Error with TextMate 2, PATH, --shell-escape and gnuplot in 10.8.2

Question

I reopen this post, which was started some time ago but didn't came with a solution. I don't really remember what was the exact problem with this (well, of course, gnuplot didn't work correctly). So I write here my actual problem, which is the same as before.

Problem

I reinstalled the operating system (Mac OS X 10.8.2), installed MacTeX (the last one), installed MacPorts and gnuplot through it (in an administrator account). In this account, the command port works correctly from terminal (which let mi install gnuplot), and also does gnuplot app (from terminal). Then created a new (non-admin) account, and then neither port nor gnuplot worked. After little hacking (here it is more info), I solved it. Now port and gnuplot work both from terminal in both accounts.

But here is the problem. I use TextMate to compile my documents, which compiles everything perfectly. But if I use some code which needs of gnuplot it isn't able to call it. See at the bottom for some examples.

On the contrary, if I call the file from the terminal with pdflatex --shell-escape file.tex then it compiles perfect.

Question

What happens? Is it a PATH problem? How can I solve it? (I don't really understand what is a PATH, therefore I can't try/imagine by myself)

Code and Logs

Example 1:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{gnuplottex}
\begin{document}
    \begin{gnuplot}
        plot sin(x)
    \end{gnuplot}
\end{document}

Part of the .log file

\openout3 = `Ejercicio1-gnuplottex-fig1.gnuplot'.

Opening gnuplot stream Ejercicio1-gnuplottex-fig1.gnuplot
runsystem(gnuplot Ejercicio1-gnuplottex-fig1.gnuplot)...executed.

Package gnuplottex Warning: Conversion of Ejercicio1-gnuplottex-fig1.gnuplot fa
iled.

Package gnuplottex Warning: Please convert Ejercicio1-gnuplottex-fig1.gnuplot m
anually.

And from the terminal no error at all.

Example 2:

\documentclass{scrartcl}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
        \begin{axis}
            \addplot gnuplot {sin(x)};
        \end{axis}
    \end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

The .log problems from TextMate:

Latex Error: ./Ejercicio1.tex:6 Package pgfplots Error: Sorry, the gnuplot-result file 'Ejercicio1.pgf-plot.table' could not be found. Maybe you need to enable the shell-escape feature? For pdflatex, this is '>> pdflatex -shell-escape'. You can also invoke '>> gnuplot .gnuplot' manually on the respective gnuplot file..

! Package pgfplots Warning: You have an axis with empty range. Replacing it with a default range and clearing all plots.

And no errors from terminal with pdflatex --shell-escape file.tex.

Answer 1

This might be an issue with TextMate's PATH, which is not (necessarily) the same as the PATH when you work from Terminal. You can check that TextMate is able to find gnuplot by opening a new file in TextMate, typing the line which gnuplot, and running that line with Ctrl-R. If TextMate gives you an error message, then it can't find gnuplot; if it prints a directory name then it can.

So assuming that TextMate can't find gnuplot, the easiest way to fix this is to go to TextMate's Preferences > Variables and edit the entry for PATH. You should change this so that the directory containing gnuplot is in the list, for example

/usr/texbin:$PATH:/opt/local/bin:/opt/local/sbin:/opt/bin

might work for you. (It's important that you keep $PATH in this list too, otherwise TextMate won't be able to use many important commands.) Make sure the check box next to PATH is checked. Now if you open a new file and type which gnuplot, Ctrl-R, it should give you something, and if you type which pdflatex, Ctrl-R, it should say /usr/texbin.

Finally, you need to make sure that TextMate runs pdflatex with the shell-escape option. TextMate allows you to pass options to the TeX compiler using comments at the beginning of your document. Try adding this

%!TEX TS-options = --shell-escape

as the first line of your file. Both of the examples you provided compile without any problems on my machine if I include this as the first line. (TextMate 2.0-alpha.9387)