[Tex/LaTex] Automatically install required packages when compiling from commandline

command lineinstallingpackagespython

Scenario

I am compiling a latex document from python 3.6 in Anaconda 4.8.2 on a Windows 10 Pro N device. To do so, I created a python 3.6 environment in Anaconda Prompt, installed miktex in anaconda with command:

conda install -c conda-forge miktex

And execute the following python code with self.create_pdf('test/main.tex','test/main.pdf'):

def create_pdf(self, input_filename, output_filename):
        process = subprocess.Popen([
            'latex',   # Or maybe 'C:\\Program Files\\MikTex\\miktex\\bin\\latex.exe
            '-output-format=pdf',
            '-job-name=' + output_filename,
            input_filename])
        process.wait()

The latex in question uses, among others, package \usepackage{qrcode}. This causes the python script to manually prompt permission to install the packages as shown in the image below.

enter image description here

Question

How can I compile the latex silently by automatically installing all required packages?

Attempts

In accordance with the latex --help documentiation, I tried running the Anaconda prompt as administrator and passing the -enable-installer. I verified that the manual command latex -output-format=pdf -job-name="test/main.pdf" "test/main.tex" -enable-installer skips the request for permission. Hence, I tried to pass the -enable-installer at the very end with code:

def create_pdf(self, input_filename, output_filename):
    string = f'latex -output-format=pdf -job-name="{input_filename}" "{output_filename}" -enable-installer'
    process = subprocess.Popen([string])        
    process.wait()

which still prompts for permission even though copy pasting the string in cmd does not.

Best Answer

Thanks to the comment of Teepeemm, a solution is found in the form of:

def create_pdfV2(self, input_filename, output_filename):
        process = subprocess.Popen([
            'latex',   # Or maybe 'C:\\Program Files\\MikTex\\miktex\\bin\\latex.exe
            '-output-format=pdf',
            '-job-name=' + output_filename,
            input_filename,
            '-enable-installer'])

The problems in my attempts were:

  1. In the first attempt I did not pass the -enable-installer argument.
  2. In the attempts including the -enable-installer argument, I had also rewritten the command from list format with a single argument per list element to all the arguments in a single list element. This yielded an invalid command even though the -enable-installer command was included. I did not notice this mistake because I forgot I placed a command before my attempts which generated an error which I attributed to the attempt.

Doubts

  1. I am not sure whether this command uses the latex that is installed on my pc or the latex that I installed in Anaconda.
  2. I do not yet know how install the latex command in anaconda with all packages included as suggested in the comment.
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