Build error in document with BibTeX using ‘latexmk’ recipe

[leafac]

Describe the bug
Build error in document with BibTeX using latexmk recipe.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Create a simple LaTeX project using BibTex:

   main.tex

   \documentclass{report}
   
   \begin{document}
     \cite{a-reference}
   
     \bibliographystyle{plain}
     \bibliography{bibliography}
   \end{document}

   bibliography.bib

   @inproceedings{a-reference,
   	title = {A Reference},
   	author = {Leandro Facchinetti},
   	year = {2019},
   }

2. Open main.tex in VS Code, go to the TeX menu on the left, and then Build LaTeX project > Recipe: latexmk.

Expected behavior
Compilation should succeed.

Logs

LaTeX Workshop Output

[08:37:59] RECIPES command invoked.
[08:37:59] BUILD command invoked.
[08:37:59] Found root file from active editor: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex
[08:37:59] Root file remains unchanged from: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex.
[08:37:59] Building root file: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex
[08:37:59] Build root file /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex
[08:37:59] Recipe step 1: latexmk, -synctex=1,-interaction=nonstopmode,-file-line-error,-pdf,-outdir=.,/private/tmp/bug-report/main
[08:38:00] LaTeX log parsed with 2 messages.
[08:38:00] Recipe returns with error: 12/null.
[08:38:00] Cleaning auxillary files and retrying build after toolchain error.
[08:38:00] CLEAN command invoked.
[08:38:00] Found root file from active editor: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex
[08:38:00] Root file remains unchanged from: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex.
[08:38:00] Found root file from active editor: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex
[08:38:00] Root file remains unchanged from: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex.
[08:38:00] File cleaned: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.fls
[08:38:00] File cleaned: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.aux
[08:38:00] File cleaned: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.log
[08:38:00] File cleaned: /private/tmp/bug-report/main.fdb_latexmk
[08:38:00] Recipe step 1: latexmk, -synctex=1,-interaction=nonstopmode,-file-line-error,-pdf,-outdir=.,/private/tmp/bug-report/main
[08:38:01] LaTeX log parsed with 2 messages.
[08:38:01] Recipe returns with error: 12/null.

LaTeX Compiler Output

Latexmk: This is Latexmk, John Collins, 17 Jan. 2018, version: 4.55.
Rule 'pdflatex': Rules & subrules not known to be previously run:
   pdflatex
Rule 'pdflatex': The following rules & subrules became out-of-date:
      'pdflatex'
------------
Run number 1 of rule 'pdflatex'
------------
------------
Running 'pdflatex  -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -file-line-error -recorder -output-directory="."  "/private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex"'
------------
Latexmk: applying rule 'pdflatex'...
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.19 (TeX Live 2018) (preloaded format=pdflatex)
 restricted \write18 enabled.
entering extended mode
(/private/tmp/bug-report/main.tex
LaTeX2e <2018-04-01> patch level 2
Babel <3.18> and hyphenation patterns for 84 language(s) loaded.
(/usr/local/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/report.cls
Document Class: report 2014/09/29 v1.4h Standard LaTeX document class
(/usr/local/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/tex/latex/base/size10.clo)) (./main.aux)

LaTeX Warning: Citation `a-reference' on page 1 undefined on input line 4.

No file main.bbl.
[1{/usr/local/texlive/2018/texmf-var/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}] (./main.aux)

LaTeX Warning: There were undefined references.

