LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Artyom V. Poptsov]

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Hello Guixers,

I'm writing a book[1] in LaTeX and I want to make a reproducible build
of it and package the book for GNU Guix.  The book builds with a simple
hand-written Makefile for now.

There are lots of examples of LaTeX package definitions in Guix for
sure, but unfortunately I found no examples of packaged books written in
LaTeX.

I'm sure that there are avid LaTeX users in the community, seeing how
many LaTeX packages are getting into the upstream.  I'd appreciate if
someone give me a link to a working "package" definition for a LaTeX
book or any hint how to proceed further with my task.

For now I've written "guix.scm"[2] that allows me to build the book in
the pure Guix shell:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
guix shell --pure -D -f guix.scm
make -j$(nproc)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

But unfortunately when I try

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
guix build -f guix.scm
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Then I'm getting errors that "Liberation Serif" font is not found:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(/gnu/store/h7iqqr3aajqhjkib2k2g0zipag2ya41s-texlivetexmf-20230313/share/texmf-
dist/tex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.cfg)))

! Package fontspec Error: The font "Liberation Serif" cannot be found.

For immediate help type H <return>.
 ...                                              
                                                  
l.8 \setmonofont
                {Liberation Mono}
?
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Moreover I see that the build tries to update the font cache but fails
to do that because the part of the file system it tries to write to is
read-only:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(/gnu/store/h7iqqr3aajqhjkib2k2g0zipag2ya41s-texlivetexmf-20230313/share/texmf-
dist/tex/latex/base/book.cls
Document Class: book 2022/07/02 v1.4n Standard LaTeX document class

(/gnu/store/h7iqqr3aajqhjkib2k2g0zipag2ya41s-texlivetexmf-20230313/share/texmf-
dist/tex/latex/base/bk10.cloFontconfig error: No writable cache directories
Fontconfig error: No writable cache directories
))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Please find the full build log attached.

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[-- Type: application/gzip, Size: 292094 bytes --]

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Thanks!

- avp

References:
1. https://github.com/artyom-poptsov/SPARC
2. https://github.com/artyom-poptsov/SPARC/blob/master/guix.scm

-- 
Artyom "avp" Poptsov <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com>
Home page: https://memory-heap.org/~avp/
CADR Hackerspace co-founder: https://cadrspace.ru/
GPG: D0C2 EAC1 3310 822D 98DE  B57C E9C5 A2D9 0898 A02F

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Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

"Artyom V. Poptsov" <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com> writes:

> There are lots of examples of LaTeX package definitions in Guix for
> sure, but unfortunately I found no examples of packaged books written in
> LaTeX.

There is `book-faif' in "fsf.scm".

> Then I'm getting errors that "Liberation Serif" font is not found:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> (/gnu/store/h7iqqr3aajqhjkib2k2g0zipag2ya41s-texlivetexmf-20230313/share/texmf-
> dist/tex/latex/fontspec/fontspec.cfg)))
>
> ! Package fontspec Error: The font "Liberation Serif" cannot be found.

> For immediate help type H <return>.
>  ...                                              
>                                                   
> l.8 \setmonofont
>                 {Liberation Mono}

You should add `fontconfig' to native-inputs so Liberation can be found.

You can also remove `texlive' and, probably, `texlive-latex-fonts' and
`texlive-ttf-utils' from your inputs, since you're using XeTeX.
I suggest the following:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
 (native-inputs
  (list python-pygments
        bash-minimal
        perl
        which
        fontconfig))
 (inputs
  (list font-liberation
        git
        gnu-make
        inkscape
        lilypond
        texlive-acronym
        texlive-adjustbox
        texlive-bibtex
        texlive-bibtexperllibs
        texlive-bigfoot
        texlive-circuitikz
        texlive-collection-langcyrillic
        texlive-glossaries
        texlive-lilyglyphs
        texlive-minted
        texlive-multirow
        texlive-pgf
        texlive-subfiles
        texlive-svg
        texlive-t1utils
        texlive-textpos
        texlive-transparent
        texlive-xetex))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Note that everything could be moved to native inputs.

Also note that you need un-packaged TeX Live packages, such as `svg'.
I added them just before sending the mail, so you'll need a recent "guix
pull".

> Moreover I see that the build tries to update the font cache but fails
> to do that because the part of the file system it tries to write to is
> read-only:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> (/gnu/store/h7iqqr3aajqhjkib2k2g0zipag2ya41s-texlivetexmf-20230313/share/texmf-
> dist/tex/latex/base/book.cls
> Document Class: book 2022/07/02 v1.4n Standard LaTeX document class
>
> (/gnu/store/h7iqqr3aajqhjkib2k2g0zipag2ya41s-texlivetexmf-20230313/share/texmf-
> dist/tex/latex/base/bk10.cloFontconfig error: No writable cache directories
> Fontconfig error: No writable cache directories
> ))
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

This "error" is actually harmless.

