A simple question (in theory): is there any (La)TeX distribution for Windows that is capable of running as a daemon? I am not aware that either MiKTeX or TeX Live are capable as running as daemons on Windows, but are there any other solutions? Failing this, if I wanted to hack an existing TeX distribution to run as a daemon, what would be the best approach?
A few features that the daemon should have, ideally:
- One-time loading.
- Load the preamble separately, so multiple documents can be generated without reloading the preamble.
- Run as a Windows Service. (optional)
- Callable as a library/API. (optional)
- Input TeX and output DVI/PNG via standard I/O or pipes. (optional)
Any information or suggestions on the subject would be much appreciated.
Edit 1: Specifically, I am also rather curious how the preview-latex package for EMACS works. This seems to have a very similar usage in mind to what I intend.
Edit 2: I've just recalled that the Instant Preview feature of LyX also closely represents what I want to achieve. Additionally, this seems to work on Windows. An explanation/overview of this system and the daemon it uses would be very helpful.