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.\"
.IX Title "PERLTEX 1"
.TH PERLTEX 1 2024-12-03 v2.3 " "
.\" For nroff, turn off justification.  Always turn off hyphenation; it makes
.\" way too many mistakes in technical documents.
.if n .ad l
.nh
.SH NAME
perltex \- enable LaTeX macros to be defined in terms of Perl code
.SH SYNOPSIS
.IX Header "SYNOPSIS"
perltex
[\fB\-\-help\fR]
[\fB\-\-latex\fR=\fIprogram\fR]
[\fB\-\-\fR[\fBno\fR]\fBsafe\fR]
[\fB\-\-permit\fR=\fIfeature\fR]
[\fB\-\-makesty\fR]
[\fIlatex options\fR]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.IX Header "DESCRIPTION"
LaTeX \-\- through the underlying TeX typesetting system \-\- produces
beautifully typeset documents but has a macro language that is
difficult to program.  In particular, support for complex string
manipulation is largely lacking.  Perl is a popular general-purpose
programming language whose forte is string manipulation.  However, it
has no typesetting capabilities whatsoever.
.PP
Clearly, Perl's programmability could complement LaTeX's typesetting
strengths.  \fBperltex\fR is the tool that enables a symbiosis between
the two systems.  All a user needs to do is compile a LaTeX document
using \fBperltex\fR instead of \fBlatex\fR.  (\fBperltex\fR is actually a
wrapper for \fBlatex\fR, so no \fBlatex\fR functionality is lost.)  If the
document includes a \f(CW\*(C`\eusepackage{perltex}\*(C'\fR in its preamble, then
\&\f(CW\*(C`\eperlnewcommand\*(C'\fR and \f(CW\*(C`\eperlrenewcommand\*(C'\fR macros will be made
available.  These behave just like LaTeX's \f(CW\*(C`\enewcommand\*(C'\fR and
\&\f(CW\*(C`\erenewcommand\*(C'\fR except that the macro body contains Perl code instead
of LaTeX code.
.SH OPTIONS
.IX Header "OPTIONS"
\&\fBperltex\fR accepts the following command-line options:
.IP \fB\-\-help\fR 4
.IX Item "--help"
Display basic usage information.
.IP \fB\-\-latex\fR=\fIprogram\fR 4
.IX Item "--latex=program"
Specify a program to use instead of \fBlatex\fR.  For example,
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-latex=pdflatex\*(C'\fR would typeset the given document using
\&\fBpdflatex\fR instead of ordinary \fBlatex\fR.
.IP \fB\-\-\fR[\fBno\fR]\fBsafe\fR 4
.IX Item "--[no]safe"
Enable or disable sandboxing.  With the default of \fB\-\-safe\fR,
\&\fBperltex\fR executes the code from a \f(CW\*(C`\eperlnewcommand\*(C'\fR or
\&\f(CW\*(C`\eperlrenewcommand\*(C'\fR macro within a protected environment that
prohibits ``unsafe'' operations such as accessing files or executing
external programs.  Specifying \fB\-\-nosafe\fR gives the LaTeX document
\&\fIcarte blanche\fR to execute any arbitrary Perl code, including that
which can harm the user's files.  See Safe for more information.
.IP \fB\-\-permit\fR=\fIfeature\fR 4
.IX Item "--permit=feature"
Permit particular Perl operations to be performed.  The \fB\-\-permit\fR
option, which can be specified more than once on the command line,
enables finer-grained control over the \fBperltex\fR sandbox.  See
Opcode for more information.
.IP \fB\-\-makesty\fR 4
.IX Item "--makesty"
Generate a LaTeX style file called \fInoperltex.sty\fR.  Replacing the
document's \f(CW\*(C`\eusepackage{perltex}\*(C'\fR line with \f(CW\*(C`\eusepackage{noperltex}\*(C'\fR
produces the same output but does not require PerlTeX, making the
document suitable for distribution to people who do not have PerlTeX
installed.  The disadvantage is that \fInoperltex.sty\fR is specific to
the document that produced it.  Any changes to the document's PerlTeX
macro definitions or macro invocations necessitates rerunning
\&\fBperltex\fR with the \fB\-\-makesty\fR option.
