Viewer cannot find Zathura window ID on macOS

[flimofly]

Issue
In Neovim on MacOS, when pressing \lv to trigger :VimtexView, I get error message vimtex: Viewer cannot find Zathura window ID!. The Zathura window does not get a xwin id. xdotool is installed.

minimal.vim

set nocompatible
let &runtimepath  = '~/.vim/plugged/vimtex,' . &runtimepath
let &runtimepath .= ',~/.vim/plugged/vimtex/after'
filetype plugin indent on
syntax on

let g:vimtex_view_method = 'zathura'

minimal.tex

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\title{Big Title}
\author{Author Name}
\maketitle

\section{Chapter Title}
Consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aenean commodo ligula eget dolor.

\section{Chapter next}
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet,

\end{document}

Output from VimtexCompileOuput

Rc files read:
  NONE
Latexmk: This is Latexmk, John Collins, 17 Apr. 2020, version: 4.69a.
Viewing pdf
======= Need to update make_preview_continuous for target files
Latexmk: I have not found a previewer that is already running. 
   So I will start it for 'mwe.pdf'
------------
Latexmk: All targets (mwe.pdf) are up-to-date
For rule 'view', running '&if_source(  )' ...
------------
Running 'start zathura  -x "nvr --servername /var/folders/bv/ctdkmjy5583dgsks5z4tf8r40000gn/T/vimr_E4615521-7C8A-4FBF-812D-F4D6EB8D1DBC.sock --remote +%{line} %{input}" "mwe.pdf"'
------------
------------
Running 'echo vimtex_compiler_callback_success'
------------
vimtex_compiler_callback_success

Commands/Input

• Open source file
• Compile with \ll
• Put cursor within body of source file and do \lv or :VimtexView

Observed Behaviour
Error message appears

Expected Behaviour
Expect window to shift and passage to be highlighted in Zathura

Output from VimtexInfo

System info
  OS: Mac OS X 10.15.5 (19F101)
  Vim version: NVIM v0.4.3
  Has clientserver: true
  Servername: /var/folders/bv/ctdkmjy5583dgsks5z4tf8r40000gn/T/vimr_B34B0D20-0B2F-4D8E-B5B4-8BB5EBCAC57A.sock

vimtex project: mwe
  base: mwe.tex
  root: /Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe
  tex: /Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe/mwe.tex
  out: /Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe/mwe.pdf
  log: /Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe/mwe.log
  aux: /Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe/mwe.aux
  fls: /Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe/mwe.fls
  main parser: current file verified
  compiler: latexmk
    backend: nvim
    output: /var/folders/bv/ctdkmjy5583dgsks5z4tf8r40000gn/T/nvim3vxPQp/0
    configuration: 
      continuous: 1
      callback: 1
      latexmk options:
        -verbose
        -file-line-error
        -synctex=1
        -interaction=nonstopmode
      latexmk engine: -pdf
    pid: 1516
    cmd: max_print_line=2000 latexmk -verbose -file-line-error -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -pdf -pvc -e '$new_viewer_always = "0"' -e '$pdf_previewer = "zathura  -x \"nvr --servername /var/folders/bv/ctdkmjy5583dgsks5z4tf8r40000gn/T/vimr_B34B0D20-0B2F-4D8E-B5B4-8BB5EBCAC57A.sock --remote +\%{line} \%{input}\" \%S"' -e '$success_cmd = "echo vimtex_compiler_callback_success"' -e '$failure_cmd = "echo vimtex_compiler_callback_failure"' 'mwe.tex'
  viewer: Zathura
    xwin id: 0
    process: 
      pid: -
      cmd: zathura -x "nvr --servername /var/folders/bv/ctdkmjy5583dgsks5z4tf8r40000gn/T/vimr_B34B0D20-0B2F-4D8E-B5B4-8BB5EBCAC57A.sock --remote-expr \"vimtex#view#reverse_goto(%{line}, '%{input}')\"" --synctex-forward 11:14:'/Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe/mwe.tex'  '/Users/Timothy/Desktop/mwe/mwe.pdf' >/dev/null 2>&1 &
  qf: LaTeX logfile
    config: 
      packages: 
        default: 1
      default: 1
  document class: article

---

Edit by @lervag: Remove unnecessary options from minimal vimrc.

[lervag]

In #1735 I got the impression that this issue was resolved. Did I misunderstand?

[flimofly]

A different issue lay at the basis of that one. Once I resolved that, I got the error message that's in the title of this issue. For future reference it seemed more clear to create a separate issue for both.

[lervag]

Ok. Have you tried the commands from a terminal? That is:

1. Open the mwe.pdf in Zathura with a command like this from a terminal in the same location as the file: zathura -x "nvr --remote-expr \"vimtex#view#reverse_goto(%{line}, '%{input}')\"" --synctex-forward 11:14:mwe.tex mwe.pdf
2. Now do xdotool search --class Zathura. What's the output?

