Cannot view using Zathura/OS X

[ktran9891]

@andymass I am opening a new issue to avoid spamming the previous thread, which is probably a different fundamental issue.

Doing a vim --servername local file.tex and then \ll yielded a successful compilation, but Zathura did not open. I did a separate zathura file.pdf to check my Zathura; it's working fine.

Here is my .vimrc. I use Vundle, so my "load Vimtex" section is different. I am also not entirely literate in vim script, so please let me know if the let &rtp * lines are actually necessary. My .latexmkrc file is empty.

set nocompatible

" Load Vimtex
set rtp+=~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim
call vundle#begin()
Plugin 'lervag/vimtex'
call vundle#end()

filetype plugin indent on
syntax on

" Vimtex options go here
let g:vimtex_view_method = 'zathura'

[lervag]

First, I suggest that you use the minimal vimrc that I have proposed, that is, don't use Vundle. In this case it won't matter, but for some reason, it seems you have copied my suggested minimal vimrc, and then added complexity by using Vundle to load the plugin. That makes the vimrc file larger and less minimal.

In any case, please do this:

1. Do vim -u minivimrc --servername vim file.tex
2. \ll
3. \li(this will show system information and information on the vimtex state)
4. \lo (this will show output from the latexmk compilation)

Please provide the output from 3 and 4.

[ktran9891]

Ah. I did not fully appreciate what a "minimal .vimrc" meant until now. Here is my new .vimrc that I am testing with:

set nocompatible

" Load Vimtex
let &rtp  = '~/.vim/bundle/vimtex,' . &rtp
let &rtp .= ',~/.vim/bundle/vimtex/after'

" Load other plugins, if necessary
" let &rtp = '~/path/to/other/plugin,' . &rtp

filetype plugin indent on
syntax enable

" Use Zathura when opening pdfs with vimtex
let g:vimtex_view_method = 'zathura'

The output of 3:

System info
  OS: Mac OS X 10.12.6 (16G29)
  Vim version: VIM 8.0 (1-858)
  Has clientserver: true
  Servername: VIM

vimtex project: tex_top
  base: tex_top.tex
  root: /Users/KTran/tex_top
  tex: /Users/KTran/tex_top/tex_top.tex
  out: /Users/KTran/tex_top/tex_top.pdf
  log: /Users/KTran/tex_top/tex_top.log
  aux: /Users/KTran/tex_top/tex_top.aux
  fls: /Users/KTran/tex_top/tex_top.fls
  document class: achemso
  packages:
    amsbsy
    amsgen
    amsmath
    amsopn
    amstext
    auxhook
    booktabs
    caption
    caption3
    color
    epstopdf-base
    float
    geometry
    gettitlestring
    graphics
    graphicx
    grfext
    hobsub-generic
    hobsub-hyperref
    hyperref
    ifpdf
    ifvtex
    ifxetex
    infwarerr
    kvoptions
    ltxcmds
    mciteplus
    nameref
    natbib
    natmove
    rerunfilecheck
    setspace
    trig
    url
    xkeyval
  compiler: latexmk
    backend: jobs
    output: /var/folders/3y/grc5bbz509xf3bbf05x7zzvr0000gn/T/v9tdW2a/1
    configuration: 
      continuous: 1
      callback: 1
      latexmk options:
        -verbose
        -pdf
        -file-line-error
        -synctex=1
        -interaction=nonstopmode
    job: process 31451 run
    cmd: max_print_line=2000 latexmk -verbose -pdf -file-line-error -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -pvc -e '$new_viewer_always = "0"' -e '$pdf_previewer = "zathura  -x \"vim --servername VIM --remote +\%{line} \%{input}\" \%S"' -e '$success_cmd = "'""'vim'""' --servername 'VIM' --remote-expr \"vimtex\#compiler\#callback(1)\""' -e '$failure_cmd = "'""'vim'""' --servername 'VIM' --remote-expr \"vimtex\#compiler\#callback(0)\""' 'tex_top.tex'
  viewer: Zathura
    xwin id: Warning: XTEST extension unavailable on '(null)'. Some functionality may be disabled; See 'man xdotool' for more info.
    process: 
      pid: -
      cmd: zathura -x "vim --servername VIM --remote +\%{line} \%{input}" --synctex-forward 1:3:'/Users/KTran/Nerd/tex_top/tex_top.tex'  '/Users/KTran/Nerd/tex_top/tex_top.pdf' >/dev/null 2>&1 &
  qf: LaTeX logfile
    config: 
      fix_paths: 1
      packages: 
        default: 1
      default: 1

