LaTeX compatibility

Chirun uses plasTeX to render LaTeX documents in HTML format. It re-implements some LaTeX packages in order to produce more structured output, while it can use the original LaTeX implementation of some other packages without changes. Because plasTeX doesn’t work in exactly the same way as normal LaTeX, some LaTeX packages don’t work as intended, and produce bad output or lead to unrecoverable errors.

plasTeX’s default behaviour on encountering a macro that it doesn’t know is to ignore the macro name and interpret the argument(s) as normal. This can lead to unexpected behaviour, with arguments to commands appearing as plain text in the output. The build log will contain a warning of the form WARNING: unrecognized command/environment: mycommand.

Chirun’s HTML output uses MathJax to render mathematical notation. MathJax has its own set of supported commands: see the TeX and LaTeX support section of the MathJax documentation. Chirun can expand some math-mode commands before they are processed by MathJax, but in other cases it has to leave the rendering entirely up to MathJax.

Tips for making LaTeX documents work with Chirun

Try to use only the packages you need: many authors have accumulated a very long document preamble, most of which isn’t actually needed.

Commands which change the layout of the page or font sizes and styles will not have any effect in HTML output; if these cause a problem, put them inside an ifpdflatex block.

If a document fails to compile, try moving some of your \usepackage commands into an \ifpdflatex block, so they’re only loaded when making the PDF output.

Once you’ve identified a package or command that causes problems with plasTeX, if you really need it in the HTML output, please tell us about it.

Supported packages

This section lists packages that we know about, and the level of support.

Package	Support
abstract	Not supported. When used, an unwanted #1 appears at the top of the HTML output.
amsbsy	Stub package: commands are handled by MathJax.
amscd	Stub package. Diagrams are rendered as SVG images using pdf latex.
amsthm	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
a4	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
a4wide	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
afterpage	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
alltt	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
amsart	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
amsbook	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
amsfonts	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
amsmath	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
amssymb	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
appendixnumberbeamer	Stub package: doesn’t do anything.
article	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
babel	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
bbding	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
bbold	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
bbm	Re-implemented by Chirun. The command \mathbbm is rewritten as \mathbb.
beamer	Re-implemented by plasTeX. Beamer is a very large package and Chirun’s support is rather basic. The document-style HTML output is usually usable, but the HTML slides format still needs a lot of work.
beamerthemesplit	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
bm	Stub package: commands are handled by MathJax.
book	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
booktabs	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
cancel	Stub package: commands are handled by MathJax.
cantarell	Not supported. This package provides a font, and plasTeX seems to hang while reading it.
caption	Re-implemented by Chirun. The options are ignored in HTML output, and only the \caption command is implemented.
ccaption	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
changebar	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
CJK	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
CJKutf8	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
cleveref	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
color	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
comment	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
debugplastex	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
dsfont	Re-implemented by Chirun. The command \mathds is rewritten as \mathbb.
embed	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
endfloat	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
enumerate	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
enumitem	Re-implemented by Chirun.
epsf	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
eso-pic	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
fancybox	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
fancyhdr	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
fancyvrb	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
fleqn	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
float	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
fontenc	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
forest	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
framed	Re-implemented by Chirun. The following environments are supported: framed, oframed, shaded, shaded*, snugshade, snugshade*, leftbar.
geometry	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
graphics	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
graphicx	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
html	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
hyperref	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
ifpdf	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
iftex	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
ifthen	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
imakeidx	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
inputenc	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
isodate	Not supported. See plastex/plastex#362.
jss	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
keyval	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
kvoptions	Stub package: does nothing.
lipsum	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
listings	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
lmodern	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
longtable	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
lscape	Stub package. The \lscape environment is recognised but does nothing.
makeidx	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
marginnote	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
mathtime	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
mathtools	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
memoir	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
mhchem	Stub package: commands are handled by MathJax.
microtype	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
minitoc	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
multicol	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
nameref	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
natbib	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
pgfplots	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
placeins	Stub package: the FloatBarrier command is accepted but ignored.
polynom	Re-implemented by Chirun. \polylongdiv and \polylonggcd are rendered as SVG images using pdflatex.
pslatex	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
pspicture	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
pst-coil	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
pstricks	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
qrcode	Re-implemented by Chirun. Only the nolinks package option is used. Only the following options for the \qrcode command are recognised: hyperlink, link, height.
quotchap	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
report	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
revtex4-2	Re-implemented by Chirun.
rotating	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
sectsty	Not supported. Messes up section formatting in HTML even if none of its macros are used.
setspace	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
shortvrb	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
splitbib	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
subcaption	Re-implemented by Chirun.
subfig	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
subfigure	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
tabularx	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
tabulary	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
tcolorbox	Re-implemented by Chirun. Only the \tcolorbox and \newtcolorbox commands are recognised. The following options are recognised: colback, colframe, boxrule, title, coltitle.
textcomp	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
textpos	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
tikz-3dplot	Stub package: diagrams are rendered as SVG images using pdflatex.
tikz-cd	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
tikz	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
times	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
tocbibind	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
todonotes	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
type1cm	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
ucs	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
ulem	Re-implemented by Chirun.
unicode-math	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
url	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
verbatim	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
verse	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
wasysym	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
wrapfig	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
xcolor	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
xr-hyper	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
xr	Re-implemented by plasTeX.
xspace	Stub package: doesn’t do anything.
xy	Re-implemented by plasTeX.