[OS X TeX] TeXshop and LuaTeX

[Herbert Schulz]

> On Dec 23, 2019, at 4:59 AM, David Craig <dac at panix.com> wrote:
> 
> I’m interested in trying tikz-feynman  <https://jpellis.me/projects/tikz-feynman/>, which requires LuaTeX, which truthfully, I know zippo about except that “any day now” it’s going to become the default LaTeX, replacing pdftex.  Which I’ve been reading for I don’t know how many years … I figured I’d worry about it whenever that actually got around to happening.
> 
> Anyway … my question is, how do I switch easily back and forth between LuaTeX and pdftex in TeXShop?  I have tried googling and peering at the help, and I’m afraid I don’t feel adequately enlightened.  Or frankly, enlightened on this subject in any way at all. 
> 
> Help … please?
> 
> Thanks,
> David Craig

Howdy,

Since you want to use a different typesetting engine on a file by file basis you should probably use the `%!TEX program = xxxx' directive at the top of the file. Then, when you typeset using Typeset->Typeset (Cmd-T) TeeXShop will use the requested engine.

So, placing

%!TEX program = pdflatex

(notice TEX is all caps and there is a space before and after the =) pdflatex will be used. Replace `pdflatex' by `lulatex' to get it to use lualatex. To get a full list of active engines click on the popup menu next to the typeset button on the Source File Window's Tool Bar.

You might be interested in using the latexmk based engines. To try that out use the `pdflatexmk' engine. Other versions of the latexmk based engines must be activated: go to the ~/Library/TeXShop/Engines/Inactive/Latexmk folder (you can get to ~/Library/TeXShop using TeXShop's `TeXShop->Open ~/Library/TeXShop' menu command and proceed from there) and move all the files with extension .engine up two levels, to ~/Library/TeXShop/Engines (the (se)pdflatexmk.engines will get replaced by new ones). They will then see them listed on the Tool Bar popup menu after TeXShop is restarted. The latexmk based engines will completely typeset standard LaTeX based files to completion; doing runs of bibtex/biber (automatically choosing which is correct) and/or make index and multiple runs of the typesetting engine of choice); for more complex tpesetting it is possible to create files the let latexmk work with those special needs packages.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest dot com)

----------- Please Consult the Following Before Posting -----------
TeX FAQ: http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
List Reminders and Etiquette: https://sites.esm.psu.edu/~gray/tex/
List Archives: http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.comp.tex.macosx
                https://email.esm.psu.edu/pipermail/macosx-tex/
TeX on Mac OS X Website: http://mactex-wiki.tug.org/
List Info: https://email.esm.psu.edu/mailman/listinfo/macosx-tex