options that behave like those of gcc.)

-dependents
Equivalent to -deps.

-deps- Do not show a list of dependent files after processing. (This is the default.)

-dependents-
Equivalent to -deps-.

-deps-out=FILENAME
Set the filename to which the list of dependent files is written. If the FILENAME argument is
omitted or set to "-", then the output is sent to stdout.

Use of this option also turns on the output of the list of dependent files after processing.

-dF Dvi file filtering. The argument to this option is a filter which will generate a filtered dvi
file with the extension ".dviF". All extra processing (e.g. conversion to postscript, preview,
printing) will then be performed on this filtered dvi file.

Example usage: To use dviselect to select only the even pages of the dvi file:

latexmk -dF "dviselect even" foo.tex

-diagnostics
Print detailed diagnostics during a run. This may help for debugging problems or to understand
latexmk's behavior in difficult situations.

-dir-report
For each .tex file processed, list the settings for aux and out directories, after they have been
normalized from the settings specified during initialization. See the description of the variable
$aux_out_dir_report for more details.

-dir-report-
Do not report the settings for aux and out directories. (Default)

-dvi Generate dvi version of document.

-dvi- Turn off generation of dvi version of document. (This may get overridden, if some other file is
made (e.g., a .ps file) that is generated from the dvi file, or if no generated file at all is
requested.)

-e <code>
Execute the specified initialization code before processing. The code is Perl code of the same
form as is used in latexmk's initialization files. For more details, see the information on the
-r option, and the section about "Configuration/initialization (RC) files". The code is typically
a sequence of assignment statements separated by semicolons.

The code is executed when the -e option is encountered during latexmk's parsing of its command
line. See the -r option for a way of executing initialization code from a file. An error results
in latexmk stopping. Multiple instances of the -r and -e options can be used, and they are
executed in the order they appear on the command line.

Some care is needed to deal with proper quoting of special characters in the code on the command
line. For example, suppose you want to set the latex command to use its -shell-escape option,
then under UNIX/Linux you could use the line

latexmk -e '$latex=q/latex %O -shell-escape %S/' file.tex

Note that the single quotes block normal UNIX/Linux command shells from treating the characters
inside the quotes as special. (In this example, the q/.../ construct is a Perl idiom equivalent
to using single quotes. This avoids the complications of getting a quote character inside an
already quoted string in a way that is independent of both the shell and the operating-system.)

The above command line will NOT work under MS-Windows with cmd.exe or command.com or 4nt.exe. For
MS-Windows with these command shells you could use

latexmk -e "$latex=q/latex %O -shell-escape %S/" file.tex

latexmk -e "$latex='latex %O -shell-escape %S'" file.tex

The last two examples will NOT work with UNIX/Linux command shells.

(Note: the above examples show are to show how to use the -e to specify initialization code to be
executed. But the particular effect can be achieved also by the use of the -latex option with
less problems in dealing with quoting.)

-emulate-aux-dir
Emulate -aux-directory instead of leaving it to the *latex programs to do it. (MiKTeX supports
-aux-directory, but TeXLive doesn't.)

For more details see the explanation for the configuration variable $emulate_aux.

-emulate-aux-dir-
Turn off emulatation -aux-directory and leave it to the *latex program to handle the case that
aux_dir is not equal to out_dir. Note that if you use TeXLive, which doesn't support -aux-
directory, latexmk will automatically switch aux_dir emulation on after the first run of *latex,
because it will find the .log file in the wrong place.

-f Force latexmk to continue document processing despite errors. Normally, when latexmk detects that
LaTeX or another program has found an error which will not be resolved by further processing, no
further processing is carried out.

Note: "Further processing" means the running of other programs or the rerunning of latex (etc)
that would be done if no errors had occurred. If instead, or additionally, you want the latex
(etc) program not to pause for user input after an error, you should arrange this by an option
that is passed to the program, e.g., by latexmk's option -interaction=nonstopmode (which latexmk
passes to *latex).

-f- Turn off the forced processing-past-errors such as is set by the -f option. This could be used to
override a setting in a configuration file.

-g Force latexmk to process document fully, even under situations where latexmk would normally decide
that no changes in the source files have occurred since the previous run. This option is useful,
for example, if you change some options and wish to reprocess the files.

-g- Turn off -g.

-gg "Super go mode" or "clean make": clean out generated files as if -C had been given, and then do a
regular make.

-h or-non-help
Print help information.

-jobname=STRING
Set the basename of output files(s) to STRING, instead of the default, which is the basename of
the specified TeX file. (At present, STRING should not contain spaces.)

This is like the same option for current implementations of the *latex, and the passing of this
option to these programs is part of latexmk's implementation of -jobname.

There is one enhancement, that the STRING may contain the placeholder '%A'. This will be
substituted by the basename of the TeX file. The primary purpose is when multiple files are
specified on the command line to latexmk, and you wish to use a jobname with a different file-
dependent value for each file. For example, suppose you had .tex files test1.tex and test2.tex,
and you wished to compare the results of compilation by *latex and those with xelatex. Then under
a unix-type operating system you could use the command line

latexmk -pdf -jobname=%A-pdflatex *.tex
latexmk -pdfxe -jobname=%A-xelatex *.tex

Then the .aux, .log, and .pdf files from the use of pdflatex would have basenames test1-pdflatex
and test2-pdflatex, while from xelatex, the basenames would be test1-xelatex and test2-xelatex.

Under MS-Windows with cmd.exe, you would need to double the percent sign, so that the percent
character is passed to latexmk rather than being used to substitute an environment variable:

latexmk -pdf -jobname=%%A-pdflatex *.tex
latexmk -pdfxe -jobname=%%A-xelatex *.tex

-l Run in landscape mode, using the landscape mode for the previewers and the dvi to postscript
converters. This option is not normally needed nowadays, since current previewers normally
determine this information automatically.

-l- Turn off -l.

-latex This sets the generation of dvi files by latex, and turns off the generation of pdf and ps files.

Note: to set the command used when latex is specified, see the -latex="COMMAND" option.

-latex="COMMAND"
This sets the string specifying the command to run latex, and is typically used to add desired
options. Since the string normally contains spaces, it should be quoted, e.g.,

latexmk -latex="latex --shell-escape %O %S" foo.tex

The specification of the contents of the string are the same as for the $latex configuration
variable. Depending on your operating system and the command-line shell you are using, you may
need to change the single quotes to double quotes (or something else).

Note: This option when provided with the COMMAND argument only sets the command for invoking
latex; it does not turn on the use of latex. That is done by other options or in an initialization
file.

To set the command for running pdflatex (rather than the command for latex) see the -pdflatex
option.

-logfilewarninglist
-logfilewarnings After a run of *latex, give a list of warnings about undefined citations and
references (unless silent mode is on).

See also the $silence_logfile_warnings configuration variable.

-logfilewarninglist-
-logfilewarnings- After a run of *latex, do not give a list of warnings about undefined citations
and references. (Default)

See also the $silence_logfile_warnings configuration variable.

-lualatex
Use lualatex. That is, use lualatex to process the source file(s) to pdf. The generation of dvi
and postscript files is turned off.

This option is equivalent to using the following set of options

-pdflua -dvi- -ps-
(Note: Note that the method of implementation of this option, but not its intended effect, differ
from some earlier versions of latexmk.)

-lualatex="COMMAND"
This sets the string specifying the command to run lualatex. It behaves like the -pdflatex
option, but sets the variable $lualatex.

Note: This option when provided with the COMMAND argument only sets the command for invoking
lualatex; it does not turn on the use of lualatex. That is done by other options or in an
initialization file.

-M Show list of dependent files after processing. This is equivalent to the -deps option.

-MF file
If a list of dependents is made, the -MF specifies the file to write it to.

-MP If a list of dependents is made, include a phony target for each source file. If you use the
dependents list in a Makefile, the dummy rules work around errors the program make gives if you
remove header files without updating the Makefile to match.

-makeindexfudge
Turn on the change-directory fudge for makeindex. See documentation of $makeindex_fudge for
details.

-makeindexfudge-
Turn off the change-directory fudge for makeindex. See documentation of $makeindex_fudge for
details.

-MSWinBackSlash
This option only has an effect when latexmk is running under MS-Windows. This is that when
latexmk runs a command under MS-Windows, the Windows standard directory separator "\" is used to
separate directory components in a file name. Internally, latexmk uses "/" for the directory
separator character, which is the character used by Unix-like systems.

This is the default behavior. However the default may have been overridden by a configuration
file (latexmkrc file) which sets $MSWin_back_slash=0.

-MSWinBackSlash-
This option only has an effect when latexmk is running under MS-Windows. This is that when
latexmk runs a command under MS-Windows, the substitution of "\" for the separator character
between directory components of a file name is not done. Instead the forward slash "/" is used,
the same as on Unix-like systems. This is acceptable in most situations under MS-Windows, provided
that filenames are properly quoted, as latexmk does by default.

See the documentation for the configuration variable $MSWin_back_slash for more details.

-new-viewer
When in continuous-preview mode, always start a new viewer to view the generated file. By
default, latexmk will, in continuous-preview mode, test for a previously running previewer for the
same file and not start a new one if a previous previewer is running. However, its test sometimes
fails (notably if there is an already-running previewer that is viewing a file of the same name as
the current file, but in a different directory). This option turns off the default behavior.

-new-viewer-
The inverse of the -new-viewer option. It puts latexmk in its normal behavior that in preview-
continuous mode it checks for an already-running previewer.

-nobibtex
Never run bibtex or biber. Equivalent to the -bibtex- option.

-nobibtexfudge or -nobibfudge
Turn off the change-directory fudge for bibtex. See documentation of $bibtex_fudge for details.

-noemulate-aux-dir
Turn aux_dir emulation off. Same as -emulate-aux-dir-.

-nomakeindexfudge
Turn off the change-directory fudge for makeindex. See documentation of $makeindex_fudge for
details.

-norc Turn off the automatic reading of initialization (rc) files.

N.B. Normally the initialization files are read and obeyed, and then command line options are
obeyed in the order they are encountered. But -norc is an exception to this rule: it is acted on
first, no matter where it occurs on the command line.

-outdir=FOO or -output-directory=FOO

Sets the directory for the output files of *latex. This achieves its effect by the -output-
directory option of *latex, which currently (Dec. 2011 and later) is implemented on the common
versions of *latex, i.e., MiKTeX and TeXLive. It may not be present in other versions.

See also the -auxdir/-aux-directory options, and the $aux_dir, $out_dir, and
$search_path_separator configuration variables of latexmk. In particular, see the documentation
of $out_dir for some complications on what directory names are suitable.

If you also use the -cd option, and the specified output directory is a relative path, then the
path is interpreted relative to the document directory.

-output-format=FORMAT
This option is one that is allowed for latex, lualatex, and pdflatex. But it is not passed to
these programs. Instead latexmk emulates it in a way suitable for the context of latexmk and its
workflows.

If FORMAT is dvi, then dvi output is turned on, and postscript and pdf output are turned off. This
is equivalent to using the options -dvi -ps- -pdf-.

If FORMAT is pdf, then pdf output is turned on, and dvi and postscript output are turned off. This
is equivalent to using the options -pdf -ps- -dvi-.

If FORMAT is anything else, latexmk gives an error.

-p Print out the document. By default the file to be printed is the first in the list postscript,
pdf, dvi that is being made. But you can use the -print=... option to change the type of file to
be printed, and you can configure this in a start up file (by setting the $print_type variable).

However, printing is enabled by default only under UNIX/Linux systems, where the default is to use
the lpr command and only on postscript files. In general, the correct behavior for printing very
much depends on your system's software. In particular, under MS-Windows you must have suitable
program(s) available, and you must have configured the print commands used by latexmk. This can
be non-trivial. See the documentation on the $lpr, $lpr_dvi, and $lpr_pdf configuration variables
to see how to set the commands for printing.

This option is incompatible with the -pv and -pvc options, so it turns them off.

-pdf Generate pdf version of document using pdflatex. (If you wish to use lualatex or xelatex, you can
use whichever of the options -pdflua, -pdfxe, -lualatex or -xelatex applies.) To configure
latexmk to have such behavior by default, see the section on "Configuration/initialization (rc)
files".

-pdfdvi
Generate pdf version of document from the dvi file, by default using dvipdf.

-pdflua
Generate pdf version of document using lualatex.

-pdfps Generate pdf version of document from the .ps file, by default using ps2pdf.

-pdfxe Generate pdf version of document using xelatex. Note that to optimize processing time, latexmk
uses xelatex to generate an .xdv file rather than a pdf file directly. Only after possibly
multiple runs to generate a fully up-to-date .xdv file does latexmk then call xdvipdfmx to
generate the final .pdf file.

(Note: The reason why latexmk arranges for xelatex to make an .xdv file instead of the xelatex's
default of a .pdf file is as follows: When the document includes large graphics files, especially
.png files, the production of a .pdf file can be quite time consuming, even when the creation of
the .xdv file by xelatex is fast. So the use of the intermediate .xdv file can result in
substantial gains in procesing time, since the .pdf file is produced once rather than on every run
of xelatex.)

-pdf- Turn off generation of pdf version of document. (This can be used to override a setting in a
configuration file. It may get overridden if some other option requires the generation of a pdf
file.)

If after all options have been processed, pdf generation is still turned off, then generation of a
dvi file will be turned on, and then the program used to compiled a document will be latex (or,
more precisely, whatever program is configured to be used in the $latex configuration variable).

-pdflatex
This sets the generation of pdf files by pdflatex, and turns off the generation of dvi and ps
files.

Note: to set the command used when pdflatex is specified, see the -pdflatex="COMMAND" option.

