$\LaTeX$ compilers and distributions

What is a $\TeX$ distribution?

A $\TeX$ distribution is a set of tools and programs packaged together that makes possible to write and compile $\LaTeX$ documents.

There are a lot of $\TeX$ distributions, most of them are platform-specific and other target a broader set of systems.

Popular distributions

Compilers? 🤔

In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the source language) into another language (the target language).

In our case, the source language is $\LaTeX$ and the "target language" is the target document specification (e.g. PDF).

Compilation flow

Many different compilers...

There are a lot of different $\TeX$ compilers, each one with its own quirks:

• latex: standard $\LaTeX$ compiler
• pdftex: compiles directly to PDF and can handle image formats such as .jpg and .png natively
• xetex: native UTF-8 support and ideal for
  multilingual typesttings
• luatex: native UTF-8 support and allows lua scripting, making it the most versatile

...but one to rule them all

Introducing latexmk, an automagic Perl script.

• It wraps the $\TeX$ compiler and $\LaTeX$ macros
• Runs iteratively to resolve cross-references and bibliography references across multiple files
• It can look for changes in the document and refresh the preview automatically
• Allows the use of custom configurations and settings

You can run it by hand...

latexmk offers a wide variety of flags and options.

The following command, for example, continuously checks all input files for changes, automagically re-compiling the whole document (if needed) and displaying the result
in real time:

latexmk -pvc -pdf file.tex

(Refer to the latexmk documentation)

...but if you don't want to

latexmk usually comes already bundled with most smart editors and can be enabled with the press of a button.

Its functionalities can even be integrated in user-hostile text editors (such as Vim) through plugins
and custom keybindings.