[flimofly]

Thanks. Nothing happens when I run that command in Terminal. Zathura doesn't open and the terminal doesn't give me a new prompt.

[lervag]

Ok, then try simply zathura mwe.pdf. Does that work?

Do you have Zathura with libsynctex support? Which version of Zathura? What's the output of zathura --help?

[flimofly]

That command works: the pdf opens as expected.
I reinstalled zathura with synctex just to be sure but nothing changed.
Output of zathura --help is this:

  zathura [OPTION…]  [file1] [file2] [...]

Help Options:
  -h, --help                           Show help options

Application Options:
  -e, --reparent=xid                   Reparents to window specified by xid (X11)
  -c, --config-dir=path                Path to the config directory
  -d, --data-dir=path                  Path to the data directory
  --cache-dir=path                     Path to the cache directory
  -p, --plugins-dir=path               Path to the directories containing plugins
  --fork                               Fork into the background
  -w, --password=password              Document password
  -P, --page=number                    Page number to go to
  -l, --log-level=level                Log level (debug, info, warning, error)
  -v, --version                        Print version information
  -x, --synctex-editor-command=cmd     Synctex editor (forwarded to the synctex command)
  --synctex-forward=position           Move to given synctex position
  --synctex-pid=pid                    Highlight given position in the given process
  --mode=mode                          Start in a non-default mode

[lervag]

Good, but you did not respond to all of my questions:

Ok. Have you tried the commands from a terminal? That is:

1. Open the mwe.pdf in Zathura with a command like this from a terminal in the same location as the file: zathura -x "nvr --remote-expr "vimtex#view#reverse_goto(%{line}, '%{input}')"" --synctex-forward 11:14:mwe.tex mwe.pdf
2. Now do xdotool search --class Zathura. What's the output?

[flimofly]

My apologies for the late reply (holiday).

When I copy paste the first command in a Terminal I now get:
zsh: unknown file attribute: { Other times it runs but nothing happens at all.

When I subsequently type the xdotool command I don't get anything. When I instead do zathura mwe.pdf, zathura correctly opens the PDF. When I then run the xdotool command there is no output either.

[lervag]

Thanks. I believe the zathura command is correct, except for some escaping. You could try this:

zathura -x 'nvr --remote-expr "vimtex#view#reverse_goto(%{line}, ''%{input}'')"' ...

However, I think the real problem is that xdotool is not working as expected. Before we proceed on the Vim side of things, we need to make sure we can start Zathura, then use xdotool from a terminal to obtain the X window ID.

So, for now, simplify:

1. Open a pdf in Zathura: zathura mwe.pdf & (last & to make it go to background).

2. Now again, confirm that xdotool search --class Zathura does not give any output.

3. Install xprop or xwininfo, if necessary.

4. Run xprop to get the window properties from the Zathura window. Try with xwininfo as well. What's the output?

I've already mentioned that this seems related to #1719. Can you please read that thread again, especially the comments from June 17 and later? E.g. this comment seems relevant.

[flimofly]

1. I can open the pdf but the & doesn't put the process in the background. It does give me what looks like a PID, e.g.
   [1] 18412
2. xdotool search --class Zathura gives no output
3. Running the command xprop and clicking on the zathura window does nothing. Running xwininfo asks me explicitly to click in the zathura window but when I do that nothing happens

I don't know whether this is true on Linux but on macOS zathura does not behave like a normal window. When opened like this it's attached to the Terminal process. I can't close the zathura window separtely, I can only do this by closing the Terminal session.

I've tried to implement the #1719 wrapper script but I don't quite know how to translate this to macOS. Even with sudo I can't just copy that script to /usr/bin/. I also wouldn't know how to check where that folder is in my PATH. Any ideas on how to adapt the instructions in that thread to my system?

[lervag]

I've tried to implement the #1719 wrapper script but I don't quite know how to translate this to macOS. Even with sudo I can't just copy that script to /usr/bin/. I also wouldn't know how to check where that folder is in my PATH. Any ideas on how to adapt the instructions in that thread to my system?

Ah, I'm sorry, my mistake. I thought that issue was related to OSX, but it was related to Wayland on Linux. However, this issue is relevant. Could you read the linked comment and see if it helps?

[lervag]

Ah, no, sorry. I realize @ktran9891 get's the same message as you. So, it seems noone so far has been able to get Zathura to fully work on OSX. I don't use OSX myself, and I am confident that the issue here is related to the xdotool part. It seems it is not possible to obtain the window ID with xdotool. To solve the issue, you would have to investigate this part, and I'm afraid I am not able to help further with that.