1

I started writing a book last year with

  • "TexLive 2015"
  • my literature managed by "biber"
  • own biblio files bbx and cbx
  • "Texmaker" as editor

and everything worked smoothly.

As my old computer started having some troubles, I bought a new one and installed "TexLive 2016" from scratch on it, copied the biblio files (bbx anx cbx) to the respective folders as where they were before and made any settings in "Texmaker" analoguous to what I had on the old computer.

However when I try to compile my book.tex file, it ends up in error messages saying that my bibio files are not found.

A rearch in the forums revealed that "TechLive 2016" is incompatible with biber 2.6. So I tried removing biber 2.6 and replaced it by biber 2.4, but the errors remain unchanged.

Currently, I'm totally lost and afraid, that all the weeks of work on my book is doomed.

Could anyone give me please some information how I can get this software back to work? As I am a newbie, a more detailed description of a remedy is highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Regards,

Oli

Further information:

Here the detailed version of what I did:

  1. Installation of Linux Mint 18, 64 Bit, Mate on a blank harddisk.
  2. Download of texlive2016-20160523.iso and extraction of that file into a new folder texlive.
  3. In that folder texlive sudo ./install-tl -gui and installation of TexLive 2016.
  4. In terminal environment variable adjusted: PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2016/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH
  5. In terminal normal user (Oli) endued with rights: sudo chown -hR Oli /usr/local/texlive/2016
  6. In terminal TexLive Manager started with tlmgr gui and complete update of TexLive (around 375 packages were updated).
  7. Copy of my biblio files iest_neu.bbx and iest_neu.cbx from my old computer to the two folders where they used to be, which are /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/tex/latex/biblatex-iest and a hidden folder in my home folder ~/.texmf/tex/latex/biblatex-iest (ownerships and flags of the copied files were checked for correctness).
  8. In the editor Texmaker adaption of the preferences analoguously to what they looked like on my old computer, which relates to only three settings: a) the PdfLaTex path was set to /usr/local/texlive/2016/bin/x86_64-linux/pdflatex, b) the Bib(la)tex entry to biber %, and c) in the quick compilation settings, the radio button was set to the second position.

When I compile my book.tex file on the old computer, it runs through smoothly. The same tex file on the new computer yields many error messages, of which two principles are identified:

  1. File: /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/biblatex.sty, Type: Error, Lines: 13001 and 13002, Message: ! Package biblatex Error: Style 'iest_neu' not found. See the biblatex package docu... enter image description here
  2. File: /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/tex/latex/biblatex/biblatex.sty, Type: Error, Many lines..., Message: ! Package biblatex Error: Command '\cite' undefined. See the biblatex package docu... enter image description here

As proposed, I tried to locate my biblio files by kpsewhich. For that, an additional installation of package texlive-binaries was necessary. However when I searched for my biblio files iest_neu.bbx and iest_neu.cbx, as well as for the file biblatex-examples.bib, kpsewhich neither gives an output, nor an error message. Nonetheless, when I look for these files in Midnight Commander, I truly find them (my biblio files iest_neu.bbx and iest_neu.cbx at the places already mentioned above and the file biblatex-examples.bib in the folders /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/doc/latex/biblatex/examples and /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/bibtex/bib/biblatex).

The attempted removal and reinstallation of biblatex in tlmgr gui fails. The logfile outputs this: enter image description here

Solution:

Finally, I found the solution to my problems by myself. For the scenario

Texlive 2016 + biber 2.6 + TexMaker 4.4.1 + own biblio files (*.bbx and *.cbx)

I state that in contrast to Texlive 2016 + biber 2.4 the following changes need to be done - otherwise your tex files will fail to compile:

  • your own biblio files need to be in your home directory in a visible folder ~/texmf/tex/latex/ (formerly, it was possible to put them in a hidden folder)
  • in the preferences for Bib(la)tex in TexMaker, you need to indicate the full path like that "/usr/local/texlive/2016/bin/x86_64-linux/biber" % (formerly, it was sufficient to write biber % there)

