[Bug-AUCTeX] lualatex needs --jobname option

[Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard]

Hi,

Full disclosure: I'm not an AucTeX user (actually I'm an evil vimist). But I'm
also a TeX Live maintainer, and since it seems some decisions we made in TeX
Live have an impact on AucTeX, I thought it we be good to communicate about it.

Some background: LuaTeX is a new TeX engine which may be used as a replacement
for pdfTeX or XeTeX, though it is not fully compatible. One aspect is the way it
handles spaces in the main TeX file, creating problems with the LaTeX format
(command lualatex or dvilualatex). A workaround was installed in TeX Live on
2010-06-14. It was discovered later that this workaround doesn't work correctly
when luatex is invoked as

lualatex '\input foo.tex'

rather than the more usual

lualatex foo.tex

In the first case, the pdf file produced is called texput.pdf rather than the
expected foo.pdf (same for log, aux, etc.). Here is the connection with AucTeX:
it is using the first syntax.

Unfortunately, there is no way to fix the workaround so that it doesn't have
this side-effect. At least not until luatex 0.71 which will *not* be included in
the upcoming TeX Live 2011 whose source tree is already frozen.

So, currently (and with the next release of TeX Live), compiling files from
AucTeX with lualatex doesn't work as expected. It was discussed at least two
times on TeX Live or LuaTeX-related lists, and at least once here:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-auctex/2011-02/msg00001.html with a proper
fix found: use the --jobname option. That is, the invocation

lualatex --jobname=foo '\input foo.tex'

always works. It also works with latex, pdflatex or xelatex, even if the
--jobname part is redundant for anything but lualatex. So I'd like to suggest
adding --jobname to the default TeX invocation in AucTeX so that your users stop
having this problem with luatex, without having to wait for luatex 0.71.

Best regards,
Manuel.

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read your reply. Thanks.