-pdflatex="COMMAND"
This sets the string specifying the command to run pdflatex, and is typically used to add desired
options. Since the string normally contains spaces, it should be quoted, e.g.,

latexmk -pdf -pdflatex="pdflatex --shell-escape %O %S" foo.tex

The specification of the contents of the string are the same as for the $pdflatex configuration
variable. (The option -pdflatex in fact sets the variable $pdflatex.) Depending on your
operating system and the command-line shell you are using, you may need to change the single
quotes to double quotes (or something else).

Note: This option when provided with the COMMAND argument only sets the command for invoking
pdflatex; it does not turn on the use of pdflatex. That is done by other options or in an
initialization file.

To set the command for running latex (rather than the command for pdflatex) see the -latex option.

-pdflualatex="COMMAND"
Equivalent to -lualatex="COMMAND".

-pdfxelatex="COMMAND"
Equivalent to -xelatex="COMMAND".

-pretex=CODE

Given that CODE is some TeX code, this options sets that code to be executed before inputting
source file. This only works if the command for invoking the relevant *latex is suitably
configured. See the documentation of the variable $pre_tex_code, and the substitution strings %P
and %U for more details. This option works by setting the variable $pre_tex_code.

EXAMPLES

       % latexmk thesis    # run latex enough times to resolve
                           cross-references

       % latexmk -pvc -ps thesis# run latex enough times to resolve
                           cross-references, make a postscript
                           file, start a previewer.  Then
                           watch for changes in the source
                           file thesis.tex and any files it
                           uses.  After any changes rerun latex
                           the appropriate number of times and
                           remake the postscript file.  If latex
                           encounters an error, latexmk will
                           keep running, watching for
                           source file changes.

       % latexmk -c        # remove .aux, .log, .bbl, .blg, .dvi,
                           .pdf, .ps & .bbl files

DEALING WITH ERRORS, PROBLEMS, ETC

Some possibilities:

a. If you get a strange error, do look carefully at the output that is on the screen and in log files.
While there is much that is notoriously verbose in the output of latex (and that is added to by latexmk),
the verbosity is there for a reason: to enable the user to diagnose problems. Latexmk does repeat some
messages at the end of a run that it thinks would otherwise be easy to miss in the middle of other
output.

b. Generally, remember that latexmk does its work by running other programs. Your first priority in
dealing with errors should be to examine what went wrong with the individual programs. Then you need to
correct the causes of errors in the runs of these programs. (Often these come from errors in the source
document, but they could also be about missing LaTeX packages, etc.)

c. If latexmk doesn't run the programs the way you would like, then you need to look in this
documentation at the list of command line options and then at the sections on
configuration/initialization files. A lot of latexmk's behavior is configurable to deal with particular
situations. (But there is a lot of reading!)

The remainder of these notes consists of ideas for dealing with more difficult situations.

d. Further tricks can involve replacing the standard commands that latexmk runs by other commands or
scripts.

e. For possible examples of code for use in an RC file, see the directory example_rcfiles in the
distribution of latexmk (e.g., at http://mirror.ctan.org/support/latexmk/example_rcfiles). Even if these
examples don't do what you want, they may provide suitable inspiration.

f. There's a useful trick that can be used when you use lualatex instead of pdflatex (and in some related
situations). The problem is that latexmk won't notice a dependency on a file, bar.baz say, that is input
by the lua code in your document instead of by the LaTeX part. (Thus if you change bar.baz and rerun
latexmk, then latexmk will think no files have changed and not rerun lualatex, whereas if you had
'\input{bar.baz}' in the LaTeX part of the document, latexmk would notice the change.) One solution is
just to put the following somewhere in the LaTeX part of the document:

\typeout{(bar.baz)}

This puts a line in the log file that latexmk will treat as implying that the file bar.baz was read. (At
present I don't know a way of doing this automatically.) Of course, if the file has a different name,
change bar.baz to the name of your file.

g. See also the section "Advanced Configuration: Some extra resources".

h. Look on tex.stackexchange, i.e., at http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/latexmk Someone may
have already solved your problem.

i. Ask a question at tex.stackexchange.com.

j. Or ask me (the author of latexmk). My e-mail is at the end of this documentation.

ALLOWING FOR CHANGE OF OUTPUT FILE TYPE

When one of the latex engines is run, the usual situation is that latex produces a .dvi file, while
pdflatex and lualatex produce a .pdf file. For xelatex the default is to produce a .pdf file, but to
optimize processing time latexmk runs xelatex its -no-pdf option so that it produces an .xdv file.
Further processing by latexmk takes this as a starting point.

However, the actual output file may differ from the normal expectation; and then latexmk can adjust its
processing to accommodate this situation. The difference in output file type can happen for two reasons:
One is that for latex, pdflatex and lualatex the document itself can override the defaults. The other is
that there may be a configuration, or misconfiguration, such that the program that latexmk invokes to
compile the document is not the expected one, or is given options incompatible with what latexmk
initially expects.

Under latex and pdflatex, control of the output format by the document is done by setting the \pdfoutput
macro. Under lualatex, the \outputmode macro is used instead.

One example of an important use-case for document control of the output format is a document that uses
the psfrag package to insert graphical elements in the output file. The psfrag package achieves its
effects by inserting postscript code in the output of the compilation of the document. This entails the
use of compilation to a .dvi file, followed by the use of conversion to a postscript file (either
directly, as by dvips or implicitly, as an intermediate step by dvipdf). Then it is useful to force
output to be of the .dvi format by inserting \pdfoutput=0 in the preamble of the document.

Another example is where the document uses graphics file of the .pdf, .jpg, and png types. With the
default setting for the graphicx package, these can be processed in compilation to .pdf but not with
compilation to .dvi. In this case, it is useful to insert \pdfoutput=1 in the preamble of the document
to force compilation to .pdf output format.

In all of these cases, it is needed that latexmk has to adjust its processing to deal with a mismatch
between the actual output format (out of .pdf, .dvi, .xdv) and the initially expected output, if
possible. Latexmk does this provided the following conditions are met.

The first is that latexmk's $allow_switch configuration variable is set to a non-zero value as it is by
default. If this variable is zero, a mismatch of filetypes in the compilation results in an error.

The second condition for latexmk to be able to handle a change of output type is that no explicit
requests for .dvi or .ps output files are made. Explicit requests are by the -dvi and -ps, -print=dvi,
-print=ps, -view=dvi, and -view=ps options, and by corresponding settings of the $dvi_mode,
$postscript_mode, $print_type, and $view configuration variables. The print-type and view-type
restrictions only apply when printing and viewing are explicitly requested, respectively. For this
purpose, the use of the -pdfdvi and -pdfps options (and the corresponding setting of the $pdf_mode
variable) does not count as an explicit request for the .dvi and .ps files; they are merely regarded as a
request for making a .pdf file together with an initial proposal for the processing route to make it.

Note that when accommodating a change in output file type, there is involved a substantial change in the
network of rules that latexmk uses in its actions. The second condition applied to accommodate a change
is to avoid situations where the change in the rule network is too radical to be readily handled
automatically.

CONFIGURATION/INITIALIZATION (RC) FILES

In this section is explained which configuration files are read by latexmk. Subsequent sections "How to
Set Variables in Initialization Files", "Format of Command Specifications", "List of Configuration
Variables Usable in Initialization Files", "Custom Dependencies", and "Advanced Configuration" give
details on what can be configured and how.

Latexmk can be customized using initialization files, which are read at startup in the following order:

1) The system RC file, if it exists.
On a UNIX system, latexmk searches the following directories for a
system RC file, which may be named either "LatexMk" or "latexmkrc". The
directories are searched in the following order, and latexmk uses
the first such file it finds (if any):
"/etc",
"/opt/local/share/latexmk",
"/usr/local/share/latexmk",
"/usr/local/lib/latexmk".
On a MS-Windows system it looks just in "C:\latexmk".
On a cygwin system (i.e., a MS-Windows system in which Perl is that of cygwin), latexmk looks in the
directories
"/cygdrive/c/latexmk",
"/etc",
"/opt/local/share/latexmk",
"/usr/local/share/latexmk",
"/usr/local/lib/latexmk".

If the environment variable LATEXMKRCSYS is set, its value is used as the name of the system RC file,
instead of any of the above.

2) The user's RC file, if it exists. This can be in one of two places. The traditional one is
".latexmkrc" in the user's home directory. The other possibility is "latexmk/latexmkrc" in the user's
XDG configuration home directory. The actual file read is the first of
"$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/latexmk/latexmkrc" or "$HOME/.latexmkrc" which exists. (See
https://specifications.freedesktop.org/basedir-spec/basedir-spec-latest.html for details on the XDG Base
Directory Specification.)

Here $HOME is the user's home directory. [Latexmk determines the user's home directory as follows: It
is the value of the environment variable HOME, if this variable exists, which normally is the case on
UNIX-like systems (including Linux and OS-X). Otherwise the environment variable USERPROFILE is used, if
it exists, which normally is the case on MS-Windows systems. Otherwise a blank string is used instead of
$HOME, in which case latexmk does not look for an RC file in it.]

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME is the value of the environment variable XDG_CONFIG_HOME if it exists. If this
environment variable does not exist, but $HOME is non-blank, then $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set to the default
value of $HOME/.config. Otherwise $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is blank, and latexmk does not look for an RC file
under it.

3) The RC file in the current working directory. This file can be named either "latexmkrc" or
".latexmkrc", and the first of these to be found is used, if any.

4) Any RC file(s) specified on the command line with the -r option.

Each RC file is a sequence of Perl commands. Naturally, a user can use this in creative ways. But for
most purposes, one simply uses a sequence of assignment statements that override some of the built-in
settings of Latexmk. Straightforward cases can be handled without knowledge of the Perl language by
using the examples in this document as templates. Comment lines are introduced by the "#" character.

Note that command line options are obeyed in the order in which they are written; thus any RC file
specified on the command line with the -r option can override previous options but can be itself
overridden by later options on the command line. There is also the -e option, which allows
initialization code to be specified in latexmk's command line.

For possible examples of code for in an RC file, see the directory example_rcfiles in the distribution
of latexmk (e.g., at http://mirror.ctan.org/support/latexmk/example_rcfiles).

HOW TO SET VARIABLES IN INITIALIZATION FILES

       The  important  variables  that  can  be  configured  are described in the section "List of configuration
       variables usable in initialization files".  (See the earlier section  "Configuration/Initialization  (rc)
       Files"  for  the  files where the configurations are done.)  Syntax for setting these variables is of the
       following forms:

                           $bibtex = 'bibtex %O %S';

       for the setting of a string variable,

                           $preview_mode = 1;

       for the setting of a numeric variable, and

                           @default_files = ('paper', 'paper1');

       for the setting of an array of strings.  It is possible to  append  an  item  to  an  array  variable  as
       follows:

                           push @default_files, 'paper2';

       Note  that  simple  "scalar"  variables have names that begin with a $ character and array variables have
       names that begin with a @ character. Each statement ends with a semicolon.

       Strings should be enclosed in single quotes.  (You could  use  double  quotes,  as  in  many  programming
       languages.   But then the Perl programming language brings into play some special rules for interpolating
       variables into strings.  People not fluent in Perl will want to avoid these complications.)

       You can do much more complicated things, but for this you will need to consult  a  manual  for  the  Perl
       programming language.

FORMAT OF COMMAND SPECIFICATIONS

Some of the variables set the commands that latexmk uses for carrying out its work, for example to
generate a .dvi file from a .tex file or to view a postscript file. This section describes some
important features of how the commands are specified. (Note that some of the possibilities listed here
do not apply to the $kpsewhich variable; see its documentation.)

Placeholders: Supposed you wanted latexmk to use the command elatex in place of the regular latex
command, and suppose moreover that you wanted to give it the option "--shell-escape". You could do this
by the following setting:

$latex = 'elatex --shell-escape %O %S';

The two items starting with the % character are placeholders. These are substituted by appropriate
values before the command is run. Thus %S will be replaced by the source file that elatex will be
applied to, and %O will be replaced by any options that latexmk has decided to use for this command.
(E.g., if you used the -silent option in the invocation of latexmk, it results in the replacement of %O
by "-interaction=batchmode".)

The available placeholders are:

%A basename of the main tex file. Unlike %R, this is unaffected by the setting of a jobname by the
-jobname option or the $jobname configuration value.

%B base of filename for current command. E.g., if a postscript file document.ps is being made from
the dvi file document.dvi, then the basename is document.

%D destination file (e.g., the name of the postscript file when converting a dvi file to postscript).

%O options

%P If the variable $pre_tex_code is non-empty, then %P is substituted by the contents of
$pre_tex_code followed by \input{SOURCE}, where SOURCE stands for the name of the source file.
Appropriate quoting is done. This enables TeX code to be passed to one of the *latex engines to
be executed before the source file is read.

If the variable $pre_tex_code is the empty string, then %P is equivalent to %S.

%R root filename. This is the base name for the main tex file.

By default this is the basename of the main tex file. However the value can be changed by the use
of the -jobname option or the $jobname configuration variable.

%S source file (e.g., the name of the dvi file when converting a .dvi file to ps).

%T The name of the primary tex file.

%U If the variable $pre_tex_code is non-empty, then its value is substituted for %U (appropriately
quoted). Otherwise it is replaced by a null string.

%Y Name of directory for auxiliary output files (see the configuration variable $aux_dir). A
directory separation character ('/') is appended if $aux_dir is non-empty and does not end in a
suitable character, with suitable characters being those appropriate to UNIX and MS-Windows, i.e.,
':', '/' and '\'. Note that if after initialization, $out_dir is set, but $aux_dir is not set
(i.e., it is blank), then latexmk sets $aux_dir to the same value $out_dir.

