On Save PDF Generation from .tex files

Requirements

• Docker
• Docker Compose

Optional

• Run on Save

What it is

If you do not want to install a tex distribution locally (which takes ages), with this project you can build your PDF from any .tex file. The onSave feature is also available 😊

Why it is useful

• No need of installing latex on your machine
• Just need ~700 MB of space (size of the docker image)

How to use it

• Copy and paste the Dockerfile and docker-compose.yml and put them at the root of your project
• Create a folder main/ in the root of your latex project
• Go inside main/ and create main.tex file
• Write something in it for example

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikzsymbols}
\begin{document}
  Here it is an example of \normalsize \LaTeX \ document. Enjoy \Laughey[1.3]
\end{document}

• Since the auto save is not activated yet, test the PDF generation simply by typing

docker-compose up

Customization

Of course you can change either the main/ folder or the main.tex simply by going to the docker-compose.yml editing the following lines:

• - ./main:/data to - <your folder>:/data
• command: main.tex to command: <name of your .tex file in your folder>

It can also happen that you import some packages in the project that are not included in the docker image yet. For this:

• import them in Dockerfile like

RUN tlmgr install sectsty helvetic .....

• rebuild the image using

docker-compose up --build

OnSave Generation

To achieve this in Visual Studio Code, install Run on Save and follow the extension instructions. I have put this in my settings.json. In order to check if it works, you have to go under the output tab of Visual Studio Code terminal and select 'Run On Save' option

"emeraldwalk.runonsave": {
    "commands": [
        {
            "match": ".tex$",
            "cmd": "docker-compose up"
        }
    ]
}