Best regards,

Oli

Oli
  • 143
  • 4
  • Don't panic. 2. biber 2.6 is compatible with texlive 2016, reinstall it. 3. It could be that you will have to adapt your own bbx and cbx-files to the newest biblatex version. But as you didn't say what errors you get, didn't show your files and didn't show a minimal example it is not possible to say more.
    • – Ulrike Fischer Oct 28 '16 at 22:08
  • 1
    Not finding files is usually a different problem than finding the files, but thinking there's a version mis-match. If you are worried about the finding problem, try kpsewhich myfile.bbx (if looking for myfile.bbx); is the file found? If not, try kpsewhich biblatex-examples.bib; is that file found? If kpsewhich is finding things, then maybe the editor you are using is involved in the problem. If things aren't being found, then that's the first issue to sort out. Please update your question once you have sorted out whether things are being found or not. – jon Oct 28 '16 at 22:14
  • 1
    Where did you put the files? – Herb Schulz Oct 28 '16 at 22:43
  • Please provide the exact text of error messages rather than an interpretation as it is much less likely we will misunderstand due to miscommunication. – cfr Oct 29 '16 at 00:37
  • Please take a look at my addendum above. – Oli Oct 29 '16 at 12:09
  • 1
    Sounds like something is messed up. I would deinstall biblatex with the package manager and reinstall it using the package manager. And place the IEST files in the same directory as the book source. – Johannes_B Oct 29 '16 at 12:15
  • Out of interest, are you a member of TUBAF? – Johannes_B Oct 29 '16 at 12:16
  • @cfr: I uploaded the respective screenshots (cf. above) – Oli Oct 30 '16 at 22:19
  • @Johannes_B: I tried to de/reinstall biblatex, but this doesn't work (cf. screenshot of the logfile above). As for TUBAF: When looking for an appropriate biblio style, I found the interesting approach by Frank Sandig [link] (http://ekkehardt.lima-city.de/hp/download/ganzneu/v-biblatex-iest_ul.pdf), who is probably a member of TUBAF. – Oli Oct 30 '16 at 22:24
  • Hihi, i attended this talk :-) – Johannes_B Oct 30 '16 at 22:43
  • Unless you changed the default, your personal TEXMF tree is not a dot directory but ~/texmf. If you installed the files into the local TEXMF tree reather than your personal TEXMF tree, then you must run mktexlsr to update the filename database. The chown command may or may not be what you wanted as it fails to specify a group. How did you do step 4? – cfr Oct 30 '16 at 22:45
  • Please copy and paste the code rather than providing screenshots, which are much more difficult to read and completely inaccessible to screen readers. – cfr Oct 30 '16 at 22:46
  • @cfr: As for step 4: I opened a terminal (normal user, not root), typed PATH=/usr/local/texlive/2016/bin/x86_64-linux:$PATH and pressed . There was no output and the cursor was in a new line at the usual prompt like before. – Oli Oct 31 '16 at 12:11
  • @cfr: Concerning the TEXMF tree: As outlined in Step 7, I copied my biblio files to both folders (cf. above). The TEXMF folder was not modified by myself into a dot directory, but installed like that by TeXLive. Concerning chown: Ownership and group were identical to what worked on my old computer, i.e. both belonging to the normal user, not root or something else. Concerning mktexlsr: No remedy. – Oli Oct 31 '16 at 12:19
  • @Oli That will not change your PATH correctly even for that terminal session. More generally, any changes you make just at the command line will only persist for so long as you remain in the current shell. The TeX Live installer does not create a TEXMF home directory for users as far as I know and it is not a dot directory by default. The files are not found in your local tree because it is searched via the filename database. They are probably not found in your home directory because you have probably not put them in the right place. To find your home use kpsewhich -var TEXMFHOME. – cfr Oct 31 '16 at 12:30
  • Did you install a full TeX Live? In any case, you appear to have two installations of TeX: one installed from upstream and one installed with Ubuntu's package manager. You should remove one or other. (I'd recommend removing Ubuntu's.) TeX Live's package manager, tlmgr, does not know anything about a package named texlive-binaries but Ubuntu's probably does. – cfr Oct 31 '16 at 12:37
  • @Johannes_B: I deinstalled with tlmgr gui all biblatex related packages, 125 in total and reinstalled them afterwards. However, the errors upon compiling my tex file remain unchanged. – Oli Nov 01 '16 at 11:38
  • @cfr: There are no two installations of TexLive. In Ubuntu's Synaptic package manager, there are no Tex related packages installed (yet they are there and could be ticked for installation). My TexLive installation was done by downloading the iso file and in the terminal by typing sudo ./install-tl -gui, as outlined in steps 1 to 3 above. – Oli Nov 01 '16 at 11:43
  • Ihaven't read the whole comment track, but you cannot install iest witl tlmgr. It is not inclued in TL. You have toinstall the style according to the github documentation. – Johannes_B Nov 01 '16 at 16:08
  • @Johannes_B: That's even obvious to me that the iest files are not part of the standard TL distribution. So I followed once again the github documentation and made my hidden folder ~/.texmf/tex/latex/biblatex-iestnow visible by renaming .texmf into texmf. As a consequence, The error messages concerning the not found biblio files have disappeared. However now, another single error message appears now: Error : could not start the command : biber "book" (the filename of my tex file is book.tex). That's odd, because of installation step 8b (cf. above). – Oli Nov 01 '16 at 20:55
  • Moreover, I wonder why my biblio files are well found on my old computer, although they are well located there in the hidden .texmf folder. – Oli Nov 01 '16 at 21:01
  • biber is not in your PATH because you haven't set it correctly. pdflatex is found because you have configured it with a full path name. – cfr Nov 01 '16 at 23:15
  • @cfr: Interestingly, many other pertinent threads (e.g. [link] (http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/180354/run-biber-in-texmaker-ubuntu)) advise to refer to biber in Texmaker only by the parametre biber % - without any path. Perhaps that this is not valid anymore for TexLive 2016? Do you know where biber is lying in the file tree? – Oli Nov 02 '16 at 10:47
  • That is sensible advice. However, it assumes you have configured your PATH correctly. As far as I can tell, you haven't. This is a basic post-installation step required for pretty much anything to work and is not specific to Biber. Just set your PATH. Otherwise, you'll need to use full paths for every single binary in TeX Live. – cfr Nov 02 '16 at 23:00
  • @Admins: You may set this thread to [Solved], please. Thanks. – Oli Nov 04 '16 at 17:21
  • @cfr Is it worth to add an answer? If so, please do. If not, i assume we can close? – Johannes_B Nov 05 '16 at 09:00
  • @Johannes_B I wouldn't know what to say. What solved it? Moreover, at least one of the issues here is to do with PATH and really off-topic. The other is multiple installations, but that's covered elsewhere. I think we should rather close since it is solved. – cfr Nov 06 '16 at 12:34
  • @Johannes_B The user seems to have solved it in a less than good way and the question contains misinformation ... (~/.texliveYYYY is hidden, but TEXMFHOME has never been by default that I know of.) – cfr Nov 06 '16 at 12:36
  • 4
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it has been resolved in comments, albeit possibly by means which are far from recommended on the basis of information which is less than accurate .... – cfr Nov 06 '16 at 12:38