%Z Name of directory for output files (see the configuration variable $out_dir). A directory
separation character ('/') is appended if $out_dir is non-empty and does not end in a suitable
character, with suitable characters being those appropriate to UNIX and MS-Windows, i.e., ':', '/'
and '\'

If for some reason you need a literal % character in your string not subject to the above rules, use
"%%".

Appropriate quoting will be applied to the filename substitutions, so you mustn't supply them yourself
even if the names of your files have spaces in them. (But if your TeX filenames have spaces in them,
beware that some older versions of the TeX program cannot correctly handle filenames containing spaces.)
In case latexmk's quoting does not work correctly on your system, you can turn it off -- see the
documentation for the variable $quote_filenames.

See the default values in the section "List of configuration variables usable in initialization files"
for what is normally the most appropriate usage.

If you omit to supply any placeholders whatever in the specification of a command, latexmk will supply
what its author thinks are appropriate defaults. This gives compatibility with configuration files for
previous versions of latexmk, which didn't use placeholders.

"Detaching" a command: Normally when latexmk runs a command, it waits for the command to run to
completion. This is appropriate for commands like latex, of course. But for previewers, the command
should normally run detached, so that latexmk gets the previewer running and then returns to its next
task (or exits if there is nothing else to do). To achieve this effect of detaching a command, you need
to precede the command name with "start ", as in

$dvi_previewer = 'start xdvi %O %S';

This will be translated to whatever is appropriate for your operating system.

Notes: (1) In some circumstances, latexmk will always run a command detached. This is the case for a
previewer in preview continuous mode, since otherwise previewing continuously makes no sense. (2) This
precludes the possibility of running a command named start. (3) If the word start occurs more than once
at the beginning of the command string, that is equivalent to having just one. (4) Under cygwin, some
complications happen, since cygwin amounts to a complicated merging of UNIX and MS-Windows. See the
source code for how I've handled the problem.

Command names containing spaces: Under MS-Windows it is common that the name of a command includes
spaces, since software is often installed in a subdirectory of "C:\Program Files". Such command names
should be enclosed in double quotes, as in

$lpr_pdf = '"c:/Program Files/Ghostgum/gsview/gsview32.exe" /p %S';
$pdf_previewer = 'start "c:/Program Files/SumatraPDF/SumatraPDF.exe" %O %S';
$pdf_previewer = 'start "c:/Program Files/SumatraPDF (x86)/SumatraPDF.exe" %O %S';

(Note about the above example: Under MS-Windows forward slashes are equivalent to backslashes in a
filename under almost all circumstances, provided that the filename is inside double quotes. It is
easier to use forward slashes in examples like the one above, since then one does not have to worry about
the rules for dealing with forward slashes in strings in the Perl language.)

Command names under Cygwin: If latexmk is executed by Cygwin's Perl, be particularly certain that
pathnames in commands have forward slashes not the usual backslashes for the separator of pathname
components. See the above examples. Backslashes often get misinterpreted by the Unix shell used by
Cygwin's Perl to execute external commands. Forward slashes don't suffer from this problem, and (when
quoted, as above) are equally acceptable to MS-Windows.

Using MS-Windows file associations: A useful trick under modern versions of MS-Windows (e.g., WinXP) is
to use just the command 'start' by itself:

$dvi_previewer = 'start %S';

Under MS-Windows, this will cause to be run whatever program the system has associated with dvi files.
(The same applies for a postscript viewer and a pdf viewer.) But note that this trick is not always
suitable for the pdf previwer, if your system has acroread for the default pdf viewer. As explained
elsewhere, acroread under MS-Windows does not work well with latex and latexmk, because acroread locks
the pdf file.

Not using a certain command: If a command is not to be run, the command name NONE is used, as in

$lpr = 'NONE lpr';

This typically is used when an appropriate command does not exist on your system. The string after the
"NONE" is effectively a comment.

Options to commands: Setting the name of a command can be used not only for changing the name of the
command called, but also to add options to command. Suppose you want latexmk to use latex with source
specials enabled. Then you might use the following line in an initialization file:

$latex = 'latex --src-specials %O %S';

Running a subroutine instead of an external command: Use a specification starting with "internal", as in

$latex = 'internal mylatex %O %S';
sub mylatex {
my @args = @_;
# Possible preprocessing here
return system 'latex', @args;
}

For some of the more exotic possibilities that then become available, see the section "ADVANCED
CONFIGURATION: Some extra resources and advanced tricks". Also see some of the examples in the directory
example_rcfiles in the latexmk distribution.

Advanced tricks: Normally one specifies a single command for the commands invoked by latexmk. Naturally,
if there is some complicated additional processing you need to do in your special situation, you can
write a script (or batch file) to do the processing, and then configure latexmk to use your script in
place of the standard program.

You can also use a Perl subroutine instead of a script -- see above. This is generally the most flexible
and portable solution.

It is also possible to configure latexmk to run multiple commands. For example, if when running pdflatex
to generate a pdf file from a tex file you need to run another program after pdflatex to perform some
extra processing, you could do something like:

$pdflatex = 'pdflatex --shell-escape %O %S; pst2pdf_for_latexmk %B';

This definition assumes you are using a UNIX-like system (which includes Linux and OS-X), so that the two
commands to be run are separated by the semicolon in the middle of the string.

If you are using MS-Windows, you would replace the above line by

$pdflatex = 'cmd /c pdflatex --shell-escape %O %S'
. '&& pst2pdf_for_latexmk %B';

Here, the UNIX command separator ; is replaced by &&. In addition, there is a problem that some versions
of Perl on MS-Windows do not obey the command separator; this problem is overcome by explicitly invoking
the MS-Windows command-line processor cmd.exe.

LIST OF CONFIGURATION VARIABLES USABLE IN INITIALIZATION FILES

In this section are specified the variables whose values can be adjusted to configure latexmk. (See the
earlier section "Configuration/Initialization (rc) Files" for the files where the configurations are
done.)

Default values are indicated in brackets. Note that for variables that are boolean in character,
concerning whether latexmk does or does not behave in a certain way, a non-zero value, normally 1,
indicates true, i.e., the behavior occurs, while a zero value indicates a false value, i.e., the behavior
does not occur.

$allow_switch [1]

This controls what happens when the output extension of latex, pdflatex, lualatex or xelatex
differs from what is expected. (The possible extensions are .dvi, .pdf, .xdv.) This can happen
with the use of the \pdfoutput macro in a document compiled under latex or pdflatex, or with the
use of the \outputmode macro under lualatex. It can also happen with certain kinds of incorrect
configuration.

In such a case, latexmk can appropriately adjust its network of rules. The adjustment is made if
$allow_switch is on, and if no request for a dvi or ps file has been made.

See the section ALLOWING FOR CHANGE OF OUTPUT EXTENSION.

$always_view_file_via_temporary [0]
Whether .ps and .pdf files are initially to be made in a temporary directory and then moved to the
final location. (This applies to dvips, dvipdf, and ps2pdf operations, and the filtering
operators on .dvi and .ps files. It does not apply to pdflatex, unfortunately, since pdflatex
provides no way of specifying a chosen name for the output file.)

This use of a temporary file solves a problem that the making of these files can occupy a
substantial time. If a viewer (notably gv) sees that the file has changed, it may read the new
file before the program writing the file has not yet finished its work, which can cause havoc.

See the $pvc_view_file_via_temporary variable for a setting that applies only if preview-
continuous mode (-pvc option) is used. See $tmpdir for the setting of the directory where the
temporary file is created.

$analyze_input_log_always [1]

After a run of latex (etc), always analyze .log for input files in the <...> and (...)
constructions. Otherwise, only do the analysis when fls file doesn't exist or is out of date.

Under normal circumstances, the data in the fls file is reliable, and the test of the log file
gets lots of false positives; usually $analyze_input_log_always is best set to zero. But the test
of the log file is needed at least in the following situation: When a user needs to persuade
latexmk that a certain file is a source file, and latexmk doesn't otherwise find it. Then the
user can write code that causes a line with (...) to be written to log file. One important case
is for lualatex, which doesn't always generate lines in the .fls file for input lua files. (The
situation with lualatex is HIGHLY version dependent, e.g., there was a big change between TeXLive
2016 and TeXLive 2017.)

To keep backward compatibility with older versions of latexmk, the default is to set
$analyze_input_log_always to 1.

$auto_rc_use [1]
Whether to automatically read the standard initialization (rc) files, which are the system RC
file, the user's RC file, and the RC file in the current directory. The command line option -norc
can be used to turn this setting off. Each RC file could also turn this setting off, i.e., it
could set $auto_rc_use to zero to prevent automatic reading of the later RC files.

This variable does not affect the reading of RC files specified on the command line by the -r
option.

$aux_dir [""]
The directory in which auxiliary files (aux, log, etc) are to be written by a run of *latex. If
this variable is not set, but $out_dir is set, then $aux_dir is set to $out_dir, which is the
directory to which general output files are to be written.

Important note: The effect of $aux_dir, if different from $out_dir, is achieved by giving *latex
the -aux-directory. Currently (Dec. 2011 and later) this only works on the MiKTeX version of
*latex.

See also the documentation of $out_dir for some complications on what directory names are
suitable.

If you also use the -cd option, and $out_dir (or $aux_dir) contains a relative path, then the path
is interpreted relative to the document directory.

$aux_out_dir_report [0]
For each .tex file processed, list the settings for aux and out directories, after they have been
normalized from the settings specified during initialization.

This report gives a reminder of where to look for output.

The report has to be done per file, because of possible directory changes for each file. In the
simplest cases, the result is the same as originally specified. In general, e.g., with an
absolute directory specified, the normalization helps performance and cleans up output to the
screen. It also avoids situations where a file in the current directory is referred to by
different names, e.g., "file.aux" and "./file.aux", which can be annoying.

$banner [0]
If nonzero, the banner message is printed across each page when converting the dvi file to
postscript. Without modifying the variable $banner_message, this is equivalent to specifying the
-d option.

Note that if $banner is nonzero, the $postscript_mode is assumed and the postscript file is always
generated, even if it is newer than the dvi file.

$banner_intensity [0.95]
Equivalent to the -bi option, this is a decimal number between 0 and 1 that specifies how dark to
print the banner message. 0 is black, 1 is white. The default is just right if your toner
cartridge isn't running too low.

$banner_message ["DRAFT"]
The banner message to print across each page when converting the dvi file to postscript. This is
equivalent to the -bm option.

$banner_scale [220.0]
A decimal number that specifies how large the banner message will be printed. Experimentation is
necessary to get the right scale for your message, as a rule of thumb the scale should be about
equal to 1100 divided by the number of characters in the message. The Default is just right for 5
character messages. This is equivalent to the -bs option.

@BIBINPUTS
This is an array variable, now mostly obsolete, that specifies directories where latexmk should
look for .bib files. By default it is set from the BIBINPUTS environment variable of the
operating system. If that environment variable is not set, a single element list consisting of
the current directory is set. The format of the directory names depends on your operating system,
of course. Examples for setting this variable are:

@BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "C:\\bibfiles" );
@BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "\\server\bibfiles" );
@BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "C:/bibfiles" );
@BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "//server/bibfiles" );
@BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "/usr/local/texmf/bibtex/bib" );

Note that under MS Windows, either a forward slash "/" or a backward slash "\" can be used to
separate pathname components, so the first two and the second two examples are equivalent. Each
backward slash should be doubled to avoid running afoul of Perl's rules for writing strings.

Important note: This variable is now mostly obsolete in the current version of latexmk, since it
has a better method of searching for files using the kpsewhich command. However, if your system
is an unusual one without the kpsewhich command, you may need to set the variable @BIBINPUTS.

$biber ["biber %O %S"]
The biber processing program.

$biber_silent_switch ["--onlylog"]
Switch(es) for the biber processing program when silent mode is on.

$bibtex ["bibtex %O %S"]
The BibTeX processing program.

$bibtex_fudge [1]
When using bibtex, whether to change directory to $aux_dir before running bibtex.

The need arises as follows:

a. With bibtex before about 2019, if the filename given to it contains a path component, there was
a bug that bibtex would not find extra aux files, as produced by the \include command in TeX.

b. With all moderately recent versions of bibtex, bibtex may refuse to write its bbl and blg
files, for security reasons, for certain cases of the path component of the filename given to it.

However, there are also rare cases where the change-directory method prevents bibtex from finding
certain bib or bst files. Then $bibtex_fudge needs to be set to 0.

$bibtex_silent_switch ["-terse"]
Switch(es) for the BibTeX processing program when silent mode is on.

$bibtex_use [1]
Under what conditions to run bibtex or biber. When latexmk discovers from the log file that one
(or more) bibtex/biber-generated bibliographies are used, it can run bibtex or biber whenever it
appears necessary to regenerate the bbl file(s) from their source bib database file(s). But
sometimes, the bib file(s) are not available (e.g., for a document obtained from an external
archive), but the bbl files are provided. In that case use of bibtex or biber will result in
incorrect overwriting of the precious bbl files. The variable $bibtex_use controls whether this
happens, and also controls whether or not .bbl files are deleted in a cleanup operation.

The possible values of $bibtex_use are:
0: never use BibTeX or biber; never delete .bbl files in a cleanup.
1: only use bibtex or biber if the bib files exist; never delete .bbl files in a cleanup.
1.5: only use bibtex or biber if the bib files exist; conditionally delete .bbl files in a
cleanup (i.e., delete them only when the bib files all exist).
2: run bibtex or biber whenever it appears necessary to update the bbl files, without testing
for the existence of the bib files; always delete .bbl files in a cleanup.