 )</usr/local/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmbx10.pfb></usr/local/texlive/2018/texmf-dist/fonts/type1/public/amsfonts/cm/cmr10.pfb>
Output written on ./main.pdf (1 page, 17326 bytes).
SyncTeX written on ./main.synctex.gz.
Transcript written on ./main.log.
Latexmk: Non-existent bbl file 'main.bbl'
 No file main.bbl.
Latexmk: Log file says output to 'main.pdf'
Latexmk: List of undefined refs and citations:
  Citation `a-reference' on page 1 undefined on input line 4
=== TeX engine is 'pdfTeX'
Latexmk: Found bibliography file(s) [bibliography.bib]
Latexmk: Summary of warnings:
  Latex failed to resolve 1 citation(s)
Rule 'bibtex main': File changes, etc:
   Changed files, or newly in use since previous run(s):
      'main.aux'
   Non-existent destination files:
      'main.bbl'
------------
Run number 1 of rule 'bibtex main'
------------
Latexmk: applying rule 'bibtex main'...
For rule 'bibtex main', running '&run_bibtex(  )' ...
Use of chdir('') or chdir(undef) as chdir() is deprecated at /System/Library/Perl/5.18/darwin-thread-multi-2level/Cwd.pm line 507.
------------
Running 'bibtex  "main"'
------------
I couldn't open file name `main.aux'
Collected error summary (may duplicate other messages):
  bibtex main: Could not open bibtex log file for 'main'
Latexmk: Use the -f option to force complete processing,
 unless error was exceeding maximum runs of latex/pdflatex.
Latexmk: Errors, so I did not complete making targets

Developer Tools Console

Nothing suspicious.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: macOS Mojave 10.14.2
• VS Code version: 1.30.2
• Extension version: 5.20.2

Additional context

• I can reproduce the problem by going to the command line and running the command that LaTeX-Workshop runs:

  $ latexmk -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -file-line-error -pdf -outdir=. /private/tmp/bug-report/main

  But if I change -outdir=. to the absolute path, then compilation succeeds:

  $ latexmk -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -file-line-error -pdf -outdir=/private/tmp/bug-report /private/tmp/bug-report/main

• The other build recipe (pdflatex -> bibtex -> pdflatex*2) works.

[jlelong]

I cannot reproduce the problem. It probably has to do with your latexmk or LaTeX installation.
The line

I couldn't open file name `main.aux'

is surprising.

[leafac]

I’m running The MacTeX-2018 Distribution installed via the Homebrew Cask. I didn’t do anything fancy in configuration—neither in MacTeX nor in VS Code/LaTeX-Workshop. Can you suggest where I should start investigating?

[jlelong]

What is your version of latexmk?
From which directory, do you run the first command?

$ latexmk -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -file-line-error -pdf -outdir=. /private/tmp/bug-report/main

[leafac]

$ latexmk --version

Latexmk, John Collins, 17 Jan. 2018. Version 4.55
$ pwd # Note that in macOS ‘/tmp’ and ‘/private/tmp’ are synonyms
/tmp/bug-report
$ ls
bibliography.bib	main.tex

[jlelong]

I have latexmk 4.61. Could you try to update using TeX Live Utility.app?

[leafac]

Good call. I updated to latexmk 4.61 and it worked.

But it’d be better if LaTeX-Workshop worked out of the box with a fresh MacTeX installation. It seems like a minor modification to the default recipe to invoke latexmk with -outdir=<absolute-path> instead of -outdir=.; and the <absolute-path> is already available as part of the %DOC%.

[jlelong]

@leafac I somehow share your feeling on this. Actually, the behaviour of latexmk regarding relative outdir does not seem coherent across versions. I will change the code to use an absolute one instead.

[zoehneto]

@jlelong it really seems that way, since in the original change I tested with ./ which worked for me but seems to break for many other people.

[jlelong]

@James-Yu Looking at this, I have the impression that setting latex-workshop.latex.outputDir to %DIR% would solve all our problems related to latexmk as %DIR% is the absolute path for .. I am not sure if it could have side effects, especially in the tests

if (outputDir !== './' && outputDir !== '.')

What do you think?

[miaodi]

I am suffering the same issue and my latexmk version is also 4.55.

The compiler says

I couldn't open file name prospectus.aux'`

[leafac]

Thanks for the fix and for this project in general—it’s great!

[SamP20]

This fix unfortunately broke latexmk building with Docker. Before, it would do the right thing and place all output in the current working directory which in the container is the /data folder, but now it tries to put it into /data/c:/Users/<myusername>/etc... which is incorrect.

[James-Yu]

Nice catch @SamP20 can you please confirm if the above fix does its job?