[tex-k] Problem with latxmk

[Karl Berry]

Hi Josef,

    The following example runs flawlessly with pdflatex, but an error
    occurs when using pdflatex with an output directory:

I assume you've also configured MKTEXPK=1 one way or another.

    pdflatex --output-directory=/tmp/t t.tex
    This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.26 (TeX Live 2024) (preloaded format=pdflatex)
    ...
    mktexpk: `mf-nowin -progname=mf \mode:=ljfour; mag:=1+0/600; nonstopmode; input ifsym10' failed to make ifsym10.600pk.

For the record, the ... above is what contains the actual error message,
which is:

  This is METAFONT, Version 2.71828182 (TeX Live 2024) (preloaded base=mf)
  ! I can't write on file `ifsym10.log'.

I'm not sure what specifically is going wrong, but the general problem
is that mktexpk doesn't know anything about -output-dir. It's not being
passed along to the mf-nowin invocation, as shown in your msg. That
might be fixable, but not quickly (at least not by me).

The workaround I can see is to generate the font outside the pdflatex
call. Run the TeX document without the -output-dir, or run mktexpk ifsym10 
as its own shell command. The result goes into (I think) $TEXMFVAR,
which should be visible to the run with -output-dir.

Or you can copy the pk into a central location if it needs to be shared,
or wherever it needs to go.  There is only one file involved (for this
example), ifsym10.600pk.

Thanks for the report / hope this helps,
Karl