Compiling LaTeX with TeX Live on Arch Linux
On Linux, there are not many polished tools for editing and compiling LaTeX locally. Overleaf is a good online option, but it has its limitations. Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is a powerful alternative for writing and compiling LaTeX documents directly on your system.
Before installing packages, update your system:
sudo pacman -Syu
Install the TeX Live components you need. This selection covers most typical documents using minted, tikz, Spanish language support, advanced math, and additional fonts:
sudo pacman -S \
texlive-latex \
texlive-latexextra \
texlive-fontsextra \
texlive-langspanish \
texlive-pictures \
texlive-mathscience \
texlive-xetex \
texlive-metapost \
texlive-binextra \
python-pygments
More information: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/TeX_Live
Install the official Microsoft release of VSCode:
sudo pacman -S visual-studio-code-bin
Alternative options:
code: Open-source build maintained by Arch Linux.vscodium: Fully open-source community build of VSCode.
It is highly recommended to install the LaTeX Workshop extension for compiling and previewing LaTeX files within VSCode.
You can install it from the Extensions Marketplace (Ctrl+Shift+X → search “LaTeX Workshop”).
If you’re looking for an interface similar to Overleaf, you can install TeXstudio:
sudo pacman -S texstudio
Another alternative to Overleaf is Kile:
sudo pacman -S kile
[!WARNING] Each application has different RAM consumption patterns: