This small script continuously builds a LaTeX file in the background and outputs all files into a folder of your choice (default output/
). Of note is the build file (default output/build.pdf
) which is what you should open in a pdf viewer of your choice while editing your LaTeX document.
It is less jarring and looks cleaner than other build systems (e.g. latexmk -pvc
) (The final build file only updates on a successful and complete build. Other build tools will write an incomplete pdf that your pdf viewer can't handle, leading to a broken pdf for a few seconds while you are editing) It may also be faster than latexmk
, but this is untested.
See the original stack overflow post for motivation, usage instruction, and some useful vim configuration.
Sioyek works well as a pdf reader since (unlike zathura, okular, and evince) when it reloads a pdf, it doesn't re-render the entire screen, leading to a much less jarring experience.