Vagrant-sphinx-pdflatex.md

First create a Vagrantfile:

vagrant init precise64

Then add the following to the new Vagrantfile:

config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => <<-EOT
  apt-get update
  apt-get -y install python-pip
  pip install sphinx
  # all these packages are necessary, otherwise running "make latexpdf" gives errors
  apt-get install -y texlive-latex-recommended texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended
EOT

Note that these latex packages add up to about 1GB of space, and will take 10 minutes (or more) to download. If that's OK, provision the VM:

vagrant up # takes like 10 minutes...

Everything succeed? Then the following will work for a suitably-configured sphinx Makefile:

vagrant ssh
cd /vagrant
make latexpdf # assumes you have a sphinx compatible Makefile which has been customized to support latexpdf

Error messages from pdflatex

• I can't find file ptmr8t'.` : means missing package texlive-fonts-recommended
• titlesec.sty not found: means missing package texlive-latex-extra
• "LaTeX Error: "cmap.sty" not found" : missing package texlive-latex-recommended

Other

• consider installing from PPA: http://support.rstudio.org/help/kb/faq/installing-tex-live-2012-for-ubuntu-1204

Vagrantfile

# -*- mode: ruby -*-
# vi: set ft=ruby :

Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "precise64"
  config.vm.box_url = "http://files.vagrantup.com/precise64.box"

  # config.vm.network :private_network, ip: "192.168.33.10"
  # config.vm.network :public_network
  # config.ssh.forward_agent = true

  config.vm.provider :virtualbox do |vb|
    # vb.customize ["modifyvm", :id, "--memory", "128"]
  end
  
  config.vm.provision :shell, :inline => <<-EOT
    apt-get update
    apt-get -y install python-pip
    pip install sphinx
    # all these packages are necessary, otherwise running "make latexpdf" gives errors
    apt-get install -y texlive-latex-recommended texlive-latex-extra texlive-fonts-recommended
  EOT
end