lualatex and tikz external library issue

Question

I need to use lualatex to compile some pgfplots which have many data points (exceeding the memory allocatable by pdflatex). However, when I try using lualatex with the external library I'm having issues generating the external graphics (.PDFs). Interestingly, though, I can compile with pdflatex and also, when I try compiling with lualatex, by copying the lualatex external command into the command line in the directory of the root document of the LaTeX project. I've included a minimum "working" example.

The below files are included in the same directory using the following .latexmkrc file. I'd also like to note that the .latexmkrc file isn't read/used until I pass the -pdf option to latexmk. This is true even if I pass the location of the .latexmkrc file to the -r switch manually. This seems like (an unrelated) bug.

main.tex

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{external}
\tikzexternalize[shell escape=-enable-write18]
\tikzset{external/system call={lualatex \tikzexternalcheckshellescape -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "\image" "\texsource"}}

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}[h]
   \input{tikz.tikz}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

tikz.tikz

\begin{tikzpicture}
  \draw (0,0) circle [radius=.4];
\end{tikzpicture}

.latexmrc file

#$pdflatex = 'pdflatex -enable-write18 %O %S';
$pdflatex = 'lualatex --shell-escape -file-line-error --output-format=pdf %O %S';

Relevant portion of log file (where error is stored)

(C:/Miktex2.9/tex/generic/oberdiek/etexcmds.sty)))) (./tikz.tikz
===== 'mode=convert with system call': Invoking 'lualatex -enable-write18 -halt
-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "main-figure0" "\def\tikzexternalreal
job{main}\input{main}"' ========
lualatex -enable-write18 -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "main-f
igure0" "\def\tikzexternalrealjob{main}\input{main}"

./tikz.tikz:3: Package tikz Error: Sorry, the system call 'lualatex -enable-wri
te18 -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "main-figure0" "\def\tikzex
ternalrealjob{main}\input{main}"' did NOT result in a usable output file 'main-
figure0' (expected one of .pdf:.jpg:.jpeg:.png:). Please verify that you have e
nabled system calls. For pdflatex, this is 'pdflatex -shell-escape'. Sometimes 
it is also named 'write 18' or something like that. Or maybe the command simply
 failed? Error messages can be found in 'main-figure0.log'. If you continue now
, I'll try to typeset the picture.

See the tikz package documentation for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...                                              

l.3 \end{tikzpicture}

) [1{C:/Users/JohnRinehart/AppData/Local/MiKTeX/2.9/pdftex/config/pdftex.map}]
(./main.aux))
(see the transcript file for additional information)
 353 words of node memory still in use:
   2 hlist, 1 vlist, 1 rule, 2 glue, 3 attribute, 45 glue_spec, 3 attribute_lis
t, 1 write nodes
   avail lists: 2:83,3:21,4:7,5:22,6:2,7:33,8:1,9:14
<c:/miktex2.9/fonts/opentype/public/lm/lmroman10-regular.otf>
Output written on main.pdf (1 page, 3073 bytes).
SyncTeX written on main.synctex.gz.
Transcript written on main.log.
=== TeX engine is 'LuaTeX'
Latexmk: Errors, so I did not complete making targets

For emphasis, when I copy

lualatex -enable-write18 -halt-on-error -interaction=batchmode -jobname "main-figure0" "\def\tikzexternalrealjob{main}\input{main}"

into the command line then the external graphic is compiled into a PDF as desired/expected (and as works when compiling with pdflatex).

System Information

• OS: Windows 10 using a 64-bit release of MiKTeX 2.9

• perl: perl --version returns: This is perl 5, version 24, subversion 0 (v5.24.0) built for MSWin32-x64-multi-thread

• lualatex: lualatex --version returns: This is LuaTeX, Version 1.0.4 (MiKTeX 2.9.6300 64-bit)

• latexmk: latexmk --version returns: Latexmk, John Collins, 19 Jan. 2017. Version 4.52c

I don't think the TikZ version matters.

Answer 1

In the case of

lualatex

use

shellesc

package.