Problem with biblatex-chicago and biber

Question

I am using texlive 2020 on windows 10. The version details are This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.21 (TeX Live 2020/W32TeX) (preloaded format=pdflatex 2020.12.22)

I tried out this example from here: Using Chicago B

\documentclass[american]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}

\usepackage[authordate, backend=biber]{biblatex-chicago}

\addbibresource{biblatex-examples.bib}


\begin{document}
Lorem \autocite{sigfridsson}
ipsum \autocite{nussbaum}
dolor \autocite{sigfridsson}
sit \autocite{worman}
amet \autocite{cicero}
dolor \autocite{companion}.

\printbibliography
\end{document}

However, references do not show up. I tried running from the windows commandline. I get a strange error.

As you can see, biber is looking for chicago-bitblatex.tex.bcf, but the file that exists in my directory is called chicago-bitblatex.bcf. What is the problem?

Answer 1

Biber needs to be called either on the file name of your .tex file without the .tex file extension or directly on the file name of the .bcf file with file extension. In your example both

biber chicago-bitblatex

and

biber chicago-bitblatex.bcf

would be valid Biber calls.

I find it more convenient to use the form without extension (and it is usually easier to configure editors and similar tools using the extension-less file name), so I'd use

biber chicago-bitblatex

and that's what you'll find in most answers on this site.

If you include the .tex in the call, Biber goes off searching for a file that does not exist.