.PP
These options are then followed by whatever options are normally
passed to \fBlatex\fR (or whatever program was specified with
\&\f(CW\*(C`\-\-latex\*(C'\fR), including, for instance, the name of the \fI.tex\fR file to
compile.
.SH EXAMPLES
.IX Header "EXAMPLES"
In its simplest form, \fBperltex\fR is run just like \fBlatex\fR:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    perltex myfile.tex
.Ve
.PP
To use \fBpdflatex\fR instead of regular \fBlatex\fR, use the \fB\-\-latex\fR
option:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    perltex \-\-latex=pdflatex myfile.tex
.Ve
.PP
If LaTeX gives a ``\f(CW\*(C`trapped by operation mask\*(C'\fR'' error and you trust
the \fI.tex\fR file you're trying to compile not to execute malicious
Perl code (e.g., because you wrote it yourself), you can disable
\&\fBperltex\fR's safety mechansisms with \fB\-\-nosafe\fR:
.PP
.Vb 1
\&    perltex \-\-nosafe myfile.tex
.Ve
.PP
The following command gives documents only \fBperltex\fR's default
permissions (\f(CW\*(C`:browse\*(C'\fR) plus the ability to open files and invoke the
\&\f(CW\*(C`time\*(C'\fR command:
.PP
.Vb 2
\&    perltex \-\-permit=:browse \-\-permit=:filesys_open
\&      \-\-permit=time myfile.tex
.Ve
.SH ENVIRONMENT
.IX Header "ENVIRONMENT"
\&\fBperltex\fR honors the following environment variables:
.IP PERLTEX 4
.IX Item "PERLTEX"
Specify the filename of the LaTeX compiler.  The LaTeX compiler
defaults to ``\f(CW\*(C`latex\*(C'\fR''.  The \f(CW\*(C`PERLTEX\*(C'\fR environment variable
overrides this default, and the \fB\-\-latex\fR command-line option (see
"OPTIONS") overrides that.
.SH FILES
.IX Header "FILES"
While compiling \fIjobname.tex\fR, \fBperltex\fR makes use of the following
files:
.IP \fIjobname.lgpl\fR 4
.IX Item "jobname.lgpl"
log file written by Perl; helpful for debugging Perl macros
.IP \fIjobname.topl\fR 4
.IX Item "jobname.topl"
information sent from LaTeX to Perl
.IP \fIjobname.frpl\fR 4
.IX Item "jobname.frpl"
information sent from Perl to LaTeX
.IP \fIjobname.tfpl\fR 4
.IX Item "jobname.tfpl"
``flag'' file whose existence indicates that \fIjobname.topl\fR contains
valid data
.IP \fIjobname.ffpl\fR 4
.IX Item "jobname.ffpl"
``flag'' file whose existence indicates that \fIjobname.frpl\fR contains
valid data
.IP \fIjobname.dfpl\fR 4
.IX Item "jobname.dfpl"
``flag'' file whose existence indicates that \fIjobname.ffpl\fR has been
deleted
.IP \fInoperltex\-#.tex\fR 4
.IX Item "noperltex-#.tex"
file generated by \fInoperltex.sty\fR for each PerlTeX macro invocation
.SH NOTES
.IX Header "NOTES"
\&\fBperltex\fR's sandbox defaults to what Opcode calls ``\f(CW\*(C`:browse\*(C'\fR''.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.IX Header "SEE ALSO"
\&\fBlatex\fR\|(1), \fBpdflatex\fR\|(1), \fBperl\fR\|(1), \fBSafe\fR\|(3pm), \fBOpcode\fR\|(3pm)
.SH AUTHOR
.IX Header "AUTHOR"
Scott Pakin, \fIscott+pt@pakin.org\fR