Re: synctex issue

Hi Alan,

On Sat, Apr 11, 2026 at 13:50 (-0400), Alan Bowen wrote:

> I changed the engine so that it now reads 
> 	… synctex=repeat “$1” …

> I re-did the tests (without the typos ☹️)

> For the first
> % synctex edit -o 50:300:300:prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
> the error message is
> 	This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.2
> 	SyncTeX ERROR: No SyncTeX available for prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
> 	usage: synctex <subcommand> [options] [args]
> 	Synchronize TeXnology command-line client, version 1.17

I get

This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.5
SyncTeX result begin
Output:prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
Input:c_Contents.tex
Line:4
Column:-1
Offset:0
Context:
SyncTeX result end

I see you are on V 1.2.  I don't know whether that qualifies as "old",
"ancient" or "archaic".  :-)

(I see the subtitle of your book is "history of science in the Old World
before the modern era", which is amusingly apropos.)


If you are able to update your synctex, that might be a good start.



> and for the second 
> % mtxrun --script synctex --report --page=50 --x=300 --y=300 --tolerance=9999 prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex
> the error message is
> 	mtx-synctex     | invalid synctex log file 'prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex'

> which is the same as before.

I get
        mtx-synctex     | invalid synctex log file 'c_2024-05_STD02_Fincke.tex'
which is not the same, but not a tiny bit helpful.

Why the synctex script is making that complaint is not (yet) obvious to me.

I'll take a look at mtx-synctex.lua, but in the interim if you can update
your synctex and synctex library, that might help you.

                                Jim


>> On Apr 11, 2026, at 12:55, Jim <[email protected]> wrote:

>> Hi Alan,

>> On Sat, Apr 11, 2026 at 12:28 (-0400), Alan Bowen wrote:

>>> Thank you for your help.

>> You're welcome (such as it is!).

>>> The TeXShop engine for luametatex is LMTX and it  contains:
>>> mtxrun --script context --synctex "$1" --autogenerate --file-line-error --directives="system.showerror" --autopdf

>> Are you able to change it to --synctex=repeat ?

>> That produces a different format of synctex output which is more compatible
>> with the non-ConTeXt synctex program and synctex library.  Which TeXshop
>> may be using.

>>> I have limited experience with the command line, so I may have
>>> misunderstood you in the following.

>>> When I run:
>>> % cd Aestimatio_ns_v05
>>> and then
>>> % synctex edit -o 50:300:300:prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
>>> I get:

>>> % synctex edit -o 50:30o:30o:prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf

>> Is there a cut-and-paste error here?  The last character of what should be
>> "300" is an "o".  Which is not good.

>>> This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.2
>>> SyncTeX ERROR: No SyncTeX available for prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
>>> usage: synctex <subcommand> [options] [args]
>>> Synchronize TeXnology command-line client, version 1.17

>> Is the file prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex (or prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex.gz) in
>> that directory?  If so, my (wild) guess is that synctex is complaining
>> about the format of the synctex file, which might be helped with the
>>        --synctex=repeat
>> version.

>>> With 
>>> % mtxrun --script synctex --report --page=50  --x=300 --y=300 --tolerance=9999 prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex

>>> I get
>>> mtx-synctex     | invalid synctex log file 'prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex'

>> That is curious.

>>> In both instances, the file "prd_Aestimatio-05.synctex" is in the same directory and it has content.

>>> What is puzzling is that synctex does work for all cases except for that
>>> from PDF file to one of a number of souurce files.

>> If your files (.tex, .pdf and .synctex_ are not huge, and they are not
>> "secret", feel free to mail them to me (directly is fine) and I will be
>> happy to take a look.  (No guarantees of success, however.)


>> Jim

>>>> On Apr 9, 2026, at 12:34, Jim <[email protected]> wrote:

>>>> On Thu, Apr  9, 2026 at 11:25 (-0400), Alan Bowen wrote:

>>>>> Hi—

>>>>> I now have synctex working successfully for :
>>>>> 	PDF output—> single source file
>>>>> 	single source file—> PDF output
>>>>> 	any one of many included source files—> PDF output.

>>>>> What I have yet to get is
>>>>> 	PDF output—> one of many component files.
>>>>> (This last promises to be very useful in editing my journal.)

>>>>> I have no idea how to troubleshoot this and so any advice or guidance will be gratefully received.

>>>>> I am running the latest ConTeXt ( ver: 2026.03.25) and the latest TeXShop (ver. 5.58 with the luametatex engine) on macOS 26.4

>>>> Hi Alan,

>>>> I use synctex a lot, and while I run into some issues which I'm currently
>>>> trying to resolve, here's an example that I just tested that works for me
>>>> to go to a component file

>>>>      $ synctex edit -o 48:85:76:introCTX_eng.pdf
>>>> This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.5
>>>> SyncTeX result begin
>>>> Output:introCTX_eng.pdf
>>>> Input:01_BodyMatter/b03_Commands.tex
>>>> Line:40
>>>> Column:-1
>>>> Offset:0
>>>> Context:
>>>> SyncTeX result end

>>>> It got the file correct, but the line number is wrong.

>>>> I have never used TeXShop, so I don't know how it gets its synctex into
>>>> (i.e., internal library?
>>>> external synctex program?
>>>> mtxrun --script synctex ... ?
>>>> )

>>>> I would suggest testing a command-line synctex program to see if your
>>>> synctex file has the required info in it.

>>>> The syntax for the above "synctex edit" is
>>>> pdf-page:x-coord:y-coord:pdf-file.pdf
>>>> and that assumes the synctex file is in the same directory.  If not there
>>>> is another option needed.

>>>> mtxrun call from the command line is like
>>>> mtxrun --script synctex --report --page=48  --x=850 --y=1020 --tolerance=9999 introCTX_eng.synctex

>>>> I can't promise to be a while lot of help going forward, but I'm interested
>>>> in knowing how well things work for you, so please report back to the list.

>>>> Jim
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