Re: suggestion to change default org-latex-pdf-process to latexmk

[Tim Cross]

"Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide" <arne_bab@web.de> writes:

> [[PGP Signed Part:Undecided]]
>
> Scott Randby <srandby@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> On 6/2/21 8:07 AM, Bruce D'Arcus wrote:
>>> On Wed, Jun 2, 2021 at 4:28 AM Tim Cross <theophilusx@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> The more I think about it, I think the best solution would be to update
>>>> the code which sets the default and have it check for latexmk. If it is
>>>> found, set it as the default and if it is not found, set the existing
>>>> default. This would have minimum impact on users and allow those who
>>>> have installed latexmk to get the benefits while not forcing those who
>>>> don't need it to install it.
>>> If this were possible, I agree it would be the best approach.
>>
>> Perhaps this is a stupid question, but what about the case in which TeX is
>> installed after Emacs is installed? I do this sometimes.
>
> Is there a reason not to have the default check for availability when
> run? It should be fast and would progressively improve (one step) when
> the user installs latexmk.
>

Yes, because some people want to set specific programs. If you have code
which checks for things at the point of being called, this becomes more
complicated than necessary. If on the other hand you just check when
first initialising, users who want to can override with a simple setq.
It is also more efficient as the check is only done once at load time
rather than every time you export to pdf.

It should also be noted that the custom framework has good support for
doing it this way. You can even add code which will check values entered
by the user to verify they exist (for example and assuming they use
custom to set a new value and not just a setq in their init file). 

-- 
Tim Cross