docker-latex

Container for building LaTeX documents (using TeXlive)

Building The Image

docker build -t jojomi/latex .

Compiling a TeX Document

Usually you would set your working directory and then call little scripts in bin directory:

cd example
../bin/pdflatex

This will compile document.tex. You can add parameters and change the latex binary (support for pdflatex, xelatex, and lualatex is included):

../bin/lualatex document.tex

If you want those binaries to be globally available, you'll have to put them in your PATH. Check its current value like this:

echo $PATH

Now pick one of the directories listed there and link the scripts there:

for f in bin/*; do sudo ln -s "$(pwd)/$f" /usr/local/bin/$(basename $f); done

Size

docker images | grep jojomi/latex

REPOSITORY                TAG                 IMAGE ID            CREATED             VIRTUAL SIZE
jojomi/latex              latest              1ec25f9f4346        1 minute ago        694 MB

Customizing

You can customize the image if you build it yourself (see above about how to build). This way you can adapt the package selection with these packages from the Ubuntu Vivid Vervet repository⁠

Future Plans

It might be a good idea to document how to use this to offer Compilation as a Service (CaaS) to users on remote machines. Technically sshfs or rsync are options to go with in that case I think. In a CaaS scenario the need to have a local TeX installation with all its pain is gone. Solve problems once, not over and over again!