Real-Time-LaTeX

Easily set up a vanilla TeX Live environment and run a python script to compile LaTeX source code in real-time. Supports Ubuntu and Windows 10 with the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

Installation

Windows 10 Only

1. Install the Windows Subsystem for Linux: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/commandline/wsl/install_guide
2. Open a command prompt window and run bash.

Windows 10 and Ubuntu

1. Download the code from GitHub: Within Bash, run cd ~ && git clone https://github.com/stevenengler/Real-Time-LaTeX.git. You can clone it somewhere else of course, but the home directory makes it easy to access later.
2. Run the installation script: Within Bash, run cd Real-Time-LaTeX && ./installer.sh.
3. Follow the instructions to install TeX Live, python3-watchdog, and latexmk.

How to Use

Setting the configuration file

The compiler script works with LaTeX "projects". A project is just a directory containing all of your LaTeX source code, as well as a latex_project.config file. The latex_project.config file should contain a single line with the path to the tex file which should be compiled. For example, if you have the LaTeX document directory structure like the following:

my_report
├── src
│   ├── chapter1.tex
│   ├── chapter2.tex
│   └── report.tex
├── compiled
│   ├── report.pdf
│   └── report.log

Just create a my_report/latex_project.config file containing the line src/report.tex.

Running the compiler script

Open a command prompt window with Bash in your project directory (the my_report directory in the example above). Run the command python3 ~/Real-Time-LaTeX/compile.py. Now anytime you make a change to a *.tex file in your project folder, the tex file linked to from your latex_project.config file will be compiled into the compiled directory.

Examples

You can use any text editor and any PDF viewer, as long as the PDF viewer can automatically refresh the PDF when there is a new version available. Notepad++ and SumatraPDF work very well together, both supporting SyncTeX and quick updates to the viewer.

Notepad++ and SumatraPDF:

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