[texworks] Adding to typesetting path on MacOS

[Duncan Murdoch]

On 2024-10-27 8:46 a.m., Joseph Wright wrote:
> On 27/10/2024 12:42, Duncan Murdoch wrote:
>> On 2024-10-27 6:03 a.m., Duncan Murdoch wrote:
>>> For one of the typesetting tools I'm using, I need access to ghostscript
>>> for graphics file format conversion.  My copy of gs is in /opt/
>>> homebrew/bin.
>>>
>>> I am having trouble adding /opt/homebrew/bin to the typesetting path,
>>> because the preferences dialog opens a file dialog for changes, and /opt
>>> isn't showing up.  If I open / in the Finder, it shows opt as a grayed
>>> out entry, presumably indicating some sort of hidden attribute, but I
>>> don't see it at all in the TeXWorks dialog.
>>>
>>> Any suggestions how to add it to the typesetting path?  I suuppose Iis a
>>> could link to gs from an existing directory in the path, but I'd prefer
>>> a cleaner solution.
>>
>> I found a solution to this:  if I open / in the TeXworks dialog, and
>> also in a Finder window, I can drag /opt from Finder to the TeXworks
>> dialog and it will open.  Then I can add my /opt/homebrew/bin entry.
>>
>> HOWEVER, this doesn't help.  gs is still not being found.  If my
>> typesetting tool prints the PATH that it sees, it shows a minimal path:
>>
>>     /usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/local/bin
>>
>> If I start TeXworks from a shell, then it sees the full path that was
>> active in the shell, and things are fine.
>>
>> So now my question is:  how do I change the PATH environment variable
>> that typesetting tools see?
>>
>> Duncan Murdoch
> 
> You can't - as TeXworks is cross-platform, it doesn't have a special
> feature to address the way macOS deals with the path for GUIs
> (basically, they don't get one), cf. macOS-specific tools like TeXshop.
> 
> You have to arrange that whatever tools you need are visible inside the
> 'correct' paths - here, MacTeX should have arranged that GhostScript is
> inside /usr/local/bin, so I'm wondering why you are trying to use one
> from HoneBrew.

I'm not using MacTeX, I'm using a different minimal install of TeXLive.

But this isn't really a MacOS specific issue.  I think often the 
typesetting tools would want a different PATH than the system PATH.  I 
thought that was what the "Paths for TeX and related programs" section 
of the TeXworks preferences was for.  So what does it actually do?

Duncan Murdoch