LaTeX compatibility

[krlmlr]

Many symbols do not render properly in a LaTeX document: LaTeX.pdf. What's the best way to deal with this?

We can detect if LaTeX output is active, r-lib/pillar#61 (comment):

knitr:::is_latex_output(). This function was exported recently in the devel version of knitr.

Should we work along these lines? Or should knitr (or even the user) just set the cli.unicode option?

[gaborcsardi]

One good way would be to use a modern unicode alternative like xetex. I am not sure if this is easy with knitr or not.

Yes, the other way would be to set cli.unicode to FALSE. I am not sure whose responsibility this is.

[krlmlr]

The PDF has been produced with xetex; plain pdflatex will give errors.

It feels easiest to query for LaTeX output here than the other way round. Example: r-lib/pillar@170deca9.

[gaborcsardi]

@krlmlr so we should do this in cli as well?

[krlmlr]

That's what I'd suggest. Eventually pillar will use cli.