Output of 4:

Latexmk: All targets (tex_top.pdf) are up-to-date
For rule 'view', running '&if_source(  )' ...
e not found a previewer that is already running. 
   So I will start it for 'tex_top.pdf'
------------
------------
Running 'start zathura  -x "vim --servername VIM --remote +%{line} %{input}" "tex_top.pdf"'
------------
------------
Running 'vim --servername VIM --remote-expr "vimtex#compiler#callback(1)"'
------------
error: Error parsing command line arguments: Unknown option -x

I'm guessing the -x option for Zathura exists in Linux, but not OS X? I used MacPorts to install my Zathura, and I am using the mupdf plugin.

Thank you for your help!

[lervag]

The problem here is, I think, that your Zathura is compiled without support for synctex. This has been a rather common problem. I don't use OSX myself, and so I don't know the best ways to install Zathura. But you should be able to compile Zathura from the source. If you make sure to have libsynctex available, you should be able to compile with synctex support.

I'm sorry that I can't be more helpful, but I hope this might lead you on the right path...

[ktran9891]

Thank you for your help. If I find a solution, I'll post here for others' future reference.

[lervag]

Thanks!

[clason]

@ktran9891 If you're not tied to Zathura for some reason, I recommend Skim on macOS, where backward sync works out of the box.

[ktran9891]

@clason I am somewhat tied to Zathura (for the vim bindings), but I am open to Skim. I cannot find the hotkey for backwards search, though. Forwards search works out of the box.

Re: solution to the original, Zathura problem:

• I cannot install Zathura from source without Girara 0.2.7
• MacPorts only has Girara 0.2.6
• I cannot install Girara from source for unknown reasons

I am currently waiting on Girara to be updated on MacPorts.

[clason]

@ktran9891 It's shift-command-left click. Have you tried homebrew for installing (https://github.com/zegervdv/homebrew-zathura)? It seems to have far fewer problems than macports.

[ktran9891]

@clason

Hotkey

shift-command-left click does not work for me. I thought maybe because I might not have actually installed SyncTex, but I double-checked via pdflatex -synctex=1 foo.tex which worked fine. My MacTex's utility also showed that I have the Darwin version of syntex installed.

Homebrew

I actually tried that installation before MacPorts. For me, brew install zathura-pdf-poppler fails from mkdir: /usr/local/Cellar/zathura/0.3.7/lib/zathura: Operation not permitted, but sudo brew is not allowed by Homebrew.

[lervag]

Thanks for pitching in, @clason! I'll be following the thread, and if I have anything helpful to add, I will contribute.

[clason]

You need to configure Skim for your editor (which depends on whether you use MacVIM or (any GUI for) neovim; there's a preset in the Preferences (sync pane) for MacVIM which also works for neovim if you replace the command by nvr).

For homebrew on newer versions of macOS, you might have issues with newer versions due to the stricter system protection. It should be sufficient to reinstall homebrew with the ruby command line on the homepage. (sledgehammer solution: chown -R $user /usr/local/Cellar...)

[ktran9891]

Interesting. I've been using vim that I compiled from source. So I guess I'll need to start using gvim or neovim for backwards searching to work here?

[lervag]

It should not be necessary if you Vim has the +clientserver, which you do have. That is, of course, if I have not missed other requirements (but I don't think so).

You need to start Vim with the --servername X option, which you are already doing. Then you can send commands to Vim from the terminal with vim --servername X --remote-send ... (or other remote options). Thus, in your Skim configuration, you should either specify a servername explicitly, else it will use the first from the list of servers that you can see from vim --serverlist.

