[TxMt] Announcing LaTeX Watch 2.0, with PDF support

[Robin Houston]

On 4/5/07, Mark Eli Kalderon <eli at markelikalderon.com> wrote:
>
> Dear Robin, could you explain what LaTeX Watch does over an above
> latexmk? If the main idea is as you describe it in your initial post
> to the mailing list:
>
> > The idea is that you can 'watch' a LaTeX document, so that whenever
> > you save a change the  display is updated as quickly as possible to
> > reflect the change.
>
> then this can already be achieved with latexmk with the -pvc switch.


Dear Mark,

In a general sense, there is a difference of emphasis. The primary function
of latexmk is to be as thorough as possible, compiling the document as many
times as necessary to resolve cross-references. Conversely, the primary
function of Watch is to be as *fast* as possible, so for example it compiles
the document only once.

On a more technical level, Watch compiles a custom format file for the
watched document, so that packages etc. do not have to be reloaded on each
subsequent recompile. This makes it faster at reflecting changes.

It also has various Mac- and TextMate-specific features. For example, if the
preview document is closed, or if you quit TextMate, then the watch script
will stop running.

Of course there is some overlap with latexmk. I'm sure that each could learn
some useful tricks from the other. (Some future version of Watch will
probably do some automatic recompilation when references need to be
resolved, though it will do it *after* displaying the updated file.)

Robin
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