latex-action

GitHub Action to compile LaTeX documents.

This actions runs on docker using a maximal TeXLive environment installed.

Inputs

• root_file

  The root LaTeX file to be compiled. This input is required.

• working_directory

  The working directory for the latex compiler to be invoked.

• compiler

  The LaTeX engine to be used. By default latexmk is used. latexmk automates the process of generating LaTeX documents by issuing the appropriate sequence of commands to be run.

• args

  The extra arguments to be passed to the compiler. By default, it is -pdf -latexoption=-file-line-error -latexoption=-interaction=nonstopmode. This tells latexmk to use pdflatex. Refer to latexmk document for more information.

• extra_system_packages

  The extra packages to be installed by apt-get separated by space.

Examples

Build main.tex using latexmk

Note that by default latexmk is used. latexmk automates the process of generating LaTeX documents by issuing the appropriate sequence of commands to be run.

name: Build LaTeX document
on: [push]
jobs:
  build_latex:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Git repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: Compile LaTeX document
        uses: dante-ev/latex-action@latest
        with:
          root_file: main.tex

Build example-class-relations--svg.tex using lualatex

This is required if one does not trust latexmk and wants to build "by hand"

name: Build LaTeX document
on: [push]
jobs:
  build_latex:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Git repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: example-class-relations--svg
        uses: dante-ev/latex-action@latest
        with:
          root_file: example-class-relations--svg.tex
          compiler: lualatex
          args: -interaction=nonstopmode -shell-escape

"Real" document

In a "real" document, one would have to encode all steps one after another:

name: Build LaTeX document
on: [push]
jobs:
  build_latex:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Git repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: pdflatex main
        uses: dante-ev/latex-action@latest
        with:
          root_file: main.tex
          compiler: pdflatex
          args: -interaction=nonstopmode -shell-escape
      - name: bibtex main
        uses: dante-ev/latex-action@latest
        with:
          root_file: main.aux
          compiler: bibtex
          args: 
      - name: pdflatex main
        uses: dante-ev/latex-action@latest
        with:
          root_file: main.tex
          compiler: pdflatex
          args: -interaction=nonstopmode -shell-escape

Custom build script

When using a custom shell script for building, one can pass this as follows:

name: Build LaTeX document
on: [push]
jobs:
  build_latex:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Set up Git repository
        uses: actions/checkout@v2
      - name: release.sh
        uses: dante-ev/latex-action@latest
        with:
          entrypoint: ./release.sh

Real life example: https://github.com/koppor/plantuml/blob/main/.github/workflows/build-and-publish.yml

FAQs

How to use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX instead of pdfLaTeX?

By default, this action uses pdfLaTeX. If you want to use XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX, you can set the args to -xelatex -latexoption=-file-line-error -latexoption=-interaction=nonstopmode or -lualatex -latexoption=-file-line-error -latexoption=-interaction=nonstopmode respectively. Alternatively, you could create a .latexmkrc file. Refer to the latexmk document for more information. Please mind that it is not recommend to change the compiler parameter, as the by default used latexmk has the advantage of determinating the (re)compilation steps automatically and executes them.

How to enable --shell-escape?

To enable --shell-escape, you should add it to args. For example, set args to -pdf -latexoption=-file-line-error -latexoption=-interaction=nonstopmode -latexoption=-shell-escape when using pdfLaTeX.

Where does the initial code come from?

The initial code is from xu-cheng/latex-action. The idea there is to initially provide all packages instead of using texliveonfly. Using a full installation, this action also offers to use packages such as pax, which require other tooling such as perl. More reasoning is given in ADR-0002.

How can I speedup the build?

You can try to use caching, though be careful as sometimes a LaTeX document needs to be rebuilt completly in order to have a proper result.

Here is an example that rebuilds uses the cache at most once a day. The files to cache are taken from the well-known GitHub .gitignore templates:

      # https://github.com/actions/cache#creating-a-cache-key
      # http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man1/date.1.html
      - name: Get Date
        id: get-date
        run: |
          echo "::set-output name=date::$(/bin/date -u "+%Y%m%d")"
        shell: bash

      - name: Cache
        uses: actions/cache@v2.1.3
        with:
          # A list of files, directories, and wildcard patterns to cache and restore
          path: |
            *.aux
            *.lof
            *.lot
            *.fls
            *.out
            *.toc
            *.fmt
            *.fot
            *.cb
            *.cb2
            .*.lb
            *.bbl
            *.bcf
            *.blg
            *-blx.aux
            *-blx.bib
            *.run.xml
          key: ${{ runner.os }}-${{ steps.get-date.outputs.date }}

Where to find my PDF?

Please use an appropriate GitHub action. One option is upload-artifact, which collects the build artifacts and stores them into a GitHub space. Another option is to use rsync via action-rsyncer.

Available versions

• @latest points to the latest release of DANTE e.V.'s docker-texlive
• @edge is the latest development version of DANTE e.V.'s docker-texlive

License

MIT