Note that the value 1.5 does not work properly if the document uses biber instead of bibtex.
(There's a long story why not.)

$cleanup_includes_cusdep_generated [0]
If nonzero, specifies that cleanup also deletes files that are generated by custom dependencies.
(When doing a clean up, e.g., by use of the -C option, custom dependencies are those listed in the
.fdb_latexmk file from a previous run.)

$cleanup_includes_generated [0]
If nonzero, specifies that cleanup also deletes files that are detected in the fls file (or
failing that, in log file) as being generated. It will also include files made from these first
generation generated files.

This operation is somewhat dangerous, and can have unintended consequences, since the files to be
deleted are determined from a file created by *latex, which can contain erroneous information.
Therefore this variable is turned off by default, and then files to be deleted are restricted to
those explicitly specified by patterns configured in the variables clean_ext, clean_full_ext, and
@generated_exts, together with those very standard cases that are hardwired into latexmk (e.g.,
.log files).

$cleanup_mode [0]
If nonzero, specifies cleanup mode: 1 for full cleanup, 2 for cleanup except for .dvi, .ps and
.pdf files, 3 for cleanup except for dep and aux files. (There is also extra cleaning as
specified by the $clean_ext, $clean_full_ext and @generated_exts variables.)

This variable is equivalent to specifying one of the -c or -C options. But there should be no
need to set this variable from an RC file.

$clean_ext [""]
Extra extensions of files for latexmk to remove when any of the clean-up options (-c or -C) is
selected. The value of this variable is a string containing the extensions separated by spaces.

It is also possible to specify a more general pattern of file to be deleted, by using the place
holder %R, as in commands, and it is also possible to use wildcards. Thus setting

$clean_ext = "out %R-blx.bib %R-figures*.log pythontex-files-%R/*";

in an initialization file will imply that when a clean-up operation is specified, not only is the
standard set of files deleted, but also files of the form FOO.out, FOO-blx.bib, FOO-figures*.log,
and pythontex-files-FOO/*, where FOO stands for the basename of the file being processed (as in
FOO.tex).

The files to be deleted are relative to the directory specified by $aux_dir. (Note that if
$out_dir but not $aux_dir is set, then in its initialization, latexmk sets $aux_dir equal to
$out_dir. A normal situation is therefore that $aux_dir equals $out_dir, which is the only case
supported by TeXLive, unlike MiKTeX.)

The filenames specified for a clean-up operation can refer not only to regular files but also to
directories. Directories are only deleted if they are empty. An example of an application is to
pythontex, which creates files in a particular directory. You can arrange to remove both the
files and the directory by setting

$clean_ext = "pythontex-files-%R pythontex-files-%R";

See also the variable @generated_exts.

$clean_full_ext [""]
Extra extensions of files for latexmk to remove when the -C option is selected, i.e., extensions
of files to remove when the .dvi, etc files are to be cleaned-up.

More general patterns are allowed, as for $clean_ext.

The files specified by $clean_full_ext to be deleted are relative to the directory specified by
$out_dir.

$compiling_cmd [""], $failure_cmd [""], $warning_cmd [""], $success_cmd [""]

These variables specify commands that are executed at certain points of compilations. One
motivation for their existence is to allow very useful convenient visual indications of
compilation status even when the window receiving the screen output of the compilation is hidden.
This is particularly useful in preview-continuous mode.

The commands are executed at the following points: $compiling_cmd at the start of compilation,
$success_cmd at the end of a completely successful compilation, $failure_cmd at the end of an
unsuccessful compilation, $warning_cmd at the of an otherwise successful compilation that gives
warnings about undefined citations or references or about multiply defined references. If any of
above variables is undefined or blank (the default situation), then the corresponding command is
not executed.

However, when $warning_cmd is not set, then in the case of a compilation with warnings about
references or citations, but with no other error, one or other of $success_cmd or $failure_cmd is
used (if it is set) according to the setting of $warnings_as_errors.

An example of a simple setting of these variables is as follows

$compiling_cmd = "xdotool search --name \"%D\" set_window --name \"%D compiling\"";
$success_cmd = "xdotool search --name \"%D\" set_window --name \"%D OK\"";
$warning_cmd = "xdotool search --name \"%D\" ".
"set_window --name \"%D CITE/REF ISSUE\"";
$failure_cmd = "xdotool search --name \"%D\" set_window --name \"%D FAILURE\"";

These assume that the program xdotool is installed, that the previewer is using an X-Window system
for display, and that the title of the window contains the name of the displayed file, as it
normally does. When the commands are executed, the placeholder string %D is replaced by the name
of the destination file, which is the previewed file. The above commands result in an appropriate
string being appended to the filename in the window title: " compiling", " OK", or " FAILURE".

Other placeholders that can be used are %S, %T, and %R, with %S and %T normally being identical.
These can be useful for a command changing the title of the edit window. The visual indication in
a window title can useful, since the user does not have to keep shifting attention to the
(possibly hidden) compilation window to know the status of the compilation.

More complicated situations can best be handled by defining a Perl subroutine to invoke the
necessary commands, and using the "internal" keyword in the definitions to get the subroutine to
be invoked. (See the section "Format of Command Specifications" for how to do this.)

Naturally, the above settings that invoke the xdotool program are only applicable when the X-
Window system is used for the relevant window(s). For other cases, you will have to find what
software solutions are available.

@cus_dep_list [()]
Custom dependency list -- see section on "Custom Dependencies".

@default_excluded_files [()]
When latexmk is invoked with no files specified on the command line, then, by default, it will
process all files in the current directory with the extension .tex. (In general, it will process
the files specified in the @default_files variable.)

But sometimes you want to exclude particular files from this default list. In that case you can
specify the excluded files in the array @default_excluded_files. For example if you wanted to
process all .tex files with the exception of common.tex, which is a not a standard alone LaTeX
file but a file input by some or all of the others, you could do

@default_files = ("*.tex");

@default_excluded_files = ("common.tex");

If you have a variable or large number of files to be processed, this method saves you from having
to list them in detail in @default_files and having to update the list every time you change the
set of files to be processed.

Notes: 1. This variable has no effect except when no files are specified on the latexmk command
line. 2. Wildcards are allowed in @default_excluded_files.

@default_files [("*.tex")]
Default list of files to be processed.

If no filenames are specified on the command line, latexmk processes all tex files specified in
the @default_files variable, which by default is set to all tex files ("*.tex") in the current
directory. This is a convenience: just run latexmk and it will process an appropriate set of
files. But sometimes you want only some of these files to be processed. In this case you can
list the files to be processed by setting @default_files in an initialization file (e.g., the file
"latexmkrc" in the current directory). Then if no files are specified on the command line then
the files you specify by setting @default_files are processed.

Three examples:

@default_files = ("paper_current");

@default_files = ("paper1", "paper2.tex");

@default_files = ("*.tex", "*.dtx");

Note that more than file may be given, and that the default extension is ".tex". Wild cards are
allowed. The parentheses are because @default_files is an array variable, i.e., a sequence of
filename specifications is possible.

If you want latexmk to process all .tex files with a few exceptions, see the
@default_excluded_files array variable.

$dependents_phony [0]
If a list of dependencies is output, this variable determines whether to include a phony target
for each source file. If you use the dependents list in a Makefile, the dummy rules work around
errors make gives if you remove header files without updating the Makefile to match.

$dependents_list [0]
Whether to display a list(s) of dependencies at the end of a run.

$deps_file ["-"]
Name of file to receive list(s) of dependencies at the end of a run, to be used if
$dependesnt_list is set. If the filename is "-", then the dependency list is set to stdout (i.e.,
normally the screen).

$do_cd [0]
Whether to change working directory to the directory specified for the main source file before
processing it. The default behavior is not to do this, which is the same as the behavior of
*latex programs. This variable is set by the -cd and -cd- options on latexmk's command line.

$dvi_filter [empty]
The dvi file filter to be run on the newly produced dvi file before other processing. Equivalent
to specifying the -dF option.

$dvi_mode [See below for default]
If nonzero, generate a dvi version of the document. Equivalent to the -dvi option.

The variable $dvi_mode defaults to 0, but if no explicit requests are made for other types of file
(postscript, pdf), then $dvi_mode will be set to 1. In addition, if a request for a file for
which a .dvi file is a prerequisite, then $dvi_mode will be set to 1.

$dvi_previewer ["start xdvi %O %S" under UNIX]
The command to invoke a dvi-previewer. [Under MS-Windows the default is "start"; then latexmk
arranges to use the MS-Windows start program, which will cause to be run whatever command the
system has associated with .dvi files.]

Important note: Normally you will want to have a previewer run detached, so that latexmk doesn't
wait for the previewer to terminate before continuing its work. So normally you should prefix the
command by "start ", which flags to latexmk that it should do the detaching of the previewer
itself (by whatever method is appropriate to the operating system). But sometimes letting latexmk
do the detaching is not appropriate (for a variety of non-trivial reasons), so you should put the
"start " bit in yourself, whenever it is needed.

$dvi_previewer_landscape ["start xdvi %O %S"]
The command to invoke a dvi-previewer in landscape mode. [Under MS-Windows the default is
"start"; then latexmk arranges to use the MS-Windows start program, which will cause to be run
whatever command the system has associated with .dvi files.]

$dvipdf ["dvipdf -dALLOWPSTRANSPARENCY %O %S %D"]
Command to convert .dvi to .pdf file. A common reconfiguration is to use the dvipdfm command,
which needs its arguments in a different order:

$dvipdf = "dvipdfm %O -o %D %S";

WARNING: The default dvipdf script generates pdf files with bitmapped fonts, which do not look
good when viewed by acroread. That script should be modified to give dvips the options "-P pdf"
to ensure that type 1 fonts are used in the pdf file.

$dvipdf_silent_switch ["-q"]
Switch(es) for dvipdf program when silent mode is on.

N.B. The standard dvipdf program runs silently, so adding the silent switch has no effect, but is
actually innocuous. But if an alternative program is used, e.g., dvipdfmx, then the silent switch
has an effect. The default setting is correct for dvipdfm and dvipdfmx.

$dvips ["dvips %O -o %D %S"]
The program to used as a filter to convert a .dvi file to a .ps file. If pdf is going to be
generated from pdf, then the value of the $dvips_pdf_switch variable -- see below -- will be
included in the options substituted for "%O".

$dvips_landscape ["dvips -tlandscape %O -o %D %S"]
The program to used as a filter to convert a .dvi file to a .ps file in landscape mode.

$dvips_pdf_switch ["-P pdf"]
Switch(es) for dvips program when pdf file is to be generated from .ps file.

$dvips_silent_switch ["-q"]
Switch(es) for dvips program when silent mode is on.

$dvi_update_command [""]
When the dvi previewer is set to be updated by running a command, this is the command that is run.
See the information for the variable $dvi_update_method for further information, and see
information on the variable $pdf_update_method for an example for the analogous case of a pdf
previewer.

$dvi_update_method [2 under UNIX, 1 under MS-Windows]
How the dvi viewer updates its display when the dvi file has changed. The values here apply
equally to the $pdf_update_method and to the $ps_update_method variables.
0 => update is automatic,
1=> manual update by user, which may only mean a mouse click on the viewer's window or may
mean a more serious action.
2 => Send the signal, whose number is in the variable $dvi_update_signal. The default value
under UNIX is suitable for xdvi.
3 => Viewer cannot do an update, because it locks the file. (As with acroread under MS-
Windows.)
4 => run a command to do the update. The command is specified by the variable
$dvi_update_command.

See information on the variable $pdf_update_method for an example of updating by command.

$dvi_update_signal [Under UNIX: SIGUSR1, which is a system-dependent value]
The number of the signal that is sent to the dvi viewer when it is updated by sending a signal --
see the information on the variable $dvi_update_method. The default value is the one appropriate
for xdvi on a UNIX system.

$emulate_aux [0]
Whether to emulate the use of aux_dir when $aux_dir and $out_dir are different, rather than using
the -aux-directory option for the *latex programs. (MiKTeX supports -aux-directory, but TeXLive
doesn't.)

If you use a version of *latex that doesn't support -aux-directory, e.g., TeXLive, latexmk will
automatically switch aux_dir emulation on after the first run of *latex, because it will find the
.log file in the wrong place.

Aux_directory emulation means that when *latex is invoked, the output directory provided to *latex
is set to be the aux_dir. After that, any files that need to be in the output directory will be
moved there. (These are the files with extensions .dvi, .ps, .pdf, .fls, .synctex, .synctex.gz.)

$failure_cmd [undefined]
See the documentation for $compiling_cmd.

$fdb_ext ["fdb_latexmk"]
The extension of the file which latexmk generates to contain a database of information on source
files. You will not normally need to change this.

$filetime_causality_threshold [5]; $filetime_offset_report_threshold [30]. (Units of seconds.)

These variables control how latexmk deals with the following issue, which can affect the use of
files that are on a remote filesystem (network share) instead of being on a file system local to
the computer running latexmk. Almost users will not have to worry about these settings, and can
ignore the following explanation.

In almost all situations, latexmk does not need to use the time stamps of the files it works with.
However, there are a couple of situations when it needs to know whether a certain file was created
in the current run of a program (e.g., *latex) or is a leftover file from a previous run. It does
this by comparing the modification time of the file with the system time just before the program
was started. If the modification time is earlier than when the program was started, the file is a
leftover file, which latexmk treats as if it were not created. If the filetime is at least the
program start time, then it can be assumed that the file was created in the current run.

