How to install biblatex style?

Question

I am having a problem getting my LaTeX to recognize biblatex styles using bibtex8 as a back-end. I've used this notation before but when I update LaTeX it clears my styles folder and I'm never able to find the configuration again. I would like a straightforward explanation of what my problem is.

The following notation gives Package biblatex Error: Style 'aiaa' not found.

Putting the style file in the same directory as the .tex file does nothing. I need to know how to install it more basically than that.

Using OS X TexShop 3.98

Cheers.

\documentclass[]{aiaa-pretty}% insert '[draft]' option to show overfull boxes

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} % Required for inputting international characters
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc} % Output font encoding for international characters

\usepackage[autostyle=true]{csquotes}

\usepackage[backend=bibtex8,autocite=superscript,natbib=true,maxbibnames=99,firstinits=true,style=aiaa]{biblatex} \DeclareNameAlias{sortname}{last-first} \DeclareNameAlias{default}{last-first} \let\cite=\autocite

What is the exact name of the aiaa-style file you are trying to use? — Ulrike Fischer, Mar 13 '18 at 15:30
Looking for aiaa in TeXLive reveals only a .bst file, which is not usable with biblatex. Have you downloaded a biblatex style from somewhere? If so it should have a .bbx and possibly also .cbx extension. If not, then you can't use biblatex. — Alan Munn, Mar 13 '18 at 15:41
Did you get the files from https://github.com/nasa/nasa-latex-docs/tree/master/support/biblatex/aiaa? Or did you indeed only download the .bst files? — moewe, Mar 13 '18 at 16:08
@UlrikeFischer aiaa.cbx /aiaa.bbx /aiaa.bst . I got all of them from the NASA github, in the same directory. — Z. Yevheniya, Mar 14 '18 at 02:29
@AlanMunn I've added all of them from the NASA github, to the same directory; the same error persists. — Z. Yevheniya, Mar 14 '18 at 02:29
Where did you put the files, though? You can't just put them anywhere and expect TeX to find them. (Instructions for MikTeX on Windows, Instructions for TeX live). If it's just for this paper just put aiaa.bbx, aiaa.cbx in the same directory as your main .tex file. (You don't need aiaa.bst for biblatex.) — moewe, Mar 14 '18 at 06:16
@moewe indeed I put them in the same directory as the main .tex file. It does not seem to find them. I guess I need to find the LaTeX install configuration in order to put them in the correct BibTex style folders so that it can recognize them. — Z. Yevheniya, Mar 15 '18 at 06:19
If you have the aiaa.bbx and aiaa.cbx in the same directory as your main .tex file and you start LaTeX in that directory then TeX must find the files. Double check that everything is as you think it is. — moewe, Mar 15 '18 at 06:26
In particular the .bbx/.cbx files can't be in a subfolder, they must be on the exact same level as the .tex file. Double check that your editor does not do weird things such as using a "build directory". Does LaTeX produce a .log file in the same directory? — moewe, Mar 15 '18 at 06:33
Any news here? If there is no feedback here in due time, I will vote to close as duplicate of https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/40243/35864 — moewe, May 10 '18 at 06:23

score 3 · Answer 1 · edited Sep 29 '22 at 23:06

If the style you want to use is included in MikTeX or TeX live, the easiest solution is to install the package via your TeX distribution.

If, on the other hand, the style is not available in your TeX distribution, you have to go about this manually.

In case you only want to use the bibliography style for your current document, it is enough to move the .bbx, .cbx (and possibly .dbx and .lbx) files into the same directory as your main .tex file. TeX will then find all the files when it is run in that directory.

For styles that you intend to use more often and extensively and in several documents that may live in different folders, you need to install the style in your local texmf tree. Check back with the source of your files, maybe it has an install script or a installation guide.

On a TeX live system you should move your .bbx, .cbx, .dbx and .lbx files to

TEXMFHOME/tex/latex/<your biblatex style>/

On many systems TEXMFHOME is $HOME/texmf. You can find its value with kpsewhich -var-value TEXMFHOME.

Alternatively, you could install the files to

TEXMFLOCAL/tex/latex/<your biblatex style>/

again, you can find out where that is exactly with kpsewhich -var-value TEXMFLOCAL.

Depending on your system settings you may have to run texhash to make the new files known to TeX.

See also https://texfaq.org/FAQ-install-where, https://texfaq.org/FAQ-privinst and https://texfaq.org/FAQ-what-TDS

In a MikTeX system you may have to define a user-controlled texmf tree first (see Create a local texmf tree in MiKTeX), but then the method is similar: Move the files to

<my local MikTeX texmf tree>/tex/latex/<your biblatex style>/

and refresh the file name database.

See also How do I install an individual package on a Linux system? and How can I manually install a package on MiKTeX (Windows) and the resources linked there.

To summarize: install new Bibtex Style in texlive system:

--> /usr/local/share/texmf```

On a TeX live system you should move your .bst, .bbx, .cbx, .dbx and .lbx files to TEXMFHOME/tex/latex//

Example: move plaindin.bst into new TEXMFHOME/tex/latex/plaindin/ directory.

Then call the tool "hexhash" — karsten, Apr 15 '21 at 10:34
@karsten In principle yes. Though biblatex styles should not come with a .bst file. On my system .bst files live in TEXMF/bibtex/bst, so logically I think .bst files should go into TEXMFHOME/bibtex/bst/<style name>/ (but I haven't checked if that is necessary for kpsewhich). — moewe, Apr 15 '21 at 18:58
Thanks a lot. Yes if I question TEXMF I get a whole list of paths (comma-separated), where on my Ubuntu 20 system the directory of TEXMFHOME is also contained. Using subdirectory bibtex/bst/<style name> is cleaner. I found other .bst files in /usr/share/texlive/texmf-dist/bibtex/bst — karsten, Apr 15 '21 at 21:09

How to install biblatex style?

1 Answers1