TeXstudio + Latexmk won't compile (with OS X): "Error: Could not start command: ..."

Question

UPDATE: John reported the bug in the TeXstudio forum, and they fixed it. The development version TeXstudio 2.10.9 (hg 5929:7315f2e5eed3) works, when you change the Latexmk command to "latexmk -pdf -silent -synctex=1 %"

I recently switched from Texmaker to TeXstudio (version 2.10.8). In Texmaker, I used to compile my document with Latexmk. In TeXstudio, however, the default Latexmk command returns an error message. I work with OS X Yosemite (version 10.10.5) and TeX Live. Here is an example:

\documentclass[10pt, a4paper]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage{hyperref}

\begin{document}
Some text.
\end{document}

My build settings in TeXstudio (Default compiler = Latexmk):

And the corresponding command settings (latexmk -dvi -silent %):

And this is the error I get:

The document compiles normally when I choose PdfLaTeX instead of Latexmk. I have seen related posts on stackoverflow, but none these included a solution for Latexmk. Does anybody know a solution to this problem?

EDIT: As ig0774 suggested, I changed the path to /usr/texbin/latexmk -dvi -silent % and pressed OK. When reopening the settings of TeXstudio, the path was set back to latexmk -dvi -silent %. Is this a bug or am I missing something?

Answer 1

You need to change the latexmk command to start with /usr/texbin/latexmk. By default, /usr/texbin is not part of the PATH from GUI applications.

---

Edit

Alright, a better suggestion:

1. Quit TeXStudio completely
2. Open the file "~/.config/texstudio/texstudio.ini" in a text editor (you can use open -a TextEdit ~/.config/texstudio/texstudio.ini from the terminal or any other text editor you like).
3. Find the line that starts "Tools\Commands\latexmk=", replace everything to the right of the equals sign with /usr/texbin/latexmk -dvi %
4. Launch TeXStudio

This should make the necessary change and persist it across restarts (hopefully... at least it works for me...)

Answer 2

The problem is actually a bug in the way TeXStudio 2.10.8 under OS-X sets the PATH environment variable used for finding executables.

Work around

In your ~/.profile file add the following line at the end

export PATH=DUMMY1:$PATH:DUMMY2

(If you don't have a ~/.profile file, create one containing the above line.)

Then restart TeXStudio, and you should find that it will run latexmk properly with the default settings of TeXStudio.

Bug and its diagnosis

The bug is that the TeXStudio (in v. 2.10.8 under OS-X) sets its PATH variable as the concatenation of the following:

1. Any output produced by your ~/.profile file.
2. The actual intended PATH variable.
3. A new line.
4. Any customizations done by TeXStudio.

It's the new line that's the killer. If, as on my system, the location of TeXLive executables, /Library/TeX/texbin is the last item in the PATH, then that element is replaced by the same string followed by a new line character. The result is that the TeXLive executables are no longer found. The work around I suggested above insulates you from this problem.

A useful way of diagnosing these problems is to put the following line in one of latexmk's configuration files, e.g., latexmkrc in the document directory:

warn "PATH = '$ENV{PATH}'\n";

Then after you run latexmk from TeXStudio, the Messages window will show the value of the PATH variable.