Re: Output to directory patch

[Ikumi Keita]

Hi Al,

>>>>> Al Haji-Ali <abdo.haji.ali@gmail.com> writes:

> Currently, I am wondering if I can get some input from the community
> on some implementation aspects.

I tried your revised patch briefly. I'm afraid that it doesn't work when
TeX-output-dir is "build" in the following two aspects yet:
(1) It breaks preview-latex functionality. The location of generated pdf
    file differs from what preview-latex expects, so no images are
    displayed in the latex buffer.
(2) Latex signals error when \include tries to include files in
    subdirectories like \include{subdir/subfile}, saying
./main.tex:6: I can't write on file `subdir/subfile.aux'.
    Apparently latex wants to create .aux file for each individual
    subfile under "build/subdir", which doesn't exist.

In addition, I'm worrying whether packages which write or read external
files via shell escape work well or not. It seems that tikzexternal
works fine, but it isn't clear for other packages.

> - There are several commands that might need changing to account for the 
> output-directory (or could use it). I don't use these tools nor know their 
> particularities, so I am hoping someone who does can give me guidance. These 
> include
>    -- Makeinfo
>    -- AmSTeX
>    -- ConTeXt
>    -- upmendex

makeinfo accepts "-o" or "--output" option, with slightly different
meaning from "--output-dir" of (la)tex. Try "man makeinfo".

I think you can think of amstex as a variant of plain tex.

upmendex is a variant of makeindex and compatible with respect to their
arguments.
https://ctan.org/pkg/upmendex/
https://github.com/t-tk/upmendex-package

Regards,
Ikumi Keita