Re: synctex issue

Alan Bowen <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.tex.context
Message-ID <[email protected]> 
Hi, Jim—

I wonder if the synctex executable in your usr/bin is from an installation of MacTeX Live. There is no such file in my usr/bin. (I have removed all traces of MacTeX Live that I installed in 2015, before we started work on this.)

The TeXShop documentation thatb I have does not include information on how TeXShop/synctex does lookups. Moreover, I have not found any independent synctex package on my laptop either. 

All best,
Alan

> On Apr 11, 2026, at 22:57, Jim <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> On Sat, Apr 11, 2026 at 22:37 (-0400), Alan Bowen wrote:
> 
>> Hi, Jim—
> 
>> I will test the change to mtx-synctex.lua once I have updated synctex itself.
> 
>> But here is the problem:
> 
>> I update my installation of ConTeXt (standalone) from the command line with:
>> cd /Applications/LuaMetaTeX/ && sh ./install.sh --script install-modules --install --all --fonts=all’.
> 
>> This gets me the latest ConTeXt ver 2026.04.10 and LuaMetaTeX ver 2.11.09.
> 
>> When I process a file and check the .synctex output, I see that I am running 
>> 	SyncTeX Version:1 
>> and that mtx-synctex.lua is at version   1.002
> 
>> I gather that you have version 1.5 and a standalone installation. How did you get that?
> 
> Alan,
> 
> There are (as far as I can see) two versions for synctex:
> (1) the file format version (which is the '1' you mentioned), and
> (2) the synctex program (and associated library files), which is what I saw
>    when I ran the command
>        /usr/bin/synctex edit -o 5:300:300:prd_Aestimatio-05.pdf
>    and it output (among other things)
>        This is SyncTeX command line utility, version 1.5
> 
> To reiterate, I don't know how your TeX editor works
> -> it might be linked to the standard synctex library files;
> -> it might explicitly call the (external) synctex command; or
> -> it might have its own synctex parsing code inside.
> 
> If the first or second choices, updating your "synctex" package, which does
> not come with ConTeXt standalone, might be necessary.
> 
> If you TeX editor uses the third choice, updating the external synctex
> program probably won't help.  Perhaps the editor's documentation says how
> it does the synctex lookups?
> 
>                                Jim
> 
> 
>>> On Apr 11, 2026, at 17:17, Jim <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>>> Hi Alan,
> 
>>> I now (think I) know why that error message you reported is happening, and
>>> I can suggest a small change.
> 
>>> Hans: if you are reading this, perhaps you can enlighten me about this.
> 
>>> About 10 lines from the bottom of mtx-synctex.lua, we have the line of code
>>> gotolocation(filename,argument("page"),argument("x"),argument("y"),"console",argument("direct"),argument("tolerance"))
>>> which is the line of code that gets executed when --report is the argument.
> 
>>> But in the gotolocation() function, the "console" argument is assigned to
>>> the   editor  parameter.  A couple of lines down it says
>>> if editor then
>>> but that if statement does the "true" part regardless of whether or not
>>> "console" is an editor.  And in that case another function called
>>> "editfile" is called on a file it found, rather than just reporting the
>>> information.
> 
>>> If you are up for a small edit of your copy of mtx-synctex.lua, then I
>>> suggest changing the above gotolocation line to this:
>>> gotolocation(filename,argument("page"),argument("x"),argument("y"),nil,argument("direct"),argument("tolerance"))
>>> and after that, the error message you reported should go away.
> 
>>> I don't use Macs, so I can't tell you where mtx-synctex.lua is on your
>>> system.  If you don't know where it lives, you will have to use your OS's
>>> search functions.  In my case, I have the ConTeXt standalone distribution
>>> installed in /usr/local/context, and the file is found at
>>>  /usr/local/context/tex/texmf-context/scripts/context/lua/mtx-synctex.lua
> 
>>> Having said all that, if TeXshop uses the synctex program and/or the
>>> synctex library, those are likely the things that need to be updated before
>>> things get better.
> 
>>> Jim
> 
>>> On Sat, Apr 11, 2026 at 13:55 (-0400), Alan Bowen wrote:
> 
>>>> Hi, Jim—
> 
>>>> 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
> 
>>>> 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 will send the files that you request to you directly.
> 
>>>> All best,
>>>> Alan
> 
>>>>> 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
>>>>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>>>>> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
> 
>>>>> maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
>>>>> webpage  : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
>>>>> archive  : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
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>>>>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> 
>>>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>>>> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
> 
>>>> maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
>>>> webpage  : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
>>>> archive  : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
>>>> wiki     : https://wiki.contextgarden.net
>>>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>>> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
> 
>>> maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
>>> webpage  : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
>>> archive  : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
>>> wiki     : https://wiki.contextgarden.net
>>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> 
>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
>> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
> 
>> maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
>> webpage  : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
>> archive  : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
>> wiki     : https://wiki.contextgarden.net
>> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> ___________________________________________________________________________________
> If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!
> 
> maillist : [email protected] / https://mailman.ntg.nl/mailman3/lists/ntg-context.ntg.nl
> webpage  : https://www.pragma-ade.nl / https://context.aanhet.net (mirror)
> archive  : https://github.com/contextgarden/context
> wiki     : https://wiki.contextgarden.net
> ___________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________
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