L3BUILD(1)

📦
version 77170 · 8 versions
, in fedora 44

💖 L3BUILD 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to the l3build manual page — it's section 1 of the General Commands Manual and it's literally the whole vibe for building, testing and shipping LaTeX packages. grab a snack, we're doing this 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

l3build — no cap, that's the name, that's the whole name 💅

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

Usage l3build <target> [<options>] [<names>]

so you give it a target, then maybe some options, then maybe some names and it just… goes 👑 the way that <names> is optional is lowkey iconic.

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

the l3build module is here to support development of high-quality LaTeX code, and it does that by providing:

  • a unit testing system 🧪
  • automated typesetting of code sources ✨
  • a reliable packaging system for CTAN releases 📦

the bundle is made of a Lua script that runs the tasks, plus a .tex file that provides the testing environment. these were originally built for supporting LaTeX development, but they're designed so other people can readily use them too 🫶 full documentation is provided, iykyk.

🎀 COMMANDS 🎀

valid targets are:

  • check — runs all automated tests 🧪
  • clean — cleans out directory tree 🧹
  • ctan — creates CTAN-ready archive 📦
  • doc — typesets all documentation files 📖
  • install — installs files into the local texmf tree 💾
  • manifest — creates a manifest file 📝
  • save — saves test validation log 💾
  • tag — updates release tags in files 🏷️
  • uninstall — uninstalls files from the local texmf tree 🗑️
  • unpack — unpacks the source files into the build tree 📂
  • upload — sends archive to CTAN for public release 🚀

💅 OPTIONS 💅

valid options are:

  • --config|-c — sets the config(s) used for running tests ⚙️
  • --date|-d — sets the date to insert into sources 📅
  • --debug — runs target in debug mode 🐛
  • --dev — use the development LaTeX format 🌱
  • --dirty — skips cleaning up the test area 🙈
  • --dry-run — dry run for install or upload 🧪
  • --email — email address of CTAN uploader 📧
  • --engine|-e — sets the engine(s) to use for running test 🔧
  • --epoch — sets the epoch for tests and typesetting ⏳
  • --file|-F — takes the upload announcement from the given file 📄
  • --first — name of first test to run 🥇
  • --full — installs all files 💯
  • --halt-on-error|-H — stops running tests after the first failure 🛑
  • --help|-h — prints this message and exits 🆘
  • --last — name of last test to run 🏁
  • --message|-m — text for upload announcement message 💬
  • --quiet|-q — suppresses TeX output when unpacking 🤫
  • --rerun — skips setup: simply reruns tests 🔁
  • --show-log-on-error — shows the full log of the failure with halt-on-error 😭
  • --show-saves|-S — shows the invocation to update failing .tlg files 💾
  • --shuffle — shuffles order of tests 🎲
  • --stdengine|-s — run tests with the std engine (config dependent) 🔩
  • --texmfhome — location of user texmf tree 🏠
  • --version — prints version information and exits 🏷️

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

💜 AUTHORS 💜

Copyright (C) 2014-2025 The LaTeX Project 🫶

okay that's the whole thing bestie, you ate that 💅 this cutie was brought to you by LaTeX, dated 2025-05-08, and it's the l3build page from the General Commands Manual — go forth and build, mwah 🎀✨

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