CountZero:

Thank you kindly. That is exactly what was needed to move me off of stuck. I just deployed the app tonight. I believe it to be doing the trick as I write, based on feedback from three testers (including myself).

And the working code looks like this:

  $self->{'tt'} = Template->new({
   INCLUDE_PATH => $self->{'cfg'}->param("pdf.include_path"),
    OUTPUT_PATH => $self->{'cfg'}->param("pdf.tmp_path") });

  $self->{'tt'}->process($template,{ field => $field },$self->{'pdf_ou
+tput'} . '.tex',binmode => 1) || die $self->{'tt'}->error();

  my $cwd = cwd();
  chdir $self->{'cfg'}->param("pdf.tmp_path");
  $ENV{'USER'} = $self->{'cfg'}->param("pdf.user");
  $ENV{'HOME'} = $self->{'cfg'}->param("pdf.home");
  `latexmk -pdf $tmp_file.tex`;
  chdir $cwd;
  rename "$tmp_file.pdf", $file;
  unlink <$tmp_file.*>;
  $self->{'pdf_output_file'} = $file;
  $self->{'pdf_output_file_name'} = $self->{'pdf_output'} . '.pdf';
[download]

As I see this posted, it seems I ought to refactor some of my config paramters which no longer point to pdf files but now to tex files. But other than that, your solution moved me forward in rather quick style.

This is meeting all of my requirements, with respect to filing the resulting file appropriately and avoiding the risk of race conditions which would corrupt our archives. I have control over what to name the files.

So far, the only complaint I've had about latexmk is how noisy it has been when I'm running my test suite. I'll have to review the --help on that script again. I'll bet their is a switch to quiet it down. But it was an easy install. I would be more comfortable calling methods somehow, for some reason using backticks other than in a quick throw-away script makes me nervous. But I have no idea if there is any reason for that.

With this trick, the only thing holding me back now is my rudimentary latex skills.

But I'd guess this will give me more reason to practice with that.

Thanks again for the lead.

-- Hugh

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