[ktran9891]

Update for other Mac users Here's what I have done so far:

• Now that Girara 0.2.7 is on MacPorts, I did a port install girara
• Then I cloned Zathura. In order to install Zathura correctly, I first needed to:
• Find the location of my MacPorts configuration files by doing a find / -name girara*.pc. It turned out to be in /opt/local/lib/pkgconfig
• Then, I needed to add that to my config path with a export PKG_CONFIG_PATH="/opt/local/lib/pkgconfig:$PKG_CONFIG_PATH"
• Then, I cd'd into the Zathura repository and did a make install
• Now, I needed to give xdotool rights to use "test extensions", which are effectively packages that are "under development". I did his by doing:

  defaults write org.x.X11 enable_test_extensions -boolean true
  defaults write org.macosforge.xquartz.X11 enable_test_extensions -bool yes

Question for vimtex maintainers After doing all of the above setup/installations, I tried again. I used the same minivimrc as above. I now get a vimtex: Viewer can not find Zathura window ID! error. Here is the result of \li:

System info
  OS: Mac OS X 10.12.6 (16G29)
  Vim version: VIM 8.0 (1-858)
  Has clientserver: true
  Servername: VIM

vimtex project: Personal_statement
  base: Personal_statement.tex
  root: /path/to/my/
  tex: /path/to/my/minimal.tex
  out: /path/to/my/minimal.pdf
  log: /path/to/my/minimal.log
  aux: /path/to/my/minimal.aux
  fls: /path/to/my/minimal.fls
  document class: article
  packages:
    calc
    epstopdf-base
    etexcmds
    everyshi
    geometry
    graphics
    graphicx
    grfext
    ifluatex
    ifpdf
    ifthen
    ifvtex
    ifxetex
    infwarerr
    kvdefinekeys
    kvoptions
    kvsetkeys
    ltxcmds
    microtype
    pdftexcmds
    pgf
    pgfcomp-version-0-65
    pgfcomp-version-1-18
    pgfcore
    pgffor
    pgfkeys
    pgfmath
    pgfrcs
    pgfsys
    setspace
    textcomp
    tikz
    titlesec
    todonotes
    trig
    xcolor
    xkeyval
  compiler: latexmk
    backend: jobs
    output: /var/folders/3y/grc5bbz509xf3bbf05x7zzvr0000gn/T/vKipthl/1
    configuration: 
      continuous: 1
      callback: 1
      latexmk options:
        -verbose
        -pdf
        -file-line-error
        -synctex=1
        -interaction=nonstopmode
    job: process 91284 run
    cmd: max_print_line=2000 latexmk -verbose -pdf -file-line-error -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -pvc -e '$new_viewer_always = "0"' -e '$pdf_previewer = "zathura  -x \"vim --servername VIM --remote +\%{line} \%{input}\" \%S"' -e '$success_cmd = "'""'vim'""' --servername 'VIM' --remote-expr \"vimtex\#compiler\#callback(1)\""' -e '$failure_cmd = "'""'vim'""' --servername 'VIM' --remote-expr \"vimtex\#compiler\#callback(0)\""' 'minimal.tex'
  viewer: Zathura
    xwin id: 0
    process: 
      pid: -
      cmd: zathura -x "vim --servername VIM --remote +\%{line} \%{input}" --synctex-forward 2:1:'/path/to/my/minimal.tex'  '/path/to/my/minimal.pdf' >/dev/null 2>&1 &
  qf: LaTeX logfile
    config: 
      fix_paths: 1
      packages: 
        default: 1
      default: 1

Any thoughts?

[lervag]

Yes: You should be able to run the zathura command from a terminal. It should give clear pointers to why it does not work. My suspicion is still that your zathura does not have libsynctex included, which will make the -x option an error. In general, all of the vimtex commands may be run directly from a terminal, and so this is the best place to debug when things like xdotool/zathura does not work as expected.

A minor suggestion: Use the minimal class when you define a minimal example. It will make the \li information more dense, since it does not load any packages.