Zathura doesn't open when called

[liamd101]

Description

I am trying to set up Zathura to view pdfs when working with Vimtex, but I cannot get it to work. When I run :VimtexCompile or :VimtexView, nothing seems to happen and I cannot figure out why. I am very new to this, so I apologize if I am missing something obvious.

Steps to reproduce

minimal.vim

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

minimal.tex

\documentclass{minimal}

\begin{document}
Hello world!
\end{document}

1. vim -u minimal.vim minimal.tex
2. Compile with \ll or :VimtexCompile
3. Get VimtexInfo
4. \lv or :VimtexView

Expected behavior

Zathura to open up with a pdf preview of the document.

Actual behavior

Nothing happens.

Do you use a latexmkrc file?

No

VimtexInfo

System info:
  OS: macOS 12.3.1 (21E258)
  Vim version: VIM 8.2 (1-3455)
  Has clientserver: true
  Servername: undefined (vim started without --servername)

VimTeX project: minimal
  base: minimal.tex
  root: /Users/liamdodds
  tex: /Users/liamdodds/minimal.tex
  main parser: current file verified
  document class: minimal
  compiler: latexmk
    engine: -pdf
    options:
      -verbose
      -file-line-error
      -synctex=1
      -interaction=nonstopmode
    callback: 1
    continuous: 1
    executable: latexmk
    job: 
      jobid: process 5030 run
      output: /var/folders/kc/pj12l0192gg4ljyhsk5y9w1h0000gn/T/v0Fason/0
      cmd: max_print_line=2000 latexmk -verbose -file-line-error -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode -pdf -pvc -view=none -e '$compiling_cmd = ($compiling_cmd ? $compiling_cmd . " ;
      pid: 5030
  viewer: Zathura
    xwin id: Failed creating new xdo instance.
    cmd_start: zathura  -x "/usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.2-172_1/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -T dumb --not-a-term -n -c \"VimtexInverseSearch %{line} '%{input}'\"" --synctex-forward
  qf method: LaTeX logfile

[lervag]

Did you read :help vimtex-faq-zathura-macos?

[liamd101]

Yes, I followed those directions when installing initially. I am/was following this guide to set everything up, and I don't think I missed any steps.

[lervag]

Great. Have you tested that Zathura works when you start it from the terminal?

Next, if it works: Can you repeat your initial test steps until \lv. Then do \li to see VimtexInfo. Copy the cmd_start from the viewer and see what happens if you run that from a terminal.

[liamd101]

When I run it from my terminal, a Zathura black window opens up with the title "org.pwmt.zathura" with text saying "[No name]" in the bottom of the window.

Copying my cmd_start into a terminal outputs

Liams-MBP:~ liamdodds$ zathura  -x "/usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.2-172_1/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -T dumb --not-a-term -n -c \"VimtexInverseSearch %{line} '%{input}'\"" --synctex-forward 1:1:'minimal.tex' 'minimal.pdf'&
[1] 5521
Liams-MBP:~ liamdodds$ error: Could not connect to session bus: Cannot autolaunch D-Bus without X11 $DISPLAY
error: Got no usable data from SyncTeX or D-Bus failed in some way.

[1]+  Exit 255                zathura -x "/usr/local/Cellar/macvim/8.2-172_1/MacVim.app/Contents/MacOS/Vim -T dumb --not-a-term -n -c \"VimtexInverseSearch %{line} '%{input}'\"" --synctex-forward 1:1:'minimal.tex' 'minimal.pdf'
Liams-MBP:~ liamdodds$ 

[lervag]

So, for some reason, there's a problem with dbus (the man topic of the faq section). I don't use MacOS and can't be of much help. Sorry. There have been several related issues, perhaps you can find some hints in one of them?

[ejmastnak]

Hey @liamd101! Sorry you are having trouble even though you followed the guide's instructions. Working with Linux programs like Zathura on macOS can be very finicky, so I'm not surprised dbus and Zathura are causing problems.