Unfortunately, this test can fail if the file is on a remote system, since its system time is not
necessarily synchronized with that of the local system; the timestamps on the remote files are set
by the remote system, not the local system. Generally, modern operating systems regularly
synchronize their time with a server, so the non-synchronization is mostly small (a second or so,
or a few seconds). But even a small difference can mess up latexmk's test.

Latexmk measures the time difference between the time on the two systems and compensates for this.
But the measurement (in a system-independent way) is only accurate to a second or two. So latexmk
allows for a threshold on the difference between file and system time before it concludes that a
file is a leftover file from a previous run. The configuration variable
$filetime_causality_theshhold, which in units of seconds, specifies this threshold. Luckily high
precision is not needed. The previous run is normally the previous run in a human run-edit-run
cycle, and is at least many seconds back. A few seconds is therefore appropriate for the
threshold, $filetime_causality_theshhold; it should be non-negative always, and should be bigger
than 2 if a remote filesystem or network share is used.

If the difference in system times on the two systems is large, it normally indicates that at least
one of the systems is misconfigured. The variable $filetime_offset_report_threshold specifies the
smallest size of the difference (or offset) in seconds between the times of the local and remote
system beyond which the offset is reported. This is reported at the point in the latexmk's
progress that it measures the offset. The report is made if silent mode is used and diagnostic
mode is not on.

$force_mode [0]
If nonzero, continue processing past minor latex errors including unrecognized cross references.
Equivalent to specifying the -f option.

@generated_exts [( aux , bbl , idx , ind , lof , lot , out , toc , $fdb_ext )]
This contains a list of extensions for files that are generated during a LaTeX run and that are
read in by LaTeX in later runs, either directly or indirectly.

This list specifies files known to be generated by *latex. It is used in two ways: (a) The
specified files are deleted in a cleanup operation (with the -c, -C, -CA, -g and -gg options), and
(b) It affects the determination of whether a rerun of *latex is needed after a run that gives an
error.

(Concerning item (b): Normally, a change of a source file during a run should provoke a rerun.
This includes a file generated by LaTeX, e.g., an aux file, that is read in on subsequent runs.
But after a run that results in an error, a new run should not occur until the user has made a
change in the files. But the user may have corrected an error in a source .tex file during the
run. So latexmk needs to distinguish user-generated and automatically generated files; it
determines the automatically generated files as those with extensions in the list in
@generated_exts.)

A convenient way to add an extra extension to the list, without losing the already defined ones is
to use a push command in the line in an RC file. E.g.,

push @generated_exts, "end";

adds the extension "end" to the list of predefined generated extensions. (This extension is used
by the RevTeX package, for example.)

$go_mode [0]
If nonzero, process files regardless of timestamps, and is then equivalent to the -g option.

%hash_calc_ignore_pattern
!!!This variable is for experts only!!!

The general rule latexmk uses for determining when an extra run of some program is needed is that
one of the source files has changed. But consider for example a latex package that causes an
encapsulated postscript file (an "eps" file) to be made that is to be read in on the next run.
The file contains a comment line giving its creation date and time. On the next run the time
changes, latex sees that the eps file has changed, and therefore reruns latex. This causes an
infinite loop, that is only terminated because latexmk has a limit on the number of runs to guard
against pathological situations.

But the changing line has no real effect, since it is a comment. You can instruct latex to ignore
the offending line as follows:

$hash_calc_ignore_pattern{'eps'} = '^%%CreationDate: ';

This creates a rule for files with extension .eps about lines to ignore. The left-hand side is a
Perl idiom for setting an item in a hash. Note that the file extension is specified without a
period. The value, on the right-hand side, is a string containing a regular expression. (See
documentation on Perl for how they are to be specified in general.) This particular regular
expression specifies that lines beginning with "%%CreationDate: " are to be ignored in deciding
whether a file of the given extension .eps has changed.

There is only one regular expression available for each extension. If you need more one pattern
to specify lines to ignore, then you need to combine the patterns into a single regular
expression. The simplest method is separate the different simple patterns by a vertical bar
character (indicating "alternation" in the jargon of regular expressions). For example,

$hash_calc_ignore_pattern{'eps'} = '^%%CreationDate: |^%%Title: ';

causes lines starting with either "^%%CreationDate: " or "^%%Title: " to be ignored.

It may happen that a pattern to be ignored is specified in, for example, in a system or user
initialization file, and you wish to remove this in a file that is read later. To do this, you
use Perl's delete function, e.g.,

delete $hash_calc_ignore_pattern{'eps'};

$jobname [""]

This specifies the jobname, i.e., the basename that is used for generated files (.aux, .log, .dvi,
.ps, .pdf, etc). If this variable is a null string, then the basename is the basename of the main
tex file. (At present, the string in $jobname should not contain spaces.)

The placeholder '%A' is permitted. This will be substituted by the basename of the TeX file. The
primary purpose is when a variety of tex files are to be processed, and you want to use a
different jobname for each but one that is distinct for each. Thus if you wanted to compare
compilations of a set of files on different operating systems, with distinct filenames for all the
cases, you could set

$jobname = "%A-$^O";

in an initialization file. (Here $^O is a variable provided by perl that contains perl's name for
the operating system.)

Suppose you had .tex files test1.tex and test2.tex. Then when you run

latexmk -pdf *.tex

both files will be compiled. The .aux, .log, and .pdf files will have basenames test1-MSWin32
ante test2-MSWin32 on a MS-Windows system, test1-darwin and test2-darwin on an OS-X system, and a
variety of similar cases on linux systems.

$kpsewhich ["kpsewhich %S"]
The program called to locate a source file when the name alone is not sufficient. Most filenames
used by latexmk have sufficient path information to be found directly. But sometimes, notably
when a .bib or a .bst file is found from the log file of a bibtex or biber run, only the base name
of the file is known, but not its path. The program specified by $kpsewhich is used to find it.

(For advanced users: Because of the different way in which latexmk uses the command specified in
$kpsewhich, some of the possibilities listed in the FORMAT OF COMMAND SPECIFICATIONS do not apply.
The internal and start keywords are not available. A simple command specification with possible
options and then "%S" is all that is guaranteed to work. Note that for other commands, "%S" is
substituted by a single source file. In contrast, for $kpsewhich, "%S" may be substituted by a
long list of space-separated filenames, each of which is quoted. The result on STDOUT of running
the command is then piped to latexmk.)

See also the @BIBINPUTS variable for another way that latexmk also uses to try to locate files; it
applies only in the case of .bib files.

$kpsewhich_show [0]
Whether to show diagnostics about invocations of kpsewhich: the command line use to invoke it and
the results. These diagnostics are shown if $kpsewhich_show is non-zero or if diagnostics mode is
on. (But in the second case, lots of other diagnostics are also shown.) Without these
diagnostics there is nothing visible in latexmk's screen output about invocations of kpsewhich.

$landscape_mode [0]
If nonzero, run in landscape mode, using the landscape mode previewers and dvi to postscript
converters. Equivalent to the -l option. Normally not needed with current previewers.

$latex ["latex %O %S"]
Specifies the command line for the LaTeX processing program. Note that as with other programs,
you can use this variable not just to change the name of the program used, but also specify
options to the program. E.g.,

$latex = "latex --src-specials %O %S";

To do a coordinated setting of all of $latex, $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex, see the section
"Advanced Configuration".

%latex_input_extensions
This variable specifies the extensions tried by latexmk when it finds that a LaTeX run resulted in
an error that a file has not been found, and the file is given without an extension. This
typically happens when LaTeX commands of the form \input{file} or \includegraphics{figure}, when
the relevant source file does not exist.

In this situation, latexmk searches for custom dependencies to make the missing file(s), but
restricts it to the extensions specified by the variable %latex_input_extensions. The default
extensions are 'tex' and 'eps'.

(For Perl experts: %latex_input_extensions is a hash whose keys are the extensions. The values
are irrelevant.) Two subroutines are provided for manipulating this and the related variable
%pdflatex_input_extensions, add_input_ext and remove_input_ext. They are used as in the following
examples are possible lines in an initialization file:

remove_input_ext( 'latex', 'tex' );

removes the extension 'tex' from latex_input_extensions

add_input_ext( 'latex', 'asdf' );

add the extension 'asdf to latex_input_extensions. (Naturally with such an extension, you should
have made an appropriate custom dependency for latexmk, and should also have done the appropriate
programming in the LaTeX source file to enable the file to be read. The standard extensions are
handled by LaTeX and its graphics/graphicx packages.)

$latex_silent_switch ["-interaction=batchmode"]
Switch(es) for the LaTeX processing program when silent mode is on.

If you use MikTeX, you may prefer the results if you configure the options to include -c-style-
errors, e.g., by the following line in an initialization file

$latex_silent_switch = "-interaction=batchmode -c-style-errors";

$lpr ["lpr %O %S" under UNIX/Linux, "NONE lpr" under MS-Windows]
The command to print postscript files.

Under MS-Windows (unlike UNIX/Linux), there is no standard program for printing files. But there
are ways you can do it. For example, if you have gsview installed, you could use it with the
option "/p":

$lpr = '"c:/Program Files/Ghostgum/gsview/gsview32.exe" /p';

If gsview is installed in a different directory, you will need to make the appropriate change.
Note the combination of single and double quotes around the name. The single quotes specify that
this is a string to be assigned to the configuration variable $lpr. The double quotes are part of
the string passed to the operating system to get the command obeyed; this is necessary because one
part of the command name ("Program Files") contains a space which would otherwise be
misinterpreted.

$lpr_dvi ["NONE lpr_dvi"]
The printing program to print dvi files.

$lpr_pdf ["NONE lpr_pdf"]
The printing program to print pdf files.

Under MS-Windows you could set this to use gsview, if it is installed, e.g.,

$lpr = '"c:/Program Files/Ghostgum/gsview/gsview32.exe" /p';

If gsview is installed in a different directory, you will need to make the appropriate change.
Note the double quotes around the name: this is necessary because one part of the command name
("Program Files") contains a space which would otherwise be misinterpreted.

$lualatex ["lualatex %O %S"]
Specifies the command line for the LaTeX processing program that is to be used when the lualatex
program is called for (e.g., by the option -lualatex.

To do a coordinated setting of all of $latex, $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex, see the section
"Advanced Configuration".

%lualatex_input_extensions
This variable specifies the extensions tried by latexmk when it finds that a lualatex run resulted
in an error that a file has not been found, and the file is given without an extension. This
typically happens when LaTeX commands of the form \input{file} or \includegraphics{figure}, when
the relevant source file does not exist.

In this situation, latexmk searches for custom dependencies to make the missing file(s), but
restricts it to the extensions specified by the variable %pdflatex_input_extensions. The default
extensions are 'tex', 'pdf', 'jpg, and 'png'.

See details of the %latex_input_extensions for other information that equally applies to
%lualatex_input_extensions.

$lualatex_silent_switch ["-interaction=batchmode"]
Switch(es) for the lualatex program (specified in the variable $lualatex) when silent mode is on.

See details of the $latex_silent_switch for other information that equally applies to
$lualatex_silent_switch.

$make ["make"]
The make processing program.

$makeindex ["makeindex %O -o %D %S"]
The index processing program.

$makeindex_fudge [0]
When using makeindex, whether to change directory to $aux_dir before running makeindex. Set to 1
if $aux_dir is not an explicit subdirectory of current directory, otherwise makeindex will refuse
to write its output and log files, for security reasons.

$makeindex_silent_switch ["-q"]
Switch(es) for the index processing program when silent mode is on.

$max_repeat [5]
The maximum number of times latexmk will run *latex before deciding that there may be an infinite
loop and that it needs to bail out, rather than rerunning *latex again to resolve cross-
references, etc. The default value covers all normal cases.

(Note that the "etc" covers a lot of cases where one run of *latex generates files to be read in
on a later run.)

$MSWin_back_slash [1]
This configuration variable only has an effect when latexmk is running under MS-Windows. With the
default value of 1 for this variable, when a command is executed under MS-Windows, latexmk
substitutes "\" for the separator character between components of a directory name. Internally,
latexmk uses "/" for the directory separator character, which is the character used by Unix-like
systems.

For almost all programs and for almost all filenames under MS-Windows, both "\" and "/" are
acceptable as the directory separator character, provided at least that filenames are properly
quoted. But it is possible that programs exist that only accept "\" on the command line, since
that is the standard directory separator for MS-Windows. So for safety latexmk makes the
substitution from "/" to "\", by default.

However there are also programs on MS-Windows for which a back slash "\" is interpreted
differently than as a directory separator; for these the directory separator should be "/".
Programs with this behavior include all the *latex programs in the TeXLive implementation (but not
the MiKTeX implementation). Hence if you use TeXLive on MS-Windows, then $MSWin_back_slash should
be set to zero.

$new_viewer_always [0]
This variable applies to latexmk only in continuous-preview mode. If $new_viewer_always is 0,
latexmk will check for a previously running previewer on the same file, and if one is running will
not start a new one. If $new_viewer_always is non-zero, this check will be skipped, and latexmk
will behave as if no viewer is running.

$out_dir [""]
If non-blank, this variable specifies the directory in which output files are to be written by a
run of *latex. See also the variable $aux_dir.

The effect of this variable (when non-blank) is achieved by using the -output-directory option of
*latex. This exists in the usual current (Dec. 2011 and later) implementations of TeX, i.e.,
MiKTeX and TeXLive. But it may not be present in other versions.

If you also use the -cd option, and $out_dir (or $aux_dir) contains a relative path, then the path
is interpreted relative to the document directory.

