A Docker image to run LaTeX →

tex-dockerfile

This repo contains the Dockerfile I use to run LaTeX (or specifically, XeLaTeX).

I run LaTeX in a Docker container so:

• I don't have to muck around with installing MacTeX or TeX Live. I've had particular issues in the past when the year increments (e.g. 2018 to 2019), and suddenly tlmgr stops working.

• I have consistent package installations across machines.

• I can easily run LaTeX on a Linux server, which means I can compile LaTeX documents on my iPad over SSH.

The idea is that the base container should be pretty small, so it builds quickly, and then I add packages as needed with tlmgr .

Usage

Clone this repo, then build a Docker image from the Dockerfile:

git clone https://github.com/alexwlchan/tex-dockerfile.git
cd tex-dockerfile
docker build --tag alexwlchan/texlive .

To build a document, mount the folder containing the document at /data and run the Docker image, passing the name of the LaTeX binary and the source document as arguments. For example:

docker run \
  --volume $(pwd):/data \
  alexwlchan/texlive \
  xelatex example.tex

Adding fonts and packages

If you want to make extra fonts available to XeLaTeX, copy the font files (e.g. .otf , .ttf ) into the fonts directory and rebuild the Docker image.

If you want to install extra packages, create a second Dockerfile and use tlmgr to install the packages in that image. For example:

# lastpage.Dockerfile
FROM alexwlchan/texlive

RUN tlmgr update --self && tlmgr install lastpage

docker build --tag alexwlchan/texlive-with-lastpage --file lastpage.Dockerfile .

To build documents with this image, use the new image name in the docker run command:

docker run \
  --volume $(pwd):/data \
  alexwlchan/texlive-with-lastpage \
  xelatex example.tex

Licence

MIT.