latexmk callback commands (e.g. success_cmd) not respected

[jbernhard]

I have set success_cmd in my global ~/.latexmkrc:

$success_cmd = 'my shell command';

This works as expected when running latexmk outside of vimtex. However, vimtex overrides success_cmd, and my custom command never runs.

The *_cmd variables are discussed in the vimtex docs and there is even an example using xdotool. There is a note that says:

If you define these options similar to the above xdotool trick and still want to enable the vimtex callbacks, then one must include a semicolon at the end of the cmd strings so that vimtex may append safely to the options.

I have tried this, i.e. in ~/.latexmkrc:

$success_cmd = 'my shell command;';

But it still does not work. Indeed, I can see that in vimtex/autoload/vimtex/compiler/latexmk.vim there is no logic for appending to the command strings.

Any thoughts? Thanks for building vimtex!

[lervag]

By default, the $success_cmd is used by vimtex in order to get status updates from latexmk and to open the quickfix list if there are errors. You can turn this off with :help g:vimtex_compiler_latexmk, i.e.

let g:vimtex_compiler_latexmk = {'callback' : 0}

However, if you do this, then you should make sure that your custom success cmd interacts with (neo)Vim if you want to get this kind of coupling.

[jbernhard]

Could vimtex append to custom commands rather than overriding them?

[lervag]

It's harder than it seems, actually. It would lead to a considerable complication to the code. I think it is much easier for you to update your .latexmkrc to combine your desired functionality with vimtex. Something like this:

$success_cmd = "vim --servername SOMETHING --remote-expr 'vimtex#compiler#callback(1)'; my shell command"

Note, though, that the part vim --servername SOMETHING is important, because you need to specify the correct servername. With neovim, this is even more difficult. On Vim, it should not be too difficult, e.g. if you "always" use servername VIM.

Note also that you need to ensure that everything is escaped correctly. I am not 100% sure my suggestion above works perfectly, you should check that yourself.

[jbernhard]

OK thanks, I will figure something out.

[Nicholas42]

Hi,

just ran into this problem and for me changing latexmk.vim as follows works well

diff --git a/autoload/vimtex/compiler/latexmk.vim b/autoload/vimtex/compiler/latexmk.vim
index 00d7dce..ec836b3 100644
--- a/autoload/vimtex/compiler/latexmk.vim
+++ b/autoload/vimtex/compiler/latexmk.vim
@@ -16,8 +16,8 @@ endfunction
 " }}}1
 function! vimtex#compiler#latexmk#wrap_option(name, value) abort " {{{1
   return has('win32')
-        \ ? ' -e "$' . a:name . ' = ''' . a:value . '''"'
-        \ : ' -e ''$' . a:name . ' = "' . a:value . '"'''
+        \ ? ' -e "$' . a:name . ' .= ''; ' . a:value . '''"'
+        \ : ' -e ''$' . a:name . ' .= "; ' . a:value . '"'''
 endfunction
 
 "}}}1

since that will just append the echo command to all previous success_cmd. That's also how I mostly write my latexmkrc-files since otherwise it is easy to accidentally overwrite something. Is there something I am not aware of that will subtly break by this?

Thanks for creating this project and sorry if I a missing something here.

[lervag]

just ran into this problem and for me changing latexmk.vim as follows works well
...
...
Is there something I am not aware of that will subtly break by this?

Interesting idea, and good question. I worry that this will break things, because the wrap_option function is used for changing several options of different types, e.g. see:

vimtex/autoload/vimtex/view/mupdf.vim

Lines 68 to 72 in 6c0c94e

	let cmd = vimtex#compiler#latexmk#wrap_option('new_viewer_always', '0')
	let cmd .= vimtex#compiler#latexmk#wrap_option('pdf_update_method', '2')
	let cmd .= vimtex#compiler#latexmk#wrap_option('pdf_update_signal', 'SIGHUP')
	let cmd .= vimtex#compiler#latexmk#wrap_option('pdf_previewer',
	\ 'mupdf ' . g:vimtex_view_mupdf_options)

A possibility could be to add an alternative wrap_option_append and use it for the callbacks, though. Your suggested change does not break any tests, but the viewer interfaces (where the function is also used) are not tested. But it does indicate that your suggestion is safe for the success_cmd and failure_cmd options.

[Nicholas42]

Ah, I see. I am not familiar with vim-scripting and was unaware that this function could be used in other parts of the code as well. I think one should think about which arguments one would want to append to and which one want to replace. On first glance it seems that the viewer options should always be replacements and success_cmd and failure_cmd are the only that should be appending.

Also I would indicate that this append is done for shell commands, since the separator (here a ;) is specific for that. I will create a pull request.

PS: I am using vimtex on linux with zathura as viewer, so that's where I tested it.

[lervag]

@jbernhard In case you're still using VimTeX and this issue is still of any relevance to you, it would be interesting to hear if the now implemented solution suggested by @Nicholas42 solves your issue as well.

[jbernhard]

Wow, funny to see this come up again almost three years later. I haven't been writing much LaTeX recently but this does look like it would work. Thanks @Nicholas42!