Commonly, the directory specified for output files is a subdirectory of the current working
directory. However, if you specify some other directory, e.g., "/tmp/foo" or "../output", be
aware that this could cause problems, e.g., with makeindex or bibtex. This is because modern
versions of these programs, by default, will refuse to work when they find that they are asked to
write to a file in a directory that appears not to be the current working directory or one of its
subdirectories. This is part of security measures by the whole TeX system that try to prevent
malicious or errant TeX documents from incorrectly messing with a user's files. If for $out_dir
or $aux_dir you really do need to specify an absolute pathname (e.g., "/tmp/foo") or a path (e.g.,
"../output") that includes a higher-level directory, and you need to use makeindex or bibtex, then
you need to disable the security measures (and assume any risks). One way of doing this is to
temporarily set an operating system environment variable openout_any to "a" (as in "all"), to
override the default "paranoid" setting.

$pdf_mode [0]
If zero, do NOT generate a pdf version of the document. If equal to 1, generate a pdf version of
the document using pdflatex, using the command specified by the $pdflatex variable. If equal to
2, generate a pdf version of the document from the ps file, by using the command specified by the
$ps2pdf variable. If equal to 3, generate a pdf version of the document from the dvi file, by
using the command specified by the $dvipdf variable. If equal to 4, generate a pdf version of the
document using lualatex, using the command specified by the $lualatex variable. If equal to 5,
generate a pdf version (and an xdv version) of the document using xelatex, using the commands
specified by the $xelatex and xdvipdfmx variables.

In $pdf_mode=2, it is ensured that .dvi and .ps files are also made. In $pdf_mode=3, it is
ensured that a .dvi file is also made. But this may be overridden by the document.

$pdflatex ["pdflatex %O %S"]
Specifies the command line for the LaTeX processing program in a version that makes a pdf file
instead of a dvi file.

An example use of this variable is to add certain options to the command line for the program,
e.g.,

$pdflatex = "pdflatex --shell-escape %O %S";

(In some earlier versions of latexmk, you needed to use an assignment to $pdflatex to allow the
use of lualatex or xelatex instead of pdflatex. There are now separate configuration variables
for the use of lualatex or xelatex. See $lualatex and $xelatex.)

To do a coordinated setting of all of $latex, $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex, see the section
"Advanced Configuration".

%pdflatex_input_extensions
This variable specifies the extensions tried by latexmk when it finds that a pdflatex run resulted
in an error that a file has not been found, and the file is given without an extension. This
typically happens when LaTeX commands of the form \input{file} or \includegraphics{figure}, when
the relevant source file does not exist.

See details of the %latex_input_extensions for other information that equally applies to
%pdflatex_input_extensions.

$pdflatex_silent_switch ["-interaction=batchmode"]
Switch(es) for the pdflatex program (specified in the variable $pdflatex) when silent mode is on.

See details of the $latex_silent_switch for other information that equally applies to
$pdflatex_silent_switch.

$pdf_previewer ["start acroread %O %S"]
The command to invoke a pdf-previewer.

On MS-Windows, the default is changed to "cmd /c start """; under more recent versions of Windows,
this will cause to be run whatever command the system has associated with .pdf files. But this
may be undesirable if this association is to acroread -- see the notes in the explanation of the
-pvc option.]

On OS-X the default is changed to "open %S", which results in OS-X starting up (and detaching) the
viewer associated with the file. By default, for pdf files this association is to OS-X's preview,
which is quite satisfactory.

WARNING: Problem under MS-Windows: if acroread is used as the pdf previewer, and it is actually
viewing a pdf file, the pdf file cannot be updated. Thus makes acroread a bad choice of previewer
if you use latexmk's previous-continuous mode (option -pvc) under MS-windows. This problem does
not occur if, for example, SumatraPDF or gsview is used to view pdf files.

$pdf_update_command [""]
When the pdf previewer is set to be updated by running a command, this is the command that is run.
See the information for the variable $pdf_update_method.

$pdf_update_method [1 under UNIX, 3 under MS-Windows]
How the pdf viewer updates its display when the pdf file has changed. See the information on the
variable $dvi_update_method for the codes. (Note that information needs be changed slightly so
that for the value 4, to run a command to do the update, the command is specified by the variable
$pdf_update_command, and for the value 2, to specify update by signal, the signal is specified by
$pdf_update_signal.)

Note that acroread under MS-Windows (but not UNIX) locks the pdf file, so the default value is
then 3.

Arranging to use a command to get a previewer explicitly updated requires three variables to be
set. For example:

$pdf_previewer = "start xpdf -remote %R %O %S";
$pdf_update_method = 4;
$pdf_update_command = "xpdf -remote %R -reload";

The first setting arranges for the xpdf program to be used in its "remote server mode", with the
server name specified as the rootname of the TeX file. The second setting arranges for updating
to be done in response to a command, and the third setting sets the update command.

$pdf_update_signal [Under UNIX: SIGHUP, which is a system-dependent value]
The number of the signal that is sent to the pdf viewer when it is updated by sending a signal --
see the information on the variable $pdf_update_method. The default value is the one appropriate
for gv on a UNIX system.

$pid_position[1 under UNIX, -1 under MS-Windows]
The variable $pid_position is used to specify which word in lines of the output from $pscmd
corresponds to the process ID. The first word in the line is numbered 0. The default value of 1
(2nd word in line) is correct for Solaris 2.6, Linux, and OS-X with their default settings of
$pscmd.

Setting the variable to -1 is used to indicate that $pscmd is not to be used.

$postscript_mode [0]
If nonzero, generate a postscript version of the document. Equivalent to the -ps option.

If some other request is made for which a postscript file is needed, then $postscript_mode will be
set to 1.

$pre_tex_code ['']

Sets TeX code to be executed before inputting the source file. This works if the relevant one of
$latex, etc contains a suitable command line with a %P or %U substitution. For example you could
do

$latex = 'latex %O %P';
$pre_tex_code = '\AtBeginDocument{An initial message\par}';

To set all of $latex, $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex you could use the subroutine
alt_tex_cmds:

&alt_tex_cmds;
$pre_tex_code = '\AtBeginDocument{An initial message\par}';

$preview_continuous_mode [0]
If nonzero, run a previewer to view the document, and continue running latexmk to keep .dvi up-to-
date. Equivalent to the -pvc option. Which previewer is run depends on the other settings, see
the command line options -view=, and the variable $view.

$preview_mode [0]
If nonzero, run a previewer to preview the document. Equivalent to the -pv option. Which
previewer is run depends on the other settings, see the command line options -view=, and the
variable $view.

$printout_mode [0]
If nonzero, print the document using the command specified in the $lpr variable. Equivalent to
the -p option. This is recommended not to be set from an RC file, otherwise you could waste lots
of paper.

$print_type = ["auto"]
Type of file to printout: possibilities are "auto", "dvi", "none", "pdf", or "ps". See the
option -print= for the meaning of the "auto" value.

$pscmd Command used to get all the processes currently run by the user. The -pvc option uses the command
specified by the variable $pscmd to determine if there is an already running previewer, and to
find the process ID (needed if latexmk needs to signal the previewer about file changes).

Each line of the output of this command is assumed to correspond to one process. See the
$pid_position variable for how the process number is determined.

The default for pscmd is "NONE" under MS-Windows and cygwin (i.e., the command is not used), "ps
-ww -u $ENV{USER}" under OS-X, and "ps -f -u $ENV{USER}" under other operating systems (including
Linux). In these specifications "$ENV{USER}" is substituted by the username.

$ps2pdf ["ps2pdf -dALLOWPSTRANSPARENCY %O %S %D"]
Command to convert .ps to .pdf file.

$ps_filter [empty]
The postscript file filter to be run on the newly produced postscript file before other
processing. Equivalent to specifying the -pF option.

$ps_previewer ["start gv %O %S", but start %O %S under MS-Windows]
The command to invoke a ps-previewer. (The default under MS-Windows will cause to be run whatever
command the system has associated with .ps files.)

Note that gv could be used with the -watch option updates its display whenever the postscript file
changes, whereas ghostview does not. However, different versions of gv have slightly different
ways of writing this option. You can configure this variable appropriately.

WARNING: Linux systems may have installed one (or more) versions of gv under different names,
e.g., ggv, kghostview, etc, but perhaps not one actually called gv.

$ps_previewer_landscape ["start gv -swap %O %S", but start %O %S under MS-Windows]
The command to invoke a ps-previewer in landscape mode.

$ps_update_command [""]
When the postscript previewer is set to be updated by running a command, this is the command that
is run. See the information for the variable $ps_update_method.

$ps_update_method [0 under UNIX, 1 under MS-Windows]
How the postscript viewer updates its display when the .ps file has changed. See the information
on the variable $dvi_update_method for the codes. (Note that information needs be changed
slightly so that for the value 4, to run a command to do the update, the command is specified by
the variable $ps_update_command, and for the value 2, to specify update by signal, the signal is
specified by $ps_update_signal.)

$ps_update_signal [Under UNIX: SIGHUP, which is a system-dependent value]
The number of the signal that is sent to the pdf viewer when it is updated by sending a signal --
see $ps_update_method. The default value is the one appropriate for gv on a UNIX system.

$pvc_timeout [0]
If this variable is nonzero, there will be a timeout in pvc mode after a period of inactivity.
Inactivity means a period when latexmk has detected no file changes and hence has not taken any
actions like compiling the document. The period of inactivity is in the variable
$pvc_timeout_mins.

$pvc_timeout_mins [30]
The period of inactivity, in minutes, after which pvc mode times out. This is used if
$pvc_timeout is nonzero.

$pvc_view_file_via_temporary [1]
The same as $always_view_file_via_temporary, except that it only applies in preview-continuous
mode (-pvc option).

$quote_filenames [1]
This specifies whether substitutions for placeholders in command specifications (as in $pdflatex)
are surrounded by double quotes. If this variable is 1 (or any other value Perl regards as true),
then quoting is done. Otherwise quoting is omitted.

The quoting method used by latexmk is tested to work correctly under UNIX systems (including Linux
and Mac OS-X) and under MS-Windows. It allows the use of filenames containing special characters,
notably spaces. (But note that many versions of *latex cannot correctly deal with TeX files whose
names contain spaces. Latexmk's quoting only ensures that such filenames are correctly treated by
the operating system in passing arguments to programs.)

$rc_report [1]
After initialization, whether to give a list of the RC files read.

$recorder [1]
Whether to use the -recorder option to (latex Use of this option results in a file of extension
.fls containing a list of the files that these programs have read and written. Latexmk will then
use this file to improve its detection of source files and generated files after a run of *latex.

It is generally recommended to use this option (or to configure the $recorder variable to be on.)
But it only works if *latex supports the -recorder option, which is true for most current
implementations

Note about the name of the .fls file: Most implementations of *latex produce an .fls file with the
same basename as the main document's LaTeX, e.g., for Document.tex, the .fls file is Document.fls.
However, some implementations instead produce files named for the program, i.e., latex.fls or
pdflatex.fls. In this second case, latexmk copies the latex.fls or pdflatex.fls to a file with
the basename of the main LaTeX document, e.g., Document.fls.

$search_path_separator [See below for default]
The character separating paths in the environment variables TEXINPUTS, BIBINPUTS, and BSTINPUTS.
This variable is mainly used by latexmk when the -outdir, -output-directory, -auxdir, and/or -aux-
directory options are used. In that case latexmk needs to communicate appropriately modified
search paths to bibtex, dvipdf, dvips, and *latex.

[Comment to technically savvy readers: *latex doesn't actually need the modified search path.
But, surprisingly, dvipdf and dvips do, because sometimes graphics files get generated in the
output or aux directories.]

The default under MSWin and Cygwin is ';' and under UNIX-like operating systems (including Linux
and OS-X) is ':'. Normally the defaults give correct behavior. But there can be difficulties if
your operating system is of one kind, but some of your software is running under an emulator for
the other kind of operating system; in that case you'll need to find out what is needed, and set
$search_path_separator explicitly. (The same goes, of course, for unusual operating systems that
are not in the MSWin, Linux, OS-X, Unix collection.)

$show_time [0]
Whether to show CPU time used.

$silence_logfile_warnings [0]
Whether after a run of *latex to summarize warnings in the log file about undefined citations and
references. Setting $silence_logfile_warnings=0 gives the summary of warnings (provided silent
mode isn't also set), and this is useful to locate undefined citations and references without
searching through the much more verbose log file or the screen output of *latex. But the summary
can also be excessively annoying. The default is not to give these warnings. The command line
options -silence_logfile_warning_list and -silence_logfile_warning_list- also set this variable.

Note that multiple occurrences for the same undefined object on the same page and same line will
be compressed to a single warning.

$silent [0]
Whether to run silently. Setting $silent to 1 has the same effect as the -quiet of -silent
options on the command line.

$sleep_time [2]
The time to sleep (in seconds) between checking for source file changes when running with the -pvc
option. This is subject to a minimum of one second delay, except that zero delay is also allowed.

A value of exactly 0 gives no delay, and typically results in 100% CPU usage, which may not be
desirable.

$texfile_search [""]
This is an obsolete variable, replaced by the @default_files variable.

For backward compatibility, if you choose to set $texfile_search, it is a string of space-
separated filenames, and then latexmk replaces @default_files with the filenames in
$texfile_search to which is added "*.tex".

$success_cmd [undefined]
See the documentation for $compiling_cmd.

$tmpdir [See below for default]
Directory to store temporary files that latexmk may generate while running.

The default under MSWindows (including cygwin), is to set $tmpdir to the value of the first of
whichever of the system environment variables TMPDIR or TEMP exists, otherwise to the current
directory. Under other operating systems (expected to be UNIX/Linux, including OS-X), the default
is the value of the system environment variable TMPDIR if it exists, otherwise "/tmp".

