LaTeX Docker Environment Manager

A simple but powerful toolset for managing a LaTeX development environment in Docker, consisting of a management script (manage_docker.sh) and a customized Dockerfile.

Overview

• manage_docker.sh: Bash script to build, run, stop, and manage your LaTeX Docker container
• Dockerfile: Creates a custom LaTeX environment based on texlive/texlive:latest with additional tools

Prerequisites

• Docker installed on your system
• Bash-compatible shell
• Proper permissions (either sudo privileges or membership in the docker group)

Usage

./manage_docker.sh {build|run|stop|clean-container|clean-image|status|compile}

Commands

build

Builds the Docker image named latex-environment.

./manage_docker.sh build

run [path] [detached]

Runs the container, mounting [path] (default: current directory) to /app inside the container.

• Creates a new container if none exists or if the mount path differs
• Optional detached parameter runs the container in the background

# Interactive, mount current directory
./manage_docker.sh run

# Interactive, mount specific directory
./manage_docker.sh run /path/to/dir

# Detached mode, mount current directory
./manage_docker.sh run . detached

stop

Stops the running container.

./manage_docker.sh stop

clean-container

Removes the container (stops it first if running).

./manage_docker.sh clean-container

clean-image

Removes the image and any dependent containers.

./manage_docker.sh clean-image

status

Checks the status of both the container and image.

./manage_docker.sh status

compile [path]

Compiles a LaTeX project using make. Requires a Makefile in the directory.

# Compile project in current directory
./manage_docker.sh compile

# Compile project in specific directory
./manage_docker.sh compile /path/to/dir

Example Workflow

# Build the image
./manage_docker.sh build

# Run the container interactively
./manage_docker.sh run

# Compile a LaTeX project
./manage_docker.sh compile /path/to/latex/project

# Stop the container when finished
./manage_docker.sh stop

Dockerfile Details

The environment includes:

• Base: texlive/texlive:latest
• Utilities: make, curl, wget, git, jq, perl, pandoc, python3, nodejs, chromium
• Fonts: FiraCode variants (Retina, Light, Bold, Regular, SemiBold, Medium)
• Python: Virtual environment with pandocfilters and pygments
• Node.js: puppeteer (v25.1.0) and @mermaid-js/mermaid-cli (v11.15.0)
• Default Working Directory: /app
• Default Command: bash
• Healthcheck: Verifies latexmk functionality

Manual Image Building

If you prefer not to use the script for building:

docker build -t latex-environment .

Notes

• The script uses set -e and traps to catch errors and provide feedback
• If the specified image doesn't exist, you'll be prompted to build it
• Mount paths are checked for consistency; mismatched mounts trigger container recreation
• Container name (latex-container) and image name (latex-environment) are fixed

Troubleshooting

• Docker not found: Install Docker or ensure it's in your PATH
• Permission denied: Run with sudo or add your user to the docker group

License

This project is unlicensed (public domain). Use it as you see fit!