Re: Max Chernoff, Bruno, ConTeXt

> On 19 Mar 2026, at 20:02, Richard Koch <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> So I tried another more standard sample
> which we provide in the TeXShop "Inactive Folder" for
> ConTeXt. This time I got a synctex file and moreover
> SYNCING ACTUALLY WORKED IN CONTEXT!
> 
> ----------------------
> 
> [...] I've got to
> make a new MacTeX release, this time tased on the latest
> sources as above. [...] So I won't do it until there is clarity
> between Bruno and Chernoff on the syncing issue.
> [...]
> Please give me some guidance.


Hi Dick,

OK, I took Hello-world.tex from <https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Introduction/Quick_Start>, which may be the file you used. I made two copies, one Hello-world-mkiv.tex with no change, another Hello-world-lmtx.tex adding the line

	% !TEX useConTeXtSyncParser

at the beginning so it doesn't crash TeXShop upon opening once the SyncTeX data is generated (same as the TeXworks crash that started all this).

What I observed, running things on the command line:


- "context --synctex Hello-world-lmtx.tex" works, a .synctex file is created and there is synchronization between .tex input and .pdf output in TeXShop.

By the way, the TeXShop engine ConTeXt-TL.engine uses --synctex=1, not --synctex. This didn't work in my tests, if I use --synctex=1 no .synctex file is created.

This may be why you have to add \setupsynctex[state=start] in the sample files to make things work.


- "context --luatex --synctex Hello-world-mkiv.tex" doesn't work as far as SyncTeX is concerned. A .synctex file is fleetingly created if you look closely at the Finder, but it vanishes after a fraction of a second. Sometimes, you don't see it, and it's a .tua file (I think) that appears briefly then vanishes. The resulting .pdf file includes no SyncTeX data.

See the screen recording (6.2 MB) at

	https://sdrive.cnrs.fr/s/e6fmorwk7bkkoPT

In it, I run "context --luatex --synctex Hello-world-mkiv.tex" first, then "context --synctex Hello-world-lmtx.tex". For the first, you see the .synctex file appear then vanish. For the second, the .synctex file persists.


So I don't know what the situation is currently, whether the above is normal, we need people more knowledgeable in ConTeXt to take over.

Bruno