I have written a small (and buggy) python module to drive latex. This can be used in larger programs (eg taylortype https://launchpad.net/taylortype)
All it does is execute the latex command, read the output and return a nicely formatted error message if something goes wrong.
Here is the code:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3746044/python-latex.py
http://www.pasteall.org/11691/python
#!/usr/bin/env python
##Copyright (C) 2010 Louis Taylor
## _ ___ _____
##| | | _ \_ _|
##| |__| _/ | |
##|____|_| |_| *programus optimus est*
##
##This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
##it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
##the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
##(at your option) any later version.
##
##This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
##but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
##MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
##GNU General Public License for more details.
##
##You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
##along with this program. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt
import os, subprocess, time
def compile(latexfile, pdfdir='/tmp', rmlog=False, movepdf=False, usebibtex=True):
'''compiles latex document, saves it to the directory
specified in *pdfdir* and returns any error messages it can find'''
path = os.path.split(latexfile)
texfile = path[1]
directory = path[0]
rawname = os.path.splitext(texfile)[0]
logfile = os.path.splitext(texfile)[0]+'.log'
logpath = os.path.join(pdfdir, logfile)
pdffile = os.path.splitext(texfile)[0]+'.pdf'
pdfpath = os.path.join(pdfdir, pdffile)
os.chdir(directory) #change cwd to the dir to place all latex files
#os.system('bibtex %s' % rawname) #this will be replaced by the new function
bibtex_error = False
if usebibtex == True:
print 'using bibtex'
bib_err = bibtex(rawname, pdfdir)
if bib_err != '':
#get an error message
bibtex_error = ['error', 'BibTeX error', '', bib_err]
else:
pass
else:
print 'not using bibtex'
cmd = ['pdflatex', '--halt-on-error', '-output-directory', pdfdir, texfile]
latex = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=False,
stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
message = latex.communicate()[0] #get the stdout, latex.communicate()[1] gives stderr
#set the data to be returned on success
returned = ['success', pdfpath]
if '\n!' in message:
name = False
ln = False
error_msg = ''
error_ln = ''
quote = ''
for line in message.split('\n'):
if line == '':
pass #pass if the line is blank
elif line[0] == '!' and not name:
#find error message line
name = True
error_msg = line.replace('!', '').strip()
#remove all whitespace around string
elif line[0] == 'l' and name and not ln:
#find line number and quote.
#only come to this line if:
#the-- first character is an 'l', there has just been an error
#line and there has not been a line number before.
ln = True
string = line.split(' ')
error_ln = string[0].replace('l.', '')
quote = line.replace(string[0], '')
else:
pass
#repeat the BibTeX command, as requested by Peter Flynn
if usebibtex == True:
print 'using bibtex'
bib_err = bibtex(rawname, pdfdir)
if bib_err != '':
#get an error message
bibtex_error = ['error', 'BibTeX error', '', bib_err]
else:
pass
else:
print 'not using bibtex'
#set the data to be returned on error
try:
returned = ['error', error_msg, error_ln, quote, pdffile]
except UnboundLocalError:
returned = ['success', pdfpath]
if rmlog:
try:
os.remove(logpath)
except OSError:
pass
if movepdf != False:
#bit of a quick hack, use cp to do the work:
#use python to do this?
os.system('cp "%s" "%s"' % (pdfpath, movepdf))
if returned == ['success', pdfpath] and bibtex_error == False:
'''return normal traceback if everything whent ok'''
return returned
if returned != ['success', pdfpath] and bibtex_error == False:
'''return latex error message'''
return returned
if returned == ['success', pdfpath] and bibtex_error != False:
'''return bibtex error'''
return bibtex_error
if returned != ['success', pdfpath] and bibtex_error != False:
'''let the latex error have preference over bibtex error'''
return returned
def bibtex(rawtexname, directory):
#os.chdir(directory)
cmd = ['bibtex', rawtexname]
bibtex = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=False,
stdin=subprocess.PIPE,
stdout=subprocess.PIPE,
stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
message = bibtex.communicate()[0] #get the stdout, bibtex.communicate()[1] gives stderr
print message
error = ''
for line in message.split('\n'):
if error != '':
#if we already have the first bibtex error message
break
else:
#if we do not have an error message yet
words = line.split()
if line == '':
break
elif line[0] == 'I':
#if line is one of the variations on "I couldn't..."
if words[1] == 'found':
error = line.replace('I', '').replace('---', ' ').strip()
elif words[1] == "couldn't":
error = line.replace('I', '').strip()
elif 'Warning--' in line:
error = line.replace('Warning--I ', '')
return error
if __name__ == '__main__':
#small self test
error = compile('/home/louis/Desktop/tex/text.tex', '/home/louis/Desktop/tex', True, movepdf=False, usebibtex=True)
print error
.