Regards,
-- 
Nicolas Goaziou

Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Artyom V. Poptsov]

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Hello Nicolas,

thank you very much for the help!  I've changed my "guix.scm" as you
suggested and now it works.

> You can also remove `texlive' and, probably, `texlive-latex-fonts' and
> `texlive-ttf-utils' from your inputs, since you're using XeTeX.

When I tried to remove "texlive" from inputs, I ran into the following
error:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
! LaTeX Error: File `fontspec.sty' not found.

Type X to quit or <RETURN> to proceed,
or enter new name. (Default extension: sty)

Enter file name: 
! Emergency stop.
<read *> 
         
l.7 \setmainfont
                {Liberation Serif}^^M
*** (cannot \read from terminal in nonstop modes)

 
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
 1444 strings out of 476682
 24786 string characters out of 5779954
 1842018 words of memory out of 5000000
 21750 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
 512295 words of font info for 33 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
 1348 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
 40i,0n,52p,180b,100s stack positions out of 10000i,1000n,20000p,200000b,200000s
No pages of output.
INDEX     sparc
GLOSSARY  sparc
make: *** [Makefile:83: make_index] Error 1
make: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
/gnu/store/rib9g2ig1xf3kclyl076w28parmncg4k-bash-minimal-5.1.16/bin/sh: /gnu/store/05770yhxad3d3p4q7rgw8clh0y1gi5sc-texlive-glossaries-66594/bin/makeglossaries: /usr/bin/env: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:77: make_glossary] Error 1
error: in phase 'build': uncaught exception:
%exception #<&invoke-error program: "make" arguments: ("-j" "32") exit-status: 2 term-signal: #f stop-signal: #f> 
phase `build' failed after 11.1 seconds
command "make" "-j" "32" failed with status 2
builder for `/gnu/store/dnyi529yx6wfb73hwgsylm60ikrrashf-sparc-book-git.drv' failed with exit code 1
build of /gnu/store/dnyi529yx6wfb73hwgsylm60ikrrashf-sparc-book-git.drv failed
View build log at '/var/log/guix/drvs/dn/yi529yx6wfb73hwgsylm60ikrrashf-sparc-book-git.drv.gz'.
guix build: error: build of `/gnu/store/dnyi529yx6wfb73hwgsylm60ikrrashf-sparc-book-git.drv' failed
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

As you can see, LaTeX cannot find "fontspec.sty" file.  I did some
research and found that the file belongs to "texlive" package.  So when
I returned "texlive" to inputs the build process went fine.

Thanks!

- avp

-- 
Artyom "avp" Poptsov <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com>
Home page: https://memory-heap.org/~avp/
CADR Hackerspace co-founder: https://cadrspace.ru/
GPG: D0C2 EAC1 3310 822D 98DE  B57C E9C5 A2D9 0898 A02F

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Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Nicolas Goaziou]

"Artyom V. Poptsov" <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com> writes:

> When I tried to remove "texlive" from inputs, I ran into the following
> error:
>
> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
> ! LaTeX Error: File `fontspec.sty' not found.

[...]

> As you can see, LaTeX cannot find "fontspec.sty" file.  I did some
> research and found that the file belongs to "texlive" package.  So when
> I returned "texlive" to inputs the build process went fine.

I then suggest to add `texlive-fontspec' (a few kB) instead of `texlive'
(3 GB) to the inputs.

If you insist on adding `texlive' to the inputs, you can remove every
other "texlive-" input instead; it's one or the other.

Regards,

Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Artyom V. Poptsov]

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Hello Nicolas!

> I then suggest to add `texlive-fontspec' (a few kB) instead of `texlive'
> (3 GB) to the inputs.

Thanks, that worked out indeed.  I've added other LaTeX packages as
well, searching by the required ".sty" files.

But then, I ran into the following error:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
Package rerunfilecheck Info: Checksums for `sparc.out':
(rerunfilecheck)             Before: <no file>
(rerunfilecheck)             After:  8A9E5CFD2193CCDADFE90D96E3F45333;20690.
runsystem(rm sparc.pyg)...executed.

