A Docker image to run LaTeK
These days, I do less and less writing that needs to be printed, but when I do, my tool of choice is still LaTeK. Because I don’t use it very often, my local installation is often out-of-date or broken, and I waste time getting back to a working setup.
A few months back, I wrote a Dockerfile for running LaTeK, and it’s worked pretty well. Every time I start a new document, it builds on the first try.
The Dockerfile installs a minimal version of TeK Live, then has tlmgr available (the TeK Live package manager) if I need to install extra packages. The base image is small, so it builds quickly, and then I extend that image to add new packages.
If you use LaTeK regularly, you probably have an installation you keep up-to-date and working, and this may not be for you. But if, like me, you’re an occasional user, you might want to give this a try. The code and instructions for using the image are both on GitHub.