Linux LaTeX Guide - ryzendew/Linux-Tips-and-Tricks GitHub Wiki

Linux LaTeX Guide

Complete beginner-friendly guide to LaTeX on Linux, covering Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions including installation, document creation, and typesetting.

Table of Contents

  1. LaTeX Installation
  2. Basic LaTeX Usage
  3. LaTeX Editors
  4. Compiling Documents
  5. Troubleshooting

LaTeX Installation

Install LaTeX

Arch/CachyOS:

# Install TeX Live (full)
sudo pacman -S texlive-most texlive-lang

# Or minimal
sudo pacman -S texlive-core

Debian/Ubuntu:

sudo apt install texlive-full

Fedora:

sudo dnf install texlive-scheme-full

Verify Installation

Check LaTeX:

# Check version
pdflatex --version

# Check installation
tlmgr --version

Basic LaTeX Usage

Create Document

Basic document:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Hello, World!
\end{document}

Compile Document

Generate PDF:

# Compile to PDF
pdflatex document.tex

# Or use xelatex
xelatex document.tex

LaTeX Editors

TeXstudio

Install TeXstudio:

# Arch/CachyOS
sudo pacman -S texstudio

# Launch
texstudio

Overleaf (Online)

Use Overleaf:

Compiling Documents

Basic Compilation

Compile:

# PDFLaTeX
pdflatex document.tex

# XeLaTeX
xelatex document.tex

# LuaLaTeX
lualatex document.tex

Bibliography

Use BibTeX:

# Compile with bibliography
pdflatex document.tex
bibtex document
pdflatex document.tex
pdflatex document.tex

Troubleshooting

LaTeX Not Found

Check installation:

# Check LaTeX
which pdflatex

# Install if missing
sudo pacman -S texlive-core

Compilation Errors

Check errors:

# View log file
cat document.log

# Fix errors in .tex file
# Recompile

Summary

This guide covered LaTeX installation, document creation, and compilation for Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other distributions.

Next Steps

This guide covers Arch Linux, CachyOS, and other Linux distributions. For distribution-specific details, refer to your distribution's documentation.