[OzTeX] OzTeX 5.3b2 - pdflatex errors

[Andrew Trevorrow]

> Using pdflatex via OzTeX 5.3b2 interface on macOS 10.4.2
> 
> Sometimes OzTeX seems to lose the plot when calling pdflatex (from the OzTeX
> menu). It hangs in some way, such that I have to quit and and relaunch. This
> not a huge deal, and I'm not even sure it's an OzTeX problem. Maybe others
> have seen it and have a better idea.
> 
> One example that I captured this morning, goes like this:
> 
> Calling Unix command: pdflatex -efmt=pdflatex -shell
> -int=nonstopmode thermo.tex
> Current directory: /Users/njg/LaTex\
> Docs/ThermoPapers/TeX
> 
> *** pipe failed! ***

That error message occurs if the Unix pipe() function fails.
According to the man page, it can fail because:

- Too many descriptors are active.
- The system file table is full.
- The fildes buffer is in an invalid area of the process's address space.

The last one is highly unlikely, so my best guess is that you are
running an app (probably not OzTeX) that is using a lot of system
resources.  Try quitting all other apps and run pdflatex again.
If that fails, I guess you'll have to log out and back in.

Andrew