on the errors from the log file i wrote it says : "unable to open image `143ebf4431f6923c64587a2965b56602_1355335161.ps': No such file or directory."

so it seems that maybe something in the script is wrong, the directory isnt right..

Every formula goes thought several formats: tex, dvi, ps and finally png. According to your first message, the process breaks at the dvi phase, so it's expected that the ps file doesn't get created.

To test further, please do the following. Edit vlatex/class_vlatex.php. Around line 411 (pretty at the end), change

To

This effectively disables the cleanup of the temp directory. Please clean it by hand (something like rm vlatex/temp/*) so we can see the results of the test.

Then, log into your forum and try to add a formula to a post. The temp folder will fill up with some files, so we can know how many of them get created ok. Please, tell me the result of ls -l after that test, or delte also vlatex/temp/index.htm so I can take a look at the directory listing at http://www.emath.co.il/forums/vlatex/temp/ (you can recreate the file after the test)

i commented the row u asked .

the ls -l gives now (while im in the temp dir) :

total 56
-rw-r--r-- 1 emath emath 49872 Dec 12 23:23 efa4c40fe23d50f46436522f01f442b1_1355350982.tex

Now, while in the temp dir, write the following:

Where Path to LaTeX is the path to latex as entered in the admincp. The default is /usr/bin/latex, so if you have the default value your line would be

This is the command the mod is issuing (Assuming that you didn't delete the file generated by the previous test; if you did, please create a new one).

See if any error happens, and see if more files are generated in the directory (i.e, check ls -l again).



If the previous command failed, try the same line but without the full path (just latex instead of /usr/bin). This should work, since we tested a different thing a while ago.

ok, the command succeeded. (with the full path)

ls -l gives :

the only error that might be is : /usr/bin/latex: /usr/local/lib/libpng12.so.0: no version information available (required by /usr/bin/latex)

That's very weird. The libpng error shouldn't matter at this point since the dvi file is generated; but it isn't when the same command is issued by the webserver.

It might be worth trying to install libpng just to see if that makes any difference; If you installed latex using a package manager (apt-get, yum, yast or whatever) then the dependence should have been installed, check your linux distribution on details why it wasn't.

Anyway, I don't think that's the problem, so let's try something else. I'm going to prepare a debug version of class_vlatex.php to gather more information and I'll get back to you when I have it.

That is unless... and I know this is a delicate question, but would you consider giving me temporary and limited ssh access to the restricted vlatex directory so I could perform tests by myself much more quickly?

I'll get back to you when I have the debug class_vlatex.php.

For the record, if it helps somebody else, it was a LaTeX install issue, latex.fmt was missing. What finally solved the problem was to run:

ive done this, and find out that the latex.fmt file is in the: /.texmf-var/web2c/

and the mod requires it to be at : /.texmf/web2c/

so ive just copied the file to that directory ( using cp command ) .

thanks to pod for the help.

one more little thing : why does the \\ command for new line doesnt work?

Not specifically this mod, but your latex installation requires it to be there.

LaTeX doesn't allow new lines in displayed equations. You can use one of amstex packages, for instance

[tex]\begin{gathered}
line 1 \\
line 2
\end{gathered}[/tex]

in mimetex it worked with no problem, and we wrote for years like this .
is there anyway to enable this command ?