Unable to install pandoc-crossref that's required by the Makefile

[sanjayankur31]

Hiya,

I've been trying to install pandoc-crossref that's required by the makefile, but I can't seem to get it to work somehow. I've also filed a ticket upstream, but they're not quite sure what's happening either.

pandoc-crossref.txt

This is a Fedora 26 system here. Anyone else seeing this?

[rougier]

I'm not sure either what is the problem here. Note that if you intend to make a submission, it is not absolutely necessary to have crossref since your paper can be later compiled by the editor. This would mean temporarily removing references in the paper (such that you can compile) and add them at the time of submission. Hopefully, the editor will be able to compile it for you.

Anyone experienced such installation problem ?

[rougier]

Note also that the current build is failing at pandoc-crossref: https://github.com/lierdakil/pandoc-crossref

This might be related. Maybe you can try to install a less recent version.

[lierdakil]

Current build's fine, it's just CI being uncooperative.

P.S. In any case, hackage-published packages are definitely fine https://matrix.hackage.haskell.org/package/pandoc-crossref

[rougier]

@lierdakil Thanks.
@sanjayankur31 Did you make any progress with your installation problem ?

[sanjayankur31]

None yet. I get the same issue on three different Fedora 26 installations. I'll ask the Fedora haskell folks for help.

[tpoisot]

Same issue on my side. The pandoc-fignos etc filters work very well (we use it in our own preprint engine), in case there are issues with pandoc-crossref.

[rougier]

@tpoisoit You mean you cannot install the pandoc-crossref ?

[tpoisot]

Yes -- tried with the ghc devel stack too, and no luck.

[eddelbuettel]

A slighty roundabout way to get these binaries is ... via RStudio for your system/distro. I get both server and desktop, and most systems should at least get the desktop. It will be in there:

$ dpkg -L rstudio-server|grep pandoc
/usr/lib/rstudio-server/bin/pandoc
/usr/lib/rstudio-server/bin/pandoc/pandoc-citeproc
/usr/lib/rstudio-server/bin/pandoc/pandoc
$  dpkg -L rstudio|grep pandoc
/usr/lib/rstudio/bin/pandoc
/usr/lib/rstudio/bin/pandoc/pandoc-citeproc
/usr/lib/rstudio/bin/pandoc/pandoc
$

[sanjayankur31]

On a Fedora system, one needs to install the ghc-pandoc-devel package. Then cabal install pandoc-crossref works as expected. On other distributions, one will have to install whatever package is similar to ghc-pandoc-devel on Fedora I'd think. (No clue about the ghc devel stack I'm afraid)

[eddelbuettel]

Or, of course, use the binary:

$ COLUMNS=90 dpkg -l | grep pandoc
ii  libghc-pandoc-ci 0.10.2.2-1bui all           Pandoc support for Citation Style Lang
ii  pandoc           1.17.2~dfsg-3 amd64         general markup converter
ii  pandoc-citeproc  0.10.2.2-1bui amd64         Pandoc support for Citation Style Lang
ii  pandoc-data      1.17.2~dfsg-3 all           general markup converter - data files
$

But some people run (for reason I fail to grasp) outdated versions of their distro and then the RStudio trick can help (as the pandoc* binaries are statically linked).

[sanjayankur31]

The pandoc-crossref package isn't available as a binary in the Fedora repositories. so one must install it using cabal install. Note that the problem wasn't pandoc itself, it was the pandoc-crossref bit only.

[tpoisot]

@sanjayankur31 this is not working for me (on F26)

[lierdakil]

@eddelbuettel, you're apparently confusing pandoc-citeproc and pandoc-crossref. I know names are similar, but latter isn't universally available in binary distros. I think only Arch, NixOS and Gentoo have it easily-available.

@tpoisot, make sure to clean up the mess that's left after previous attempt. If you used sandbox, delete it and create a new one (cabal sandbox delete; cabal sandbox init). If you didn't, I think removing/renaming $HOME/.ghc and $HOME/.cabal should do the trick.
FWIW I also provide pre-built executables on GitHub releases page, which apparently work on FC26.

[eddelbuettel]

@lierdakil Indeed. And RStudio doesn't ship it either. I'll crawl back under my rock then.

[ Now, the pandoc complex has a (apparently well-earned) reputation for being hard to build. Maybe an easier way to get binaries across would get. Maybe a Docker container for ReScience ? ]