Biber/Biblatex problem (Use of uninitialized value)

Question

So I had a paper ready for a presentation tomorrow, and I decided to add a new reference. Bad idea, this happened when I compiled:

Use of uninitialized value $name in string eq at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber/SortLists.pm line 77.

Use of uninitialized value $pre in regexp compilation at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber/Internals.pm line 959.

Use of uninitialized value $thislocale in concatenation (.) or string at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber.pm line 2767.

Use of uninitialized value $thislocale in concatenation (.) or string at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber.pm line 2854.

Use of uninitialized value $thislocale in concatenation (.) or string at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber.pm line 2859.

Use of uninitialized value $lname in concatenation (.) or string at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber.pm line 1929.

Use of uninitialized value $lssn in concatenation (.) or string at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber.pm line 1929. Use of uninitialized value $lssn in concatenation (.) or string at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber.pm line 1943. Use of uninitialized value $lssn in concatenation (.) or string at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber.pm line 1958.

Can't use an undefined value as an ARRAY reference at C:\Users\kevinalh\AppData\Local\Temp\par-6b6576696e616c68\cache-48b1414b522013718507ac7cc0b21aa1f37b24ea\inc\lib/Biber/Internals.pm line 949.

INFO - This is Biber 2.1
INFO - Logfile is 'document.blg'
INFO - Reading 'document.bcf'
WARN - Warning: Found biblatex control file version 2.6, expected version 2.7
INFO - Found 1 citekeys in bib section 0
INFO - Processing section 0
INFO - Looking for bibtex format file 'document.bib' for section 0
INFO - Decoding LaTeX character macros into UTF-8
INFO - Found BibTeX data source 'document.bib'
INFO - Overriding locale '' defaults 'variable = shifted' with 'variable = non-ignorable'
INFO - Overriding locale '' defaults 'normalization = NFD' with 'normalization = prenormalized'
INFO - Sorting list 'nty' of type 'entry' with scheme 'nty' and locale ''
INFO - No sort tailoring available for locale ''

Things to consider:

I've upgraded all the packages using MikTeX some days ago but didn't update the bibliography until today.
MikTeX online repositories are not working these days apparently
Using \listfiles, I get:

biblatex.sty 2014/06/25 v2.9a programmable bibliographies (PK/JW/AB) biblatex2.sty 2014/06/25 v2.9a programmable bibliographies (biber) (PK/JW/AB )
Considering the repositories aren't working, I got the biblatex-3.0.tds.tgz file and uncompressed it in the MikTeX folder, before refreshing FNDB via the MikTeX Options.

I've already tried deleting the par- cache folder and the .aux, .bbl and .bcf files, and running a minimal working example:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}

\addbibresource{document.bib}

\begin{document}
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet
    \cite{A01}
    \printbibliography 
\end{document}

With document.bib being:

@misc{A01,
  author = {Author, A.},
  year = {2001},
  title = {Alpha},
}

With no success.

Any help is really appreciated.

Better place the package and related files right in the directory with your tex-file. — Johannes_B, Jun 21 '15 at 20:46
The log I used is the one of the minimal example. It does compile, the problem are the references (bibliography doesn't print), same for the original big file. — Kevin Languasco, Jun 21 '15 at 20:46
For the benefit of future visitors with a similar problem: Normally, an update of both biblatex and Biber to the newest available versions should suffice. And maybe the old delete the cache trick as alluded to in the question. — moewe, Jun 22 '15 at 05:37

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 21 '15 at 20:47

4

Your biblatex is too old. Probably you would need to run the user update manager to update it. As the miktex repositories are not online: either downgrade biber to version 1.9: https://sourceforge.net/projects/biblatex-biber/files/biblatex-biber/.

Or update biblatex: Get from a CTAN mirror the biblatex miktex packages:

http://mirrors.ctan.org/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages

Download also from the same mirror the two package databases:

http://mirrors.ctan.org/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/miktex-zzdb1-2.9.tar.lzma http://mirrors.ctan.org/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/miktex-zzdb2-2.9.tar.lzma

Put everything in some empty folder (outside miktex), and then choose this folder as local repository in the package manager or update manager.

answered Jun 21 '15 at 20:47

Ulrike Fischer

327,261

Or just install TeX-Live – MaxNoe Jun 21 '15 at 20:47
I don't get why \listfiles shows v2.9a and Biber says it's v2.6. – Kevin Languasco Jun 21 '15 at 20:49
@MaxNoe: A complete texlive installation can take over an hour. Installing biblatex or biber 5 minutes. – Ulrike Fischer Jun 21 '15 at 20:49
2

@KevinLanguasco: Don't confuse the biber (2.1), biblatex (2.9a) and control file (2.6) (bcf) version. – Ulrike Fischer Jun 21 '15 at 20:50
When I use the update manager, I get the error "The operation could not be completed because a required file does not exist" – Kevin Languasco Jun 21 '15 at 21:06
did you download the biblatex package from miktex http://mirrors.ctan.org/systems/win32/miktex/tm/packages/biblatex.tar.lzma? – Ulrike Fischer Jun 21 '15 at 21:11
Exactly, the folder has: biblatex.tar.lzma, miktex-zzdb1-2.9.tar.lzma and miktex-zzdb2-2.9.tar.lzma. Anyways, given that it didn't work I tried downgrading biber and the paper is okay now! I'm still curious why upgrading biblatex didn't work tho – Kevin Languasco Jun 21 '15 at 21:17
Retry downloading also pr.ini and files.csv.lzma. – Bernard Jun 21 '15 at 21:22
I can't say. Normally there shouldn't be a depency to more package. But when the repositories are online again you should check for update with the admin and user update manager. – Ulrike Fischer Jun 21 '15 at 21:23

Biber/Biblatex problem (Use of uninitialized value)

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