$use_make_for_missing_files [0]
Whether to use make to try and make files that are missing after a run of *latex, and for which a
custom dependency has not been found. This is generally useful only when latexmk is used as part
of a bigger project which is built by using the make program.

Note that once a missing file has been made, no further calls to make will be made on a subsequent
run of latexmk to update the file. Handling this problem is the job of a suitably defined
Makefile. See the section "USING latexmk WITH make" for how to do this. The intent of calling
make from latexmk is merely to detect dependencies.

$view ["default"]
Which kind of file is to be previewed if a previewer is used. The possible values are "default",
"dvi", "ps", "pdf". The value of "default" means that the "highest" of the kinds of file
generated is to be used (among .dvi, .ps and .pdf).

$warnings_as_errors [0]
Normally latexmk copies the behavior of latex in treating undefined references and citations and
multiply defined references as conditions that give a warning but not an error. The variable
$warnings_as_errors controls whether this behavior is modified.

When the variable is non-zero, latexmk at the end of its run will return a non-zero status code to
the operating system if any of the files processed gives a warning about problems with citations
or references (i.e., undefined citations or references or multiply defined references). This is
after latexmk has completed all the runs it needs to try and resolve references and citations.
Thus $warnings_as_errors being nonzero causes latexmk to treat such warnings as errors, but only
when they occur on the last run of *latex and only after processing is complete. A non-zero value
$warnings_as_errors can be set by the command-line option -Werror.

The default behavior is normally satisfactory in the usual edit-compile-edit cycle. But, for
example, latexmk can also be used as part of a build process for some bigger project, e.g., for
creating documentation in the build of a software application. Then it is often sensible to treat
citation and reference warnings as errors that require the overall build process to be aborted.
Of course, since multiple runs of *latex are generally needed to resolve references and citations,
what matters is not the warnings on the first run, but the warnings on the last run; latexmk takes
this into account appropriately.

In addition, when preview-continuous mode is used, a non-zero value for $warnings_as_errors
changes the use of the commands $failure_cmd, $warning_cmd, and $success_cmd after a compliation.
If there are citation or reference warnings, but no other errors, the behavior is as follows. If
$warning_cmd is set, it is used. If it is not set, then then if $warnings_as_errors is non-zero
and $failure_cmd is set, then $failure_cmd. Otherwise $success_cmd is used, if it is set. (The
foregoing explanation is rather complicated, because latexmk has to deal with the case that one or
more of the commands isn't set.)

$xdvipdfmx ["xdvipdfmx -E -o %D %O %S"]

The program to make a pdf file from an xdv file (used in conjunction with xelatex when
$pdf_mode=5).

$xdvipdfmx_silent_switch ["-q"]
Switch(es) for the xdvipdfmx program when silent mode is on.

$xelatex ["xelatex %O %S"]
Specifies the command line for the LaTeX processing program of when the xelatex program is called
for. See the documentation of the -xelatex option for some special properties of latexmk's use of
xelatex.

Note about xelatex: latexmk uses xelatex to make an .xdv rather than .pdf file, with the .pdf file
being created in a separate step. This is enforced by the use of the -no-pdf option. If %O is
part of the command for invoking xelatex, then latexmk will insert the -no-pdf option
automatically, otherwise you must provide the option yourself. See the documentation for the
-pdfxe option for why latexmk makes a .xdv file rather than a .pdf file when xelatex is used.

To do a coordinated setting of all of $latex, $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex, see the section
"Advanced Configuration".

%xelatex_input_extensions
This variable specifies the extensions tried by latexmk when it finds that an xelatex run resulted
in an error that a file has not been found, and the file is given without an extension. This
typically happens when LaTeX commands of the form \input{file} or \includegraphics{figure}, when
the relevant source file does not exist.

In this situation, latexmk searches for custom dependencies to make the missing file(s), but
restricts it to the extensions specified by the variable %xelatex_input_extensions. The default
extensions are 'tex', 'pdf', 'jpg, and 'png'.

See details of the %latex_input_extensions for other information that equally applies to
%xelatex_input_extensions.

$xelatex_silent_switch ["-interaction=batchmode"]
Switch(es) for the xelatex program (specified in the variable $xelatex) when silent mode is on.

See details of the $latex_silent_switch for other information that equally applies to
$xelatex_silent_switch.

CUSTOM DEPENDENCIES

In any RC file a set of custom dependencies can be set up to convert a file with one extension to a file
with another. An example use of this would be to allow latexmk to convert a .fig file to .eps to be
included in the .tex file.

Defining a custom dependency:
The old method of configuring latexmk to use a custom dependency was to directly manipulate the
@cus_dep_list array that contains information defining the custom dependencies. (See the section "Old
Method of Defining Custom Dependencies" for details.) This method still works, but is no longer
preferred.

A better method is to use the subroutines that allow convenient manipulations of the custom dependency
list. These are

add_cus_dep( fromextension, toextension, must, subroutine )
remove_cus_dep( fromextension, toextension )
show_cus_dep()

The arguments are as follows:

from extension:
The extension of the file we are converting from (e.g. "fig"). It is specified without a period.

to extension:
The extension of the file we are converting to (e.g. "eps"). It is specified without a period.

must: If non-zero, the file from which we are converting must exist, if it doesn't exist latexmk will
give an error message and exit unless the -f option is specified. If must is zero and the file we
are converting from doesn't exist, then no action is taken. Generally, the appropriate value of
must is zero.

function:
The name of the subroutine that latexmk should call to perform the file conversion. The first
argument to the subroutine is the base name of the file to be converted without any extension.
The subroutines are declared in the syntax of Perl. The function should return 0 if it was
successful and a nonzero number if it failed.

Naturally add_cus_dep adds a custom dependency with the specified from and to extensions. If a custom
dependency has been previously defined (e.g., in an rcfile that was read earlier), then it is replaced by
the new one.

The subroutine remove_cus_dep removes the specified custom dependency. The subroutine show_cus_dep causes
a list of the currently defined custom dependencies to be sent to the screen output.

How custom dependencies are used:
An instance of a custom dependency rule is created whenever latexmk detects that a run of *latex needs to
read a file, like a graphics file, whose extension is the to-extension of a custom dependency. Then
latexmk examines whether a file exists with the same name, but with the corresponding from-extension, as
specified in the custom-dependency. If it does, then a corresponding instance of the custom dependency
is created, after which the rule is invoked whenever the destination file (the one with the to-extension)
is out-of-date with respect to the corresponding source file.

To make the new destination file, the Perl subroutine specified in the rule is invoked, with an argument
that is the base name of the files in question. Simple cases just involve a subroutine invoking an
external program; this can be done by following the templates below, even by those without knowledge of
the Perl programming language. Of course, experts could do something much more elaborate.

One item in the specification of each custom-dependency rule, labeled "must" above, specifies how the
rule should be applied when the source file fails to exist.

When latex reports that an input file (e.g., a graphics file) does not exist, latexmk tries to find a
source file and a custom dependency that can be used to make it. If it succeeds, then it creates an
instance of the custom dependency and invokes it to make the missing file, after which the next pass of
latex etc will be able to read the newly created file.

Note for advanced usage: The operating system's environment variable TEXINPUTS can be used to specify a
search path for finding files by latex etc. Correspondingly, when a missing file is reported, latexmk
looks in the directories specified in TEXINPUTS as well as in the current directory, to find a source
file from which an instance of a custom dependency can be used to make the missing file.

Function to implement custom dependency, traditional method:
The function that implements a custom dependency gets the information on the files to be processed in two
ways. The first is through its one argument; the argument contains the base name of the source and
destination files. The second way is described later.

A simple and typical example of code in an initialization rcfile using the first method is:

add_cus_dep( 'fig', 'eps', 0, 'fig2eps' );
sub fig2eps {
system( "fig2dev -Leps \"$_[0].fig\" \"$_[0].eps\"" );
}

The first line adds a custom dependency that converts a file with extension "fig", as created by the xfig
program, to an encapsulated postscript file, with extension "eps". The remaining lines define a
subroutine that carries out the conversion. If a rule for converting "fig" to "eps" files already exists
(e.g., from a previously read-in initialization file), the latexmk will delete this rule before making
the new one.

Suppose latexmk is using this rule to convert a file "figure.fig" to "figure.eps". Then it will invoke
the fig2eps subroutine defined in the above code with a single argument "figure", which is the basename
of each of the files (possibly with a path component). This argument is referred to by Perl as $_[0].
In the example above, the subroutine uses the Perl command system to invoke the program fig2dev. The
double quotes around the string are a Perl idiom that signify that each string of the form of a variable
name, $_[0] in this case, is to be substituted by its value.

If the return value of the subroutine is non-zero, then latexmk will assume an error occurred during the
execution of the subroutine. In the above example, no explicit return value is given, and instead the
return value is the value returned by the last (and only) statement, i.e., the invocation of system,
which returns the value 0 on success.

If you use pdflatex, lualatex or xelatex instead of latex, then you will probably prefer to convert your
graphics files to pdf format, in which case you would replace the above code in an initialization file by

add_cus_dep( 'fig', 'pdf, 0, 'fig2pdf' );
sub fig2pdf {
system( "fig2dev -Lpdf \"$_[0].fig\" \"$_[0].pdf\"" );
}

Note 1: In the command lines given in the system commands in the above examples, double quotes have been
inserted around the file names (implemented by '\"' in the Perl language). They immunize the running of
the program against special characters in filenames. Very often these quotes are not necessary, i.e.,
they can be omitted. But it is normally safer to keep them in. Even though the rules for quoting vary
between operating systems, command shells and individual pieces of software, the quotes in the above
examples do not cause problems in the cases I have tested.

Note 2: One case in which the quotes are important is when the files are in a subdirectory and your
operating system is Microsoft Windows. Then the separator character for directory components can be
either a forward slash '/' or Microsoft's more usual backward slash '\'. Forward slashes are generated
by latexmk, to maintain its sanity from software like MiKTeX that mixes both directory separators; but
their correct use normally requires quoted filenames. (See a log file from a run of MiKTeX (at least in
v. 2.9) for an example of the use of both directory separators.)

Note 3: The subroutines implementing custom dependencies in the examples given just have a single line
invoking an external program. That's the usual situation. But since the subroutines are in the Perl
language, you can implement much more complicated processing if you need it.

Removing custom dependencies, and when you might need to do this:
If you have some general custom dependencies defined in the system or user initialization file, you may
find that for a particular project they are undesirable. So you might want to delete the unneeded ones.
A situation where this would be desirable is where there are multiple custom dependencies with the same
from-extension or the same to-extension. In that case, latexmk might choose a different one from the one
you want for a specific project. As an example, to remove any "fig" to "eps" rule you would use:

remove_cus_dep( 'fig', 'eps' );

If you have complicated sets of custom dependencies, you may want to get a listing of the custom
dependencies. This is done by using the line

show_cus_dep();

in an initialization file.

Function implementing custom dependency, alternative methods:
So far the examples for functions to implement custom dependencies have used the argument of the function
to specify the base name of converted file. This method has been available since very old versions of
latexmk, and many examples can be found, e.g., on the web.

However in later versions of latexmk the internal structure of the implementation of its "rules" for the
steps of processing, including custom dependencies, became much more powerful. The function implementing
a custom dependency is executed within a special context where a number of extra variables and
subroutines are defined. Publicly documented ones, intended to be long-term stable, are listed below,
under the heading "Variables and subroutines for processing a rule".

Examples of their use is given in the following examples, concerning multiple index files and glossaries.

The only index-file conversion built-in to latexmk is from an ".idx" file written on one run of *latex to
an ".ind" file to be read in on a subsequent run. But with the index.sty package, for example, you can
create extra indexes with extensions that you configure. Latexmk does not know how to deduce the
extensions from the information it has. But you can easily write a custom dependency. For example if
your latex file uses the command "\newindex{special}{ndx}{nnd}{Special index}" you will need to get
latexmk to convert files with the extension .ndx to .nnd. The most elementary method is to define a
custom dependency as follows:

add_cus_dep( 'ndx', 'nnd', 0, 'ndx2nnd' );
sub ndx2nnd {
return system( "makeindex -o \"$_[0].nnd\" \"$_[0].ndx\"" );
}
push @generated_exts, 'ndx', 'nnd';

Notice the added line compared with earlier examples. The extra line gets the extensions "ndx" and "nnd"
added to the list of extensions for generated files; then the extra index files will be deleted by clean-
up operations

But if you have yet more indexes with yet different extensions, e.g., "adx" and "and", then you will need
a separate function for each pair of extensions. This is quite annoying. You can use the Run_subst
function to simplify the definitions to use a single function:

add_cus_dep( 'ndx', 'nnd', 0, 'dx2nd' );
add_cus_dep( 'adx', 'and', 0, 'dx2nd' );
sub dx2nd {
return Run_subst( "makeindex -o %D %S" );
}
push @generated_exts, 'ndx', 'nnd', 'adx', 'and';

You could also instead use

add_cus_dep( 'ndx', 'nnd', 0, 'dx2nd' );
add_cus_dep( 'adx', 'and', 0, 'dx2nd' );
sub dx2nd {
return Run_subst( $makeindex );
}
push @generated_exts, 'ndx', 'nnd', 'adx', 'and';

This last example uses the command specification in $makeindex, and so any customization you have made
for the standard index also applies to your extra indexes.

Similar techniques can be applied for glossaries.