I just tried updating to your version of macOS (12.3.1) and can confirm Zathura is working properly on my machine, which makes me think---at least on principle---we can get it to work for you too.

Can you check the output of brew info zathura, brew info dbus, and brew services info dbus and paste them here? I want to make sure we have the same versions.

Here is what I get on my end (some irrelevant parts omitted):

$ brew info zathura
zegervdv/zathura/zathura: stable 0.4.8, HEAD
https://pwmt.org/projects/zathura/
/usr/local/Cellar/zathura/HEAD-87989da (51 files, 749.1KB) *
  Built from source on 2022-03-14 at 18:38:42 with: --with-synctex
From: https://github.com/zegervdv/homebrew-zathura/blob/HEAD/zathura.rb
==> Dependencies
Required: pkg-config ✔, libmagic ✔, gettext ✔, girara ✔, gnome-icon-theme ✔, glib ✔, desktop-file-utils ✔, intltool ✔, sphinx-doc ✔, meson ✔, gtk-mac-integration ✔
Optional: synctex ✔
==> Options
--with-synctex
        Build with synctex support
--HEAD
        Install HEAD version

$ brew info dbus
dbus: stable 1.14.0 (bottled), HEAD
Message bus system, providing inter-application communication
https://wiki.freedesktop.org/www/Software/dbus
/usr/local/Cellar/dbus/1.14.0 (77 files, 2.5MB) *
  Poured from bottle on 2022-03-14 at 18:17:51
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/dbus.rb
License: AFL-2.1 or GPL-2.0-or-later
==> Dependencies
Build: pkg-config ✔, xmlto ✘
==> Options
--HEAD
        Install HEAD version

$ brew services info dbus
dbus (org.freedesktop.dbus-session)
Running: ✔
Loaded: ✔
Schedulable: ✘

Note that I am no macOS expert---I use Linux on my main machine---so I can't guarantee a solution. But I'll do what I can to help; I definitely don't want to have a tutorial that is misleading users/doesn't work, especially since new VimTeX users might be reading it.

On that note, @lervag, I think I might add a sort of "Caveat: your mileage may vary warning, use at your own risk" warning to the macOS/Zathura section of the guide, since I don't daily-drive macOS, Apple has been known to break things unexpectedly, and there are so many moving parts with getting dbus playing nicely with Zathura and VimTeX on mac. What do you think?

[lervag]

Thanks for pitching int, @ejmastnak! For your question: I agree, but let's wait until we've (hopefully) resolved this issue first. It may bring more useful information on the table that can be relevant for an update to the docs.

[TornaxO7]

Interestingly sioyek doesn't work "anymore" for me as well.

let g:vimtex_view_method = 'sioyek'

I have this line in my config. It used to work but it didn't work anymore for some days (or even weeks) now.
zathura is working instead interestingly.

[lervag]

Sorry, @TornaxO7, but now you are being very off topic. Please open a new issue if something is not working as expected, and please, provide the relevant and necessary details when you do.

[TornaxO7]

Sorry, @TornaxO7, but now you are being very off topic.

oh sorry, I thought that this might suit here

[lervag]

I hope I did not come off too aggressive. I just didn't understand how your obvservation was relevant to this thread. The topic is Zathura; MacOS; D-Bus. Why is Sioyek relevant? And why is it relevant that Zathura works for you? (It works for me as well; and last I tried, Sioyek worked for me.)

[liamd101]

Can you check the output of brew info zathura, brew info dbus, and brew services info dbus and paste them here? I want to make sure we have the same versions.

