[texworks] Adding to typesetting path on MacOS

[Jérôme LAURENS]

Hi,

Instead of launching TeXworks by double clicking the icon, you can open a terminal window and execute

/Applications/TeX/TeXworks.app/Contents/MacOS/TeXworks&

Then TeXworks will access any tool currently available in the terminal.
I personnel use that with the minted package that needs access to python.

If necessary, you can change "/Applications/TeX" to fit your needs.
The final & is optional, it means to run TeXworks in the background of the terminal.

Jérôme LAURENS

> Le 27 oct. 2024 à 14:36, Duncan Murdoch <murdoch.duncan at gmail.com> a écrit :
> 
> On 2024-10-27 9:14 a.m., Duncan Murdoch wrote:
>> 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?
> 
> Okay, I see now.  Every typesetting command runs a single executable, not a script.  TW uses the "Paths" setting to find that executable, it doesn't set the PATH to find it.
> 
> So I guess a suggestion would be to do both things:  set the path as requested, then run the executable.
> 
> Duncan Murdoch

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