Those of you with experience with Makefiles, may get concerned that the .ndx file is written during a run
of *latex and is always later than the .nnd last read in. Thus the .nnd appears to be perpetually out-
of-date. This situation, of circular dependencies, is endemic to latex, and is one of the issues that
latexmk is programmed to overcome. It examines the contents of the files (by use of a checksum), and
only does a remake when the file contents have actually changed.

Of course if you choose to write random data to the .nnd (or the .aux file, etc) that changes on each new
run, then you will have a problem. For real experts: See the %hash_calc_ignore_pattern if you have to
deal with such problems.

Old Method of Defining Custom Dependencies:
In much older versions of latexmk, the only method of defining custom dependencies was to directly
manipulate the table of custom dependencies. This is contained in the @cus_dep_list array. It is an
array of strings, and each string in the array has four items in it, each separated by a space, the from-
extension, the to-extension, the "must" item, and the name of the subroutine for the custom dependency.
These were all defined above.

An example of the old method of defining custom dependencies is as follows. It is the code in an RC file
to ensure automatic conversion of .fig files to .eps files:

push @cus_dep_list, "fig eps 0 fig2eps";
sub fig2eps {
return system( "fig2dev -Lps \"$_[0].fig\" \"$_[0].eps\"" );
}

This method still works, and is almost equivalent to the code given earlier that used the add_cus_dep
subroutine. However, the old method doesn't delete any previous custom-dependency for the same
conversion. So the new method is preferable.

ADVANCED CONFIGURATION: Some extra resources and advanced tricks

For most purposes, simple configuration for latexmk along the lines of the examples given is sufficient.
But sometimes you need something harder. In this section, I indicate some extra possibilities.
Generally to use these, you need to be fluent in the Perl language, since this is what is used in the rc
files.

See also the section DEALING WITH ERRORS, PROBLEMS, ETC. See also the examples in the directory
example_rcfiles in the latexmk distributions. Even if none of the examples apply to your case, they may
give you useful ideas

Utility subroutines
ensure_path( var, values ...)

The first parameter is the name of one of the system's environment variables for search paths.
The remaining parameters are values that should be in the variable. For each of the value
parameters, if it isn't already in the variable, then it is prepended to the variable; in that
case the environment variable is created if it doesn't already exist. For separating values, the
character appropriate the the operating system is used -- see the configuration variable
$search_path_separator.

Example:

ensure_path( 'TEXINPUTS', './custom_cls_sty_files//' );

(In this example, the trailing '//' is documented by TeX systems to mean that *latex search for
files in the specified directory and in all subdirectories.)

Technically ensure_path works by setting Perl's variable $ENV{var}, where var is the name of the
target variable. The changed value is then passed as an environment variable to any invoked
programs.

Variables and subroutines for processing a rule
A step in the processing is called a rule. One possibility to implement the processing of a rule is by a
Perl subroutine. This is always the case for custom dependencies. Also, for any other rule, you can use
a subroutine by prefixing the command specification by the word "internal" -- see the section FORMAT OF
COMMAND SPECIFICATIONS.

When you use a subroutine for processing a rule, all the possibilities of Perl programming are available,
of course. In addition, some of latexmk's internal variables and subroutines are available. The ones
listed below are intended to be available to (advanced) users, and their specifications will generally
have stability under upgrades. Generally, the variables should be treated as read-only: Changing their
values can have bad consequences, since it is liable to mess up the consistency of what latexmk is doing.

$rule This variable has the name of the rule, as known to latexmk. Note that the exact contents of this
variable for a given rule may be dependent on the version of latexmk

$$Psource
This gives the name of the primary source file. Note the double dollar signs.

$$Pdest
This gives the name of the main output file if any. Note the double dollar signs.

rdb_ensure_file( $rule, file )
This a subroutine that ensures that the given file is among the source files for the specified
rule. It is typically used when, during the processing of a rule, it is known that a particular
extra file is among the dependencies that latexmk should know, but its default methods don't find
the dependency. Almost always the first argument is the name of the rule currently being
processed, so it is then appropriate to specify it by $rule.

For examples of its use, see some of the files in the directory example_rcfiles of latexmk's
distribution. Currently the cases that use this subroutine are bib2gls-latexmkrc,
exceltex_latexmkrc and texinfo-latexmkrc. These illustrate typical cases where latexmk's normal
processing fails to detect certain extra source files.

rdb_remove_files( $rule, file, ... )
This subroutine removes one or more files from the dependency list for the given rule.

rdb_list_source( $rule )
This subroutine returns the list of source files (i.e., the dependency list) for the given rule.

rdb_set_source( $rule, file, ... )

rdb_set_source( $rule, @files )
This subroutine sets the dependency list for the given rule to be the specified files. Files that
are already in the list have unchanged information. Files that were not in the list are added to
it. Files in the previous dependency list that are not in the newly specified list of files are
removed from the dependency list.

Run_subst( command_spec )
This subroutine runs the command specified by command_spec. The specification is a string in the
format listed in the section "Format of Command Specifications". An important action of the
Run_subst is to make substitutions of placeholders, e.g., %S and %D for source and destination
files; these get substituted before the command is run. In addition, the command after
substitution is printed to the screen unless latexmk is running in silent mode.

Coordinated Setting of Commands for *latex
To set all of $latex, $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex to a common pattern, you can use one of the
following subroutines, std_tex_cmds, alt_tex_cmds, and set_tex_cmds.

They work as follows

&std_tex_cmds;

This results in $latex = 'latex %O %S', and similarly for $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex. Note the
ampersand in the invocation; this indicates to Perl that a subroutine is being called.

&alt_tex_cmds;

This results in $latex = 'latex %O %P', and similarly for $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex. Note the
ampersand in the invocation; this indicates to Perl that a subroutine is being called.

set_tex_cmds( CMD_SPEC );

Here CMD_SPEC is the command line without the program name. This results in $latex = 'CMD_SPEC', and
similarly for $pdflatex, $lualatex, and $xelatex. An example would be

set_tex_cmds( '--interaction=batchmode %O %S' );

Advanced configuration: Using latexmk with make
This section is targeted only at advanced users who use the make program for complex projects, as for
software development, with the dependencies specified by a Makefile.

Now the basic task of latexmk is to run the appropriate programs to make a viewable version of a LaTeX
document. However, the usual make program is not suited to this purpose for at least two reasons. First
is that the use of LaTeX involves circular dependencies (e.g., via .aux files), and these cannot be
handled by the standard make program. Second is that in a large document the set of source files can
change quite frequently, particularly with included graphics files; in this situation keeping a Makefile
manually updated is inappropriate and error-prone, especially when the dependencies can be determined
automatically. Latexmk solves both of these problems robustly.

Thus for many standard LaTeX documents latexmk can be used by itself without the make program. In a
complex project it simply needs to be suitably configured. A standard configuration would be to define
custom dependencies to make graphics files from their source files (e.g., as created by the xfig
program). Custom dependencies are latexmk's equivalent of pattern rules in Makefiles.

Nevertheless there are projects for which a Makefile is appropriate, and it is useful to know how to use
latexmk from a Makefile. A typical example would be to generate documentation for a software project.
Potentially the interaction with the rest of the rules in the Makefile could be quite complicated, for
example if some of the source files for a LaTeX document are generated by the project's software.

In this section, I give a couple of examples of how latexmk can be usefully invoked from a Makefile. The
examples use specific features of current versions of GNU make, which is the default on both linux and
OS-X systems. They may need modifications for other versions of make.

The simplest method is simply to delegate all the relevant tasks to latexmk, as is suitable for a
straightforward LaTeX document. For this a suitable Makefile is like

.PHONY : FORCE_MAKE
all : try.pdf
%.pdf : %.tex FORCE_MAKE
latexmk -pdf -dvi- -ps- $<

(Note: the last line must be introduced by a tab for the Makefile to function correctly!) Naturally, if
making try.pdf from its associated LaTeX file try.tex were the only task to be performed, a direct use of
latexmk without a Makefile would normally be better. The benefit of using a Makefile for a LaTeX
document would be in a larger project, where lines such as the above would be only be a small part of a
larger Makefile.

The above example has a pattern rule for making a .pdf file from a .tex file, and it is defined to use
latexmk in the obvious way. There is a conventional default target named "all", with a prerequisite of
try.pdf. So when make is invoked, by default it makes try.pdf. The only complication is that there may
be many source files beyond try.tex, but these aren't specified in the Makefile, so changes in them will
not by themselves cause latexmk to be invoked. Instead, the pattern rule is equipped with a "phony"
prerequisite FORCE_MAKE; this has the effect of causing the rule to be always out-of-date, so that
latexmk is always run. It is latexmk that decides whether any action is needed, e.g., a rerun of
pdflatex. Effectively the Makefile delegates all decisions to latexmk, while make has no knowledge of
the list of source files except for primary LaTeX file for the document. If there are, for example,
graphics files to be made, these must be made by custom dependencies configured in latexmk.

But something better is needed in more complicated situations, for example, when the making of graphics
files needs to be specified by rules in the Makefile. To do this, one can use a Makefile like the
following:

TARGETS = document1.pdf document2.pdf
DEPS_DIR = .deps
LATEXMK = latexmk -recorder -use-make -deps \
-e 'warn qq(In Makefile, turn off custom dependencies\n);' \
-e '@cus_dep_list = ();' \
-e 'show_cus_dep();'
all : $(TARGETS)
$(foreach file,$(TARGETS),$(eval -include $(DEPS_DIR)/$(file)P))
$(DEPS_DIR) :
mkdir $@
%.pdf : %.tex
if [ ! -e $(DEPS_DIR) ]; then mkdir $(DEPS_DIR); fi
$(LATEXMK) -pdf -dvi- -ps- -deps-out=$(DEPS_DIR)/$@P $<
%.pdf : %.fig
fig2dev -Lpdf $< $@

(Again, the lines containing the commands for the rules should be started with tabs.) This example was
inspired by how GNU automake handles automatic dependency tracking of C source files.

After each run of latexmk, dependency information is put in a file in the .deps subdirectory. The
Makefile causes these dependency files to be read by make, which now has the full dependency information
for each target .pdf file. To make things less trivial it is specificed that two files document1.pdf and
document2.pdf are the targets. The dependency files are .deps/document1.pdfP and .deps/document2.pdfP.

There is now no need for the phony prerequisite for the rule to make .pdf files from .tex files. But I
have added a rule to make .pdf files from .fig files produced by the xfig program; these are commonly
used for graphics insertions in LaTeX documents. Latexmk is arranged to output a dependency file after
each run. It is given the -recorder option, which improves its detection of files generated during a run
of pdflatex; such files should not be in the dependency list. The -e options are used to turn off all
custom dependencies, and to document this. Instead the -use-make is used to delegate the making of
missing files to make itself.

Suppose in the LaTeX file there is a command \includegraphics{graph}, and an xfig file "graph.fig"
exists. On a first run, pdflatex reports a missing file, named "graph". Latexmk succeeds in making
"graph.pdf" by calling "make graph.pdf", and after completion of its work, it lists "fig.pdf" among the
dependents of the file latexmk is making. Then let "fig.fig" be updated, and then let make be run. Make
first remakes "fig.pdf", and only then reruns latexmk.

Thus we now have a method by which all the subsidiary processing is delegated to make.

BUGS

       Sometimes  a  viewer  (gv)  tries  to  read an updated .ps or .pdf file after its creation is started but
       before the file is complete.  Work around: manually refresh (or reopen) display.  Or use one of the other
       previewers and update methods.

       (The  following  isn't  really a bug, but concerns features of previewers.)  Preview continuous mode only
       works perfectly with certain previewers: Xdvi on UNIX/Linux works for dvi files.  Gv on UNIX/Linux  works
       for both postscript and pdf.  Ghostview on UNIX/Linux needs a manual update (reopen); it views postscript
       and pdf.  Gsview under MS-Windows works for both postscript and pdf, but only reads the updated file when
       its  screen  is  refreshed.   Acroread  under  UNIX/Linux  views pdf, but the file needs to be closed and
       reopened to view an updated version.  Under MS-Windows, acroread locks its input file and so the pdf file
       cannot be updated.  (Remedy: configure latexmk to use sumatrapdf instead.)

THANKS TO

       Authors  of  previous  versions.   Many  users with their feedback, and especially David Coppit (username
       david at node coppit.org) who made many useful suggestions that contributed to  version  3,  and  Herbert
       Schulz.   (Please  note  that  the e-mail addresses are not written in their standard form to avoid being
       harvested too easily.)

AUTHOR

       Current version, by John Collins (Version 4.76).  Report bugs etc to his e-mail (jcc8 at psu.edu).

       Released version can be obtained from CTAN: <http://www.ctan.org/pkg/latexmk/>,  and  from  the  author's
       website <http://www.personal.psu.edu/jcc8/latexmk/>.
       Modifications and enhancements by Evan McLean (Version 2.0)
       Original script called "go" by David J. Musliner (RCS Version 3.2)

                                                20 November 2021                                      LATEXMK(1)

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

LATEXMK OPTIONS AND ARGUMENTS ON COMMAND LINE

EXAMPLES

DEALING WITH ERRORS, PROBLEMS, ETC

ALLOWING FOR CHANGE OF OUTPUT FILE TYPE

CONFIGURATION/INITIALIZATION (RC) FILES

HOW TO SET VARIABLES IN INITIALIZATION FILES

FORMAT OF COMMAND SPECIFICATIONS

LIST OF CONFIGURATION VARIABLES USABLE IN INITIALIZATION FILES

CUSTOM DEPENDENCIES

ADVANCED CONFIGURATION: Some extra resources and advanced tricks

SEE ALSO

BUGS

THANKS TO

AUTHOR