# A simple Makefile for LaTeX using latexmk

Introduction

latexmk is a powerful tool to properly compile .tex projects.

Compiling .tex files may take several runs of compilation to properly output, especially when cross-referencing and indexing (citations, label/ref and table of contents).

latexmk will automatically do everything for you so you may just use the command $ latexmk myfile.tex.

So latexmk is actually already a great tool to automate the compilation of .tex projects (which explains why my Makefile is so succinct). The only problem with latexmk is that it puts all auxilliary files (.aux, .log, .bbl, etc.) in the same directory as the .tex, which can get messy, especially with several .tex files. This Makefile just runs latexmk then puts all those nasty files in the aux/ directory which is removed with the target clean.

Note that the command $ latexmk will compile all .tex files in the directory.

Features

• Properly compiles all TeX projects (a feature of latexmk).

• Compiles by default all .tex projects in the master directory and outputs .pdf files. Just use the command $ make.

• Puts the shell output of the compilation (the standard output) in tmp/myfile/out to avoid clutter in the shell and only have necessary information showing.

• If the compilation fails, it will show the tail of tmp/myfile/out for debugging purposes.

• Puts everything but .tex files and output files (.pdf or .dvi etc) in aux/myfile/ to avoid clutter in your master directory.

• Removes unneeded files using $ make clean or $ make mrproper (see "Commands").

• Default output type is .pdf but compatible with .dvi and .ps (see "Commands").

• Selective clean and mrproper targets that will only delete the aux files from a certain project instead of removing the whole aux/ directory. (see "Commands").

Incoming features

• A target that cleans then recompiles. This may be useful when changing something external to the source code e.g. changing a figure or changing bibliography.

• Maybe a version 2.0 that would use a src/ directory for the .tex files and an out/ directory for the output files.

Requirements

If you use LaTeX, you probably already have the requirements for this Makefile.

• latexmk is a Perl script, so you may have to install Perl.

• Obviously, the package latexmk should be installed, tho for me, it came with my LaTeX distribution. It comes with MikTex and MacTex.

Use

Just put the Makefile in the same directory as your .tex file and use the command $ make myfile.pdf in the shell while in the directory containing your .tex.

You may also use the command $ make to compile all .tex files and output .pdf files.

I personnally put this Makefile in a dedicated directory and create a symbolic link in each of my TeX projects. I will soon create an alias that copies this Makefile and its README in my directory of choice.

Commands

• $ make will compile all .tex files in the directory and output .pdf files by default.

• $ make pdf, $ make dvi and $ make ps do the same as make but output the desired file types. Note that $ make pdf and $ make are equivalent.

• $ make myfile.pdf will compile myfile.tex and output a .pdf. Note that you may also make .dvi and .ps files.

• $ make clean clears everything but .tex files and output files (for me .pdf but it won't clear .dvi and .ps either). It completely removes aux/ and tmp/.

• $ make clean_myfile only removes aux/myfile and tmp/myfile

• $ make mrproper clears everything but the .tex (including output files).

• $ make mrproper_myfile runs $ make clean_myfile and also removes myfile.pdf (or .dvi or .ps).

• $ make help shows this README in the shell.

Note that if aux/ or tmp/ are empty after $ make clean_myfile or $ make mrproper_myfile, they will also be removed.

License

            DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO PUBLIC LICENSE
                    Version 2, December 2004

 Copyright (C) 2004 Sam Hocevar <sam@hocevar.net>

 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim or modified
 copies of this license document, and changing it is allowed as long
 as the name is changed.

            DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO PUBLIC LICENSE
   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

  0. You just DO WHAT THE FUCK YOU WANT TO.