[MiKTeX] Updated MiKTeX files, now miktex-xelatex.exe "-aux-directory=DIR" and "-output-directory=DIR" options suddenly conflict?

[Christopher Weedall]

Hello,

Apologies if this topic has been addressed, but searching the archives, I
couldn't find anything.

I have been using the following in a batch file to build my LaTeX documents
for many months without issue:

@miktex-xelatex.exe -enable-enctex -enable-etex -enable-installer
-enable-mltex -enable-pipes -enable-write18 -synctex=1
-aux-directory=_build_files -output-directory=./ "%1.tex"

Today, I updated (both as user and as admin) MiKTeX, which has a bunch of
.exe file updates/removals. Everything builds more or less properly, but
the -aux-directory option seems to have just completely stopped working
when -output-directory is present. It seems -output-directory now acts
like -aux-directory **AND** overrides it.

I had been using -aux-directory for all the build files, but still wanted
-output-directory for putting the .pdf and .synctex.gz files.

It seems like this may be a bug introduced into the most recent 2016-12-23
version of MiKTeX executable files.

I have found a workaround, which is acceptable for the time, but I'm
concerned this is a bug and I better bring attention to it - or to at least
figure out why it was changed and if there is an appropriate way to deal
with these changes.

Workaround:
1. Remove -output-directory completely from the above command call
2. Copy the .pdf file from the build directory back into the .tex document
folder
3. Copy the .synctex.gz file from the build directory back into the .tex
document folder

Thank you in advance for insight into this situation!

Best,
Chris

[Ulrike Fischer]

Post by Christopher Weedall
Today, I updated (both as user and as admin) MiKTeX, which has a bunch of
.exe file updates/removals. Everything builds more or less properly, but
the -aux-directory option seems to have just completely stopped working
when -output-directory is present. It seems -output-directory now acts
like -aux-directory **AND** overrides it.

I never us the redirection options, so I can tell you if something
has changed. But I made some tests with pdflatex (it seems to do the
same as xelatex) and the results are a bit odd:

--aux-directory=auxfiles --synctex=1 : everything in auxfiles

--output-direct=outfiles --synctex=1 : everything in outfiles

--output-directory=outfiles --aux-directory=auxfiles --synctex=1 :
aux and log in outfiles, pdf and synctex.gz in auxfiles

--aux-directory=auxfiles --output-directory=outfiles --synctex=1:
everything in outfiles

1 and 2 could be a sensible choice (people using only one of the
option perhaps want them to affect everything), but I would more
expect them to affect only aux/log and pdf/synctex.gz.

3 looks wrong -- I would have expected aux and log in auxfiles and
pdf and synctex in outfiles -- but at least it splits the files in
two folders.

4 looks completly wrong as the --aux-directory setting is ignored.

You could probably use 3 as a work around, but imho you should make
a bug report. https://sourceforge.net/p/miktex/bugs/?source=navbar

[Christopher Weedall]

Hi Ulrike,

Thank you for verifying this for me. I'll get right on a bug report.

Best,
Chris

Post by Ulrike Fischer

Post by Christopher Weedall
Today, I updated (both as user and as admin) MiKTeX, which has a bunch of
.exe file updates/removals. Everything builds more or less properly, but
the -aux-directory option seems to have just completely stopped working
when -output-directory is present. It seems -output-directory now acts
like -aux-directory **AND** overrides it.

I never us the redirection options, so I can tell you if something
has changed. But I made some tests with pdflatex (it seems to do the
--aux-directory=auxfiles --synctex=1 : everything in auxfiles
--output-direct=outfiles --synctex=1 : everything in outfiles
aux and log in outfiles, pdf and synctex.gz in auxfiles
everything in outfiles
1 and 2 could be a sensible choice (people using only one of the
option perhaps want them to affect everything), but I would more
expect them to affect only aux/log and pdf/synctex.gz.
3 looks wrong -- I would have expected aux and log in auxfiles and
pdf and synctex in outfiles -- but at least it splits the files in
two folders.
4 looks completly wrong as the --aux-directory setting is ignored.
You could probably use 3 as a work around, but imho you should make
a bug report. https://sourceforge.net/p/miktex/bugs/?source=navbar
--
Ulrike Fischer
http://www.troubleshooting-tex.de/
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