Docker Latex Image (aka dex)

This Docker image is based on the pandoc/latex image, which is essentially an Alpine Linux machine with a TeX Live installation (including pandoc). I have extended it with the texliveonfly package.

Here are the LaTeX-related binaries available (among others) in the Docker image:

mktexfmt
mktexlsr
mktexmf
mktexpk
mktextfm
pdflatex
pdftex
tex
texlua
texliveonfly  # see notes
xelatex
xetex

Note

texliveonfly will install missed dependencies if they are missed in the container based on the .tex file.

References

• https://www.ctan.org/pkg/texliveonfly
• https://hub.docker.com/r/pandoc/latex

Requirements

• docker

Building

git clone https://github.com/mmngreco/dex
cd dex
make build

Quickstart

In general, I recommend doing this:

docker run \
    --rm -t \
    --user="$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
    --net=none \
    --volume "$(pwd):/data" \
    --name $(basename $PWD) \
    mmngreco/dex texliveonfly test.tex

Aliasing

You can add this to your .bashrc or .zshrc for your convenience:

# non-interactive (cli)
alias dex='docker run --rm -t --user="$(id -u):$(id -g)" --net=none -v "$PWD:$PWD" -w $PWD mmngreco/dex'

# interactive
alias dexi='docker run --rm -t -i --user="$(id -u):$(id -g)" --net=none -v "$PWD:$PWD" -w $PWD mmngreco/dex'

# binary alias
alias dexliveonfly='dex texliveonfly'
alias dexpdf='dex pdftex' # for plain tex files
alias dexpdflatex='dex pdflatex' # for tex files using \documentclass

Note

--user="$(id -u):$(id -g)" is a magic that fixes permission issues when files are created in a volume by a container. This code snippet ensures that files are created with the correct permissions and ownership.

After adding those lines to your shell config, you can invoke it like this:

cd test
dexliveonfly test.tex
dexpdf test.tex

Executables

Alternatively, you can create some executables (bash script with execution permission) to call the dex command from anywhere. Sometimes, we need to call it from a terminal that isn't using our profile (doesn't load our .bashrc/.zshrc). In that case, you can create some files under the ~/.local/bin/ folder, which should be on your path, and this will allow you to execute the command.

Here are some examples:

echo '#!/usr/bin/env bash' > ~/.local/bin/dex
echo 'docker run --rm -t --user="$(id -u):$(id -g)" --net=none -v "$PWD:$PWD" -w $PWD mmngreco/dex $@' >> ~/.local/bin/dex
sudo chmod +x ~/.local/bin/dex

echo '#!/usr/bin/env bash' > ~/.local/bin/dexi
echo 'docker run --rm -t -i --user="$(id -u):$(id -g)" --net=none -v "$PWD:$PWD" -w $PWD mmngreco/dex $@' > ~/.local/bin/dexi
sudo chmod +x ~/.local/bin/dexi

# optionally
echo '#!/usr/bin/env bash' > ~/.local/bin/dexliveonfly
echo 'dex texliveonfly' > ~/.local/bin/dexliveonfly
sudo chmod +x ~/.local/bin/dexliveonfly

echo '#!/usr/bin/env bash' > ~/.local/bin/dexpdf
echo 'dex pdftex' > ~/.local/bin/dexpdf
sudo chmod +x ~/.local/bin/dexpdf

Note

If, for some reason, .local/bin is not in the path, you can add it to the path or call the script using its absolute file name.

This allows us to use those scripts from everywhere. Test it by simply reloading your shell and calling dexpdf --help.

dexpdf --help
~/.local/bin/dexpdf --help
/home/user/.local/bin/dexpdf --help

LivePreview

Warning

This feature only works using the mentioned executables above.

Vim/Neovim

augroup Latex
  au!
  au BufWritePost *.tex silent !dex pdflatex % && firefox %:t:r.pdf
augroup end

VSCode

Install LaTeX Workshop extension.

Add the following into your settings.json

    "latex-workshop.latex.outDir": "%DIR%",
    "latex-workshop.latex.recipes": [
        {
          "name": "dex",
          "tools": [
            "pdflatex"
          ]
        },
      ],
    "latex-workshop.latex.tools": [
        {
          "name": "pdflatex",
          "command": "dex",
          "args": [
            "pdflatex",
            "%DOC%",
            "-output-directory=%OUTDIR%"

          ],
          "env": {"PWD": "%OUTDIR%"}
        },
        {
          "name": "bibtex",
          "command": "dex",
          "args": [
            "bibtex",
            "%DOCFILE%"
          ],
          "env": {"PWD": "%OUTDIR%"}
        }
    ],