 ) 
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
 66386 strings out of 476682
 1790478 string characters out of 5779954
 2503753 words of memory out of 5000000
 84784 multiletter control sequences out of 15000+600000
 516911 words of font info for 97 fonts, out of 8000000 for 9000
 1348 hyphenation exceptions out of 8191
 94i,16n,92p,2254b,2061s stack positions out of 10000i,1000n,20000p,200000b,200000s

Output written on sparc.xdv (133 pages, 2587352 bytes).
GLOSSARY  sparc
INDEX     sparc
/gnu/store/rib9g2ig1xf3kclyl076w28parmncg4k-bash-minimal-5.1.16/bin/sh: /gnu/store/05770yhxad3d3p4q7rgw8clh0y1gi5sc-texlive-glossaries-66594/bin/makeglossaries: /usr/bin/env: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
make: *** [Makefile:77: make_glossary] Error 1
make: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

It looks like "makeglossaries" cannot find "/usr/bin/env" program.  I
checked where "env" can be found inside the builder context:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
 (arguments
  (list #:phases
        #~(modify-phases %standard-phases
            (add-after 'unpack 'debug
                       (lambda _
                         (invoke "which" "env")))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

And the full path is:
  /gnu/store/yr39rh6wihd1wv6gzf7w4w687dwzf3vb-coreutils-9.1/bin/env

But "makeglossaries" script seems to have a wrong path:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ head -1 /gnu/store/05770yhxad3d3p4q7rgw8clh0y1gi5sc-texlive-glossaries-66594/bin/makeglossaries
#!/usr/bin/env perl
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Maybe there should be a symlink to "/bin/env" or something.  Strangely
enough when I add "texlive" to the inputs, the problem is gone.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

- avp

-- 
Artyom "avp" Poptsov <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com>
Home page: https://memory-heap.org/~avp/
CADR Hackerspace co-founder: https://cadrspace.ru/
GPG: D0C2 EAC1 3310 822D 98DE  B57C E9C5 A2D9 0898 A02F

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Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Nicolas Goaziou]

"Artyom V. Poptsov" <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello Nicolas!
> Thanks, that worked out indeed.  I've added other LaTeX packages as
> well, searching by the required ".sty" files.

Great!

> /gnu/store/rib9g2ig1xf3kclyl076w28parmncg4k-bash-minimal-5.1.16/bin/sh: /gnu/store/05770yhxad3d3p4q7rgw8clh0y1gi5sc-texlive-glossaries-66594/bin/makeglossaries: /usr/bin/env: bad interpreter: No such file or directory
> make: *** [Makefile:77: make_glossary] Error 1
> make: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....
> --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
>
>
> It looks like "makeglossaries" cannot find "/usr/bin/env" program.

It should be fixed on master, if you can guix pull again.

> Strangely enough when I add "texlive" to the inputs, the problem is
> gone.

This is not strange. `texlive' provides `perl' once in its inputs, and
all scripts, such as `makeglossaries', have their shebang line updated.

In modular TeX Live, packages are responsible for their own script(s);
and need to provide `perl', for example, as an input. This is not
obvious when the script has no extension, as it is the case here.

Regards,

Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Artyom V. Poptsov]

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> It should be fixed on master, if you can guix pull again.

The problem is fixed indeed, thank you very much!

- avp

-- 
Artyom "avp" Poptsov <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com>
Home page: https://memory-heap.org/~avp/
CADR Hackerspace co-founder: https://cadrspace.ru/
GPG: D0C2 EAC1 3310 822D 98DE  B57C E9C5 A2D9 0898 A02F

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Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Artyom V. Poptsov]

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Hello Nicolas,

sorry for bothering you again with my LaTeX questions, but I faced with
a new problem on my way to package my book for GNU Guix.

When the build system runs "xelatex" as follows:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
xelatex --shell-escape sparc.tex > sparc.pdf.log.2 2>&1
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

It produces a PDF file which size is ~4MiB instead of ~7MiB as it must
be.

There's an error in the log:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
xdvipdfmx:fatal: Cannot proceed without .vf or "physical" font for PDF output...

No output PDF file written.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Again, when I add "texlive" package to the inputs, the book builds fine.

Also it build fine when I run the build without "texlive" but inside a
pure Guix shell environment on my machine.  That is a bit trickier to
check the difference between environments but at least I can say that I
have the following texlive packages installed on my base system (Ubuntu
22.04):

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ dpkg -l | grep texlive
ii  texlive-base                                  2021.20220204-1                            all          TeX Live: Essential programs and files
ii  texlive-binaries                              2021.20210626.59705-1ubuntu0.1             amd64        Binaries for TeX Live
ii  texlive-latex-base                            2021.20220204-1                            all          TeX Live: LaTeX fundamental packages
ii  texlive-music                                 2021.20220204-1                            all          TeX Live: Music packages
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

Here's my attempt to create a patch for Guix that adds the book:
  https://github.com/artyom-poptsov/guix/commit/001ede4fe5b7ecb0c342ad05554799193bd93107

Could you please take a look and give me a hint on what I'm missing
here?

Thanks!

