Re: [AUCTeX-devel] Check engines before running LaTeX

[Tassilo Horn]

Mosè Giordano <address@hidden> writes:

Hi Mosè,

> I sometimes happen to try to compile documents with a wrong engine
> (above all example documents found on the Internet and the culprits
> are fontspec and polyglossia, which require LuaTeX or XeTeX).  I'd
> like to be warned by AUCTeX that I'm going to get an error, then I
> wrote the attached patch.
>
> Style authors should specify the engines required by the package (e.g.
> LuaTeX and XeTeX for fontspec and polyglossia), then if the option
> `TeX-check-engine' is non-nil the user will be warned before running
> LaTeX command that a wrong engine has been selected, for example when
> `TeX-engine' is set to `default'.
>
> If you know other packages requiring a specific engine please tell us.

No, not exactly engine dependencies.  But other packages have other
requirements.  For example, minted requires that you use -shell-escape
(--shell-escape with LuaTeX).  And to use pstricks with LuaTeX, you need
something like

\RequirePackage{ifluatex}
\documentclass{article}

\ifluatex
  \usepackage{fontspec}
  \setmainfont{TeX Gyre Pagella}
\else
  \usepackage{tgpagella}
  \usepackage{pstricks}
\fi
\usepackage{auto-pst-pdf}

which is not really testable.

And hyperref, varioref, and cleveref can be used only if they are
use-packaged in one specific order.

So the constraints can be much more complex than just being restricted
to some special engine, and I think the engine is the simplest part of
it.

But that shouldn't stop you of course.  If you think it's helpful, then
by all means do it.

Bye,
Tassilo