General ⇒ bundledoc: a backup solution for LaTeX documents

[meho_r]

In short:

bundledoc is a post-processor for the snapshot package that bundles together all the classes, packages, and files needed to build a given LaTeX document. It reads the .dep file that snapshot produces, finds each of the files mentioned therein, and packages them into a single archive file (e.g., a .tar.gz file), suitable for moving across systems, transmitting to a colleague, etc.

1. The point: Preservation of documents and making sure they stay compilable with all originally used packages on every machine and in any time in the future.

2. Installation: as usual, tlmgr (TeXLive) or MPM (MiKTeX Package Manager) should do the job. However, take care of two things:

• a) don't forget to install snapshot package too, and
  b) for Linux users: bundledoc by default uses compress command, so don't forget to install ncompress package.

3. Usage: again, two things to mention:

• a) put \RequirePackage{snapshot} before \documentclass in your .tex file and run latex (or xelatex, or pdflatex...) on it (let's name it here test.tex):

  Code: Select all

  \RequirePackage{snapshot}
  \documentclass{memoir}
  
  \usepackage{lipsum}
  \usepackage{graphicx}
  
  \begin{document}
  
  \lipsum[1-5]
  
  \end{document}
  

  b) run bundledoc on generated test.dep file:

  Code: Select all

  bundledoc test.dep
  

  After that an archive will be created containing a snapshot of all files necessary for compilation (.cls, .clo, .tex, .sty etc. – even pictures will be included). Simple as that.

Enjoy