- avp

-- 
Artyom "avp" Poptsov <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com>
Home page: https://memory-heap.org/~avp/
CADR Hackerspace co-founder: https://cadrspace.ru/
GPG: D0C2 EAC1 3310 822D 98DE  B57C E9C5 A2D9 0898 A02F

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Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Artyom V. Poptsov]

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Hello,

I found root cause of the problem -- when I remove use of
"latex-marvosym" package altogether, it fixes the problem.  Here's my
diff:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ git diff
diff --git a/guix.scm b/guix.scm
index be5a433..58304a1 100644
--- a/guix.scm
+++ b/guix.scm
@@ -74,7 +74,6 @@
           gnu-make
           inkscape
           lilypond
-          texlive-marvosym
           texlive-fontspec
           texlive-koma-script
           texlive-trimspaces
diff --git a/sections/dialogues-with-computer-multimeter.tex b/sections/dialogues-with-computer-multimeter.tex
index ef8197d..b8b4064 100644
--- a/sections/dialogues-with-computer-multimeter.tex
+++ b/sections/dialogues-with-computer-multimeter.tex
@@ -30,11 +30,11 @@
   \hline
   mV$\sim$ & Измерение напряжения переменного тока, милливольты (мВ.) \\
   \hline
-  V\Beam & Измерение напряжения постоянного тока. \\
+  V & Измерение напряжения постоянного тока. \\
   \hline
   mV & Измерение напряжения постоянного тока, милливольты (мВ.) \\
   \hline
-  A\Beam & Измерение постоянного тока. \\
+  A & Измерение постоянного тока. \\
   \hline
   A$\sim$ & Измерение переменного тока. \\
   \hline
diff --git a/sparc.tex b/sparc.tex
index dfb156b..8777409 100644
--- a/sparc.tex
+++ b/sparc.tex
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@
 \usepackage{glossaries}
 \usepackage{makeidx}
 \usepackage{expl3}
-\usepackage{amssymb}
-\usepackage{marvosym}
+%% \usepackage{marvosym}
 
 \makeindex
 \makeglossaries
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I think that it is not worth the effort to use the "marvosym" package as
I can easily draw the single symbol I want from the package myself.  But
maybe there's a problem with "texlive-marvosym" package as well, don't
know for sure though.

Thanks!

- avp

-- 
Artyom "avp" Poptsov <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com>
Home page: https://memory-heap.org/~avp/
CADR Hackerspace co-founder: https://cadrspace.ru/
GPG: D0C2 EAC1 3310 822D 98DE  B57C E9C5 A2D9 0898 A02F

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Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide]

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"Artyom V. Poptsov" <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com> writes:

> -\usepackage{amssymb}
> -\usepackage{marvosym}
> I think that it is not worth the effort to use the "marvosym" package as
> I can easily draw the single symbol I want from the package myself.  But
> maybe there's a problem with "texlive-marvosym" package as well, don't
> know for sure though.

Since the switch to split texlive packages, many of my documents don’t
compile yet (but I did not yet find out why, so I sadly can’t really
help you) and I also use marvosym. So maybe something more general.

Best wishes,
Arne
-- 
Unpolitisch sein
heißt politisch sein,
ohne es zu merken.
draketo.de

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Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Andreas Enge]

Am Fri, Sep 01, 2023 at 07:24:19AM +0200 schrieb Dr. Arne Babenhauserheide:
> Since the switch to split texlive packages, many of my documents don’t
> compile yet (but I did not yet find out why, so I sadly can’t really
> help you) and I also use marvosym. So maybe something more general.

Did you try the brand new texlive-scheme-full prepared and just merged
by Nicolas? Just installing this one package should be enough to compile
your packages. If not, it may be worth a bug report.

As a stop-gap measure, you can UNINSTALL ALL PACKAGES starting with
texlive-, and install the ONE PACKAGE texlive - mixing them is not
supported. In this way, you should be able to compile your documents.

But well, it would be nice to debug texlive-scheme-full if there are
problems left.

Andreas

Re: LaTeX: Need help with packaging a book in GNU Guix

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

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

> "Artyom V. Poptsov" <poptsov.artyom@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> -\usepackage{amssymb}
>> -\usepackage{marvosym}
>> I think that it is not worth the effort to use the "marvosym" package as
>> I can easily draw the single symbol I want from the package myself.  But
>> maybe there's a problem with "texlive-marvosym" package as well, don't
>> know for sure though.
>
> Since the switch to split texlive packages, many of my documents don’t
> compile yet (but I did not yet find out why, so I sadly can’t really
> help you) and I also use marvosym. So maybe something more general.

I looked at the "texlive-marvosym" package again, but couldn't spot
anything suspicious.

OTOH, Artyom successfully built their book in a "--pure" shell
environment, so that package may not be the culprit. It more sounds like
an incompatibility between Ubuntu's TeX Live packages and Guix's.
I admit I don't understand the problem, tho.

In any case, feel free to report the errors you encounter with your
documents (without necessarily spending time investigating). This is
a valuable feedback for finding out bugs in modular TeX live.

Regards,
-- 
Nicolas Goaziou