pgf: 'externalize' with 'list and make' on windows

Question

In the pgfmanual I found today under Section 50.4.4 Customizing the Externalization that you can have multicore support during externalization using the mode list and make.

% step 1: generate main.makefile:
pdflatex main
% step 2: generate ALL graphics on 2 processors:
make -j 2 main.makefile
% step 3: include the graphics:
pdflatex main

I am using Windows 7 and MiKTeX. Since I never used make I downloaded it here: http://www.gnu.org/software/make/. Then I used this MWE (main.tex):

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{tikz,pgfplots}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
% Important
\tikzexternalize[mode=list and make]

\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \begin{axis}
    \addplot coordinates {(0,0) (1,1) (4,4)};
  \end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

So I used a batch file like the pgfmanual said:

% step 1: generate main.makefile:
pdflatex main
% step 2: generate ALL graphics on 2 processors:
make -j 2 main.makefile
% step 3: include the graphics:
pdflatex main

But it doesnt' work. I get a message during the make -j 2 main.makefile part:

make: Nothing to be done for 'main.makefile'

Then I used make -f main.makefile like it was suggested during the first pdflatex main and I get:

process_begin: CreateProcess(NULL, cat main.figlist, ...) failed.
process_begin: CreateProcess(NULL, cat main.figlist, ...) failed.

Here a screenshot for the make part:

This is how the make file looks like:

ALL_FIGURE_NAMES=$(shell cat main.figlist)
ALL_FIGURES=$(ALL_FIGURE_NAMES:%=%.pdf)

allimages: $(ALL_FIGURES)
    @echo All images exist now. Use make -B to re-generate them.

FORCEREMAKE:

include $(ALL_FIGURE_NAMES:%=%.dep)

%.dep:
    mkdir -p $(dir $@)
    touch $@ # will be filled later.

main-figure0.pdf: 
    pdflatex -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "main-figure0" "\def\tikzexternalrealjob{main}\input{main}"

main-figure0.pdf: main-figure0.md5

main-figure0.pdf is not generated -- but main-figure0.md5 is generated.

Update (Christian's Answer)

I tried your advice (ALL_FIGURE_NAMES=main-figure0) and replaced the code in the makefile but it still doesn't work.

I voted to close the question. It seems that only I have the problem. Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

This is actually a typo in the pgf manual:

You need the -f option, i.e. it has to be

% step 1: generate main.makefile:
pdflatex main
% step 2: generate ALL graphics on 2 processors:
make -j 2 -f main.makefile
% step 3: include the graphics:
pdflatex main

It has already been corrected some time ago and will become part of the next PGF release.

---

Regarding your make problems with "CreateProcess failed" :

1. you can try to install cygwin and call make from within cygwin. difficulty: medium (unless you are familiar with linux shells)

2. you can copy the makefile to some other name and modify it manually. To this end, substitute

   ALL_FIGURE_NAMES=$(shell cat main.figlist)

by

ALL_FIGURE_NAMES=main-figure0 main-figure1 main-figure2

etc. The file list should resemble the content of main.figlist. You would need to update this copy of the makefile whenever a new item arrives, but it should work.