Here are the outputs:

Liams-MBP:~ liamdodds$ brew info zathura
zegervdv/zathura/zathura: stable 0.4.8, HEAD
https://pwmt.org/projects/zathura/
/usr/local/Cellar/zathura/HEAD-72f3ce1 (51 files, 625.4KB) *
  Built from source on 2022-05-14 at 09:54:09 with: --with-synctex
From: https://github.com/zegervdv/homebrew-zathura/blob/HEAD/zathura.rb
==> Dependencies
Required: pkg-config ✔, libmagic ✔, gettext ✔, girara ✔, gnome-icon-theme ✔, glib ✔, desktop-file-utils ✔, intltool ✔, sphinx-doc ✔, meson ✔, gtk-mac-integration ✔
Optional: synctex ✔
==> Options
--with-synctex
	Build with synctex support
--HEAD
	Install HEAD version

Liams-MBP:~ liamdodds$ brew info dbus
dbus: stable 1.14.0 (bottled), HEAD
Message bus system, providing inter-application communication
https://wiki.freedesktop.org/www/Software/dbus
/usr/local/Cellar/dbus/1.14.0 (77 files, 2.5MB) *
  Poured from bottle on 2022-05-14 at 09:42:56
From: https://github.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/blob/HEAD/Formula/dbus.rb
License: AFL-2.1 or GPL-2.0-or-later
==> Dependencies
Build: pkg-config ✔, xmlto ✘
==> Options
--HEAD
	Install HEAD version
==> Caveats
To start dbus now and restart at login:
  brew services start dbus
==> Analytics
install: 31,103 (30 days), 130,003 (90 days), 319,854 (365 days)
install-on-request: 975 (30 days), 4,945 (90 days), 10,885 (365 days)
build-error: 5 (30 days)

Liams-MBP:~ liamdodds$ brew services info dbus
dbus (org.freedesktop.dbus-session)
Running: ✘
Loaded: ✔
Schedulable: ✘

The only differences I notices in our two outputs were the "Running" line and the caveat in dbus. Since I was actually given steps/prompt for the caveat, I started with that.

I ran brew services start dbus, and the output was this:

Bootstrap failed: 5: Input/output error
Try re-running the command as root for richer errors.
Error: Failure while executing; `/bin/launchctl bootstrap gui/501/Users/liamdodds/Library/LaunchAgents/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist` exited with 5.

So I ran sudo brew services start dbus, which gave me

Warning: Taking root:admin ownership of some dbus paths:
  /usr/local/Cellar/dbus/1.14.0/bin
  /usr/local/Cellar/dbus/1.14.0/bin/dbus-daemon
  /usr/local/opt/dbus
  /usr/local/opt/dbus/bin
  /usr/local/var/homebrew/linked/dbus
This will require manual removal of these paths using `sudo rm` on
brew upgrade/reinstall/uninstall.
Warning: dbus must be run as non-root to start at user login!
/Library/LaunchDaemons/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist: service already bootstrapped
Bootstrap failed: 37: Operation already in progress
Error: Failure while executing; `/bin/launchctl bootstrap system /Library/LaunchDaemons/org.freedesktop.dbus-session.plist` exited with 37.

I am assuming that I should just run sudo rm /usr/local/Cellar/dbus/1.14.0/bin, etc for those, but I don't want to accidentally remove something I shouldn't have.

[ejmastnak]

Here are the outputs:

Great, thanks for checking! So it looks like the dbus service isn't running, which would explain why Zathura was complaining about dbus.

Could you check two more things:

1. The output of echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS (making sure the environment variable DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS has been set)
2. The output of grep "<auth>" /usr/local/opt/dbus/share/dbus-1/session.conf (checking the authentication mechanism set in your dbus session config file)

For reference, here is my echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS (yours will probably be slightly different, but we're expecting something in /private/tmp.)

$ echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
unix:path=/private/tmp/com.apple.launchd.HGNwmUAuFv/unix_domain_listener

And my authentication method:

$ grep "<auth>" /usr/local/opt/dbus/share/dbus-1/session.conf
  comment out the <auth> element to allow fallback to DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1. -->
  <auth>DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1</auth>

[liamd101]

echo $DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS has no output.

And grep "<auth>" /usr/local/opt/dbus/share/dbus-1/session.conf:

Liams-MBP:~ liamdodds$ grep "<auth>" /usr/local/opt/dbus/share/dbus-1/session.conf
  comment out the <auth> element to allow fallback to DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1. -->
  <auth>DBUS_COOKIE_SHA1</auth>