Support HTTP proxies

[l2dy]

error: cannot write format file tectonic-format-latex.fmt.gz
caused by: this I/O layer cannot save format files

Environment

Tectonic 0.1.5
macOS 10.12.5
rustc 1.17.0
cargo 0.18.0

[pkgw]

Can you paste the exact command line that you're using to run Tectonic?

I believe that you need to add the argument --outfmt=format ... if that works, then clearly there is a bug in the user experience here that needs to be addressed.

[l2dy]

tectonic -w 'https://dl.bintray.com/pkgw/tectonic/tl2016extras/2016.0r4/tlextras-2016.0r4.tar' zh.tex with <redacted>.

I tried --outfmt pdf but that didn't work.

[pkgw]

Ohhhh, sorry, I misinterpreted. You have run into a different area where the command-line program is delivering a confusing user experience. The -w option is currently a bit busted compared to what happens if you run the program without any arguments.

If you just run tectonic zh.tex I think it should work. I am having trouble testing since I don't have the Noto Serif CJK SC fonts installed on my system.

[l2dy]

In China the default URL (i.e., http://purl.org/net/pkgwpub/tectonic-default) is blocked. Can I use HTTP proxy in tectonic?

[pkgw]

Oh! I was wondering why you bothered to use the -w option.

Tectonic uses the Rust crate hyper for web accesses. It looks like proxy support could be enabled with some explicit code in Tectonic: see this thread.

I will change this issue to be about adding proper proxy support.

In the meantime, you should be able to get things working by creating a configuration file that specifies the specific URL. On Linux, this file is looked for at ~/.config/Tectonic/config.toml. On OSX, I believe it will be ~/Library/Application Support/Tectonic/config.toml. The contents should then be:

[[default_bundles]]
url = "https://dl.bintray.com/pkgw/tectonic/tl2016extras/2016.0r4/tlextras-2016.0r4.tar"

In more encouraging news, I downloaded the fonts and I think that the document will compile correctly if you can access the bundle in this way.

[l2dy]

Thanks, it worked. Please document the config file somewhere.

[webbery]

I cann't find ~/.config/Tectonic/config.toml in ubuntu 16.04.
I saw -b option. Does it mean I can use native texlive?

[l2dy]

@webbery Did you try to create the file?

[webbery]

@l2dy No, I didn't. Should I copy above content url to config.toml?

[l2dy]

If you're facing the same problem (purl.org not accessible), yes.

[webbery]

thanks, it works

[pkgw]

@webbery If you don't mind revealing this information, could you say where you are trying to use Tectonic that makes purl.org not accessible? Also China? I completely understand if you'd rather not share.

[webbery]

Yes, I'm in China. I found another error if I compiled following tex file:

\documentclass[UTF8]{ctexart}
\begin{document}
\end{document}

Here is the error:

Running TeX ...
Rerunning TeX because "test.aux" changed ...
Running xdvipdfmx ...
error: cannot open "test.xdv"

But if I use vpn, it works fine and produce test.pdf.

[pkgw]

@l2dy @webbery I would like to see if I can fix this. Do either of you know of the "best" way to have Tectonic detect whether an HTTP proxy should be used for your OS? I can make it a configuration option, but it would be good for the program to automatically follow system settings if they're available. As far as I can tell Rust does not have a crate that provides this functionality (yet).

[pkgw]

Actually, maybe the env_proxy crate is what I need.

[l2dy]

I'd suggest following curl's convention. The env_proxy crate seems to obey it.

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=curl&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11.0-RELEASE+and+Ports&arch=default&format=html#ENVIRONMENT

[spl]

Is this the way to set up a proxy with hyper?

[pkgw]

@spl I think not, unfortunately, because Tectonic is on hyper 0.10, while those instructions are for 0.11. It would be good to upgrade Tectonic to a newer version of hyper and the rest, but last time I checked it looked like it would be a nontrivial amount of work. Maybe it would be less work to backport the instructions to 0.10, but it also wouldn't be bad to just bite the bullet and upgrade.

[l2dy]

reqwest 0.10.9 enables system proxies by default, so all we need is a simple upgrade now.

[pkgw]

It shouldn't be too hard to update to the reqwest 0.10 series, I think, but it requires a few updates. I would love if someone could try their hand at making this change! I'd also like to finally address @malbarbo's longstanding #525 pull request ... I just haven't had the time.

[ratmice]

I think that this one can be closed since #726 was merged

[pkgw]

I agree! If anyone encounters a proxy-related problem with Tectonic and finds this issue, I'd recommend opening a new one instead of commenting here.