latex-action

GitHub Action to compile LaTeX documents.

It runs in a docker image with a full TeXLive environment installed.

If you want to run arbitrary commands in a TeXLive environment, use texlive-action instead.

Inputs

• root_file

  The root LaTeX file to be compiled. This input is required. You can also pass multiple files as a multi-line string to compile multiple documents. For example:

  - uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v2
    with:
      root_file: |
        file1.tex
        file2.tex

• working_directory

  The working directory for the LaTeX engine.

• compiler

  The LaTeX engine to be invoked. By default, latexmk is used, which 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 LaTeX engine. By default, it is -pdf -file-line-error -halt-on-error -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 apk separated by space. For example, extra_system_packages: "py-pygments" will install the package py-pygments to be used by the minted for code highlights.

• pre_compile

  Arbitrary bash codes to be executed before compiling LaTeX documents. For example, pre_compile: "tlmgr update --all" to update all TeXLive packages.

• post_compile

  Arbitrary bash codes to be executed after compiling LaTeX documents. For example, post_compile: "latexmk -c" to clean up temporary files.

The following inputs are only valid if the input compiler is not changed.

• latexmk_shell_escape

  Instruct latexmk to enable --shell-escape.

• latexmk_use_lualatex

  Instruct latexmk to use LuaLaTeX.

• latexmk_use_xelatex

  Instruct latexmk to use XeLaTeX.

Example

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: xu-cheng/latex-action@v2
        with:
          root_file: main.tex

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 latexmk_use_xelatex or latexmk_use_lualatex input respectively. For example:

- uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v2
  with:
    root_file: main.tex
    latexmk_use_xelatex: true

- uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v2
  with:
    root_file: main.tex
    latexmk_use_lualatex: true

Alternatively, you could create a .latexmkrc file. Refer to the latexmk document for more information.

How to enable --shell-escape?

To enable --shell-escape, set the latexmk_shell_escape input.

- uses: xu-cheng/latex-action@v2
  with:
    root_file: main.tex
    latexmk_shell_escape: true

Where is the PDF file? How to upload it?

The PDF file will be in the same folder as that of the LaTeX source in the CI environment. It is up to you on whether to upload it to some places. Here are some example.

• You can use @actions/upload-artifact to upload PDF file to the workflow tab. For example you can add

  - uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
    with:
      name: PDF
      path: main.pdf

• You can use @actions/upload-release-asset to upload PDF file to the Github Release.

• You can use normal shell tools such as scp/git/rsync to upload PDF file anywhere. For example, you can git push to the gh-pages branch in your repo, so you can view the document using Github Pages.

It fails due to xindy cannot be found.

This is an upstream issue where xindy.x86_64-linuxmusl is currently missing in TeXLive. To work around it, try this.

It fails to build the document, how to solve it?

• Try to solve the problem by examining the build log.
• Try to build the document locally.
• You can also try to narrow the problem by creating a minimal working example to reproduce the problem.
• Open an issue if you need help. Please include a minimal working example to demonstrate your problem.

License

MIT