macOS how to fix latex?

[MrFusion]

Help! My thesis written in latex is no longer compiling.

First of all, sorry for the (slightly) off topic post but I think this forum will most likely know the solution.

I have a new hard drive (old one died) with a fresh install of everything.
When running my thesis through pdflatex and bibtex, I am getting this error: "Warning--you've exceeded 100, the entry-string-size, for entry..."
There is nothing wrong with my tex files because they compile correctly on my home computer. The problem is thus with latex and google tells me it has to do with fixed sized arrays used everywhere in latex.

I don't remember how I installed latex last time: porticus, finkcommander, i-installer, but this time I used porticus. I don't think I will use porticus ever again because octave is also crashing on files that used to work fine.
Anyway, is there any way to fix texlive on my macbook?
Can it be uninstalled and reinstalled with e.g. finkcommander without causing additional issues?

If this helps: versions installed on macbook:

$pdflatex --version
pdfTeX 3.1415926-1.40.11-2.2 (TeX Live 2010/MacPorts 2010_2)
kpathsea version 6.0.0
Copyright 2010 Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
There is NO warranty. Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the pdfTeX copyright and
the Lesser GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file
named COPYING and the pdfTeX source.
Primary author of pdfTeX: Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
Compiled with libpng 1.4.5; using libpng 1.4.5
Compiled with zlib 1.2.5; using zlib 1.2.5
Compiled with poppler version 0.16.2

$bibtex --version
BibTeX 0.99d (TeX Live 2010/MacPorts 2010_2)
kpathsea version 6.0.0
Copyright 2010 Oren Patashnik.
There is NO warranty. Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the BibTeX copyright and
the Lesser GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file
named COPYING and the BibTeX source.
Primary author of BibTeX: Oren Patashnik.

----------

versions installed on imac:
$pdflatex --version
pdfeTeX 3.141592-1.21a-2.2 (Web2C 7.5.4)
kpathsea version 3.5.4
Copyright (C) 1997-2004 Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
Kpathsea is copyright (C) 1997-2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
There is NO warranty. Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the pdfeTeX copyright and
the GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the files
named COPYING and the pdfeTeX source.
Primary author of pdfeTeX: Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX)/Han The Thanh (pdfTeX).
Kpathsea written by Karl Berry and others.

$bibtex --version
BibTeX 0.99c (Web2C 7.5.4)
kpathsea version 3.5.4
Copyright (C) 1997-2004 Oren Patashnik.
Kpathsea is copyright (C) 1997-2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
There is NO warranty. Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the BibTeX copyright and
the GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the files
named COPYING and the BibTeX source.
Primary author of BibTeX: Oren Patashnik.
Kpathsea written by Karl Berry and others.

 

[sero]

I installed latex via MacPorts and have not had any problems with it. You might want to trash your current installation and try that.

 

[MrFusion]

I installed latex via MacPorts and have not had any problems with it. You might want to trash your current installation and try that.

Porticus, what I used this time around, is a GUI for MacPorts.

 

[balamw]

I am getting this error: "Warning--you've exceeded 100, the entry-string-size, for entry..."

Break the problem down.

This error tends to be a BibTeX error, so does pdflatex work alright on its own? If not how does it fail?

Then add just one reference form a separate bibtex file. Does that work? If not how does it fail?

B

 

[MrFusion]

Break the problem down.

This error tends to be a BibTeX error, so does pdflatex work alright on its own? If not how does it fail?

Then add just one reference form a separate bibtex file. Does that work? If not how does it fail?

B

The warning was found inside a *.blg file. From the looks of it, the *.bbl file contains incomplete bibitem's. So you are right, the problem has more to do with bibtex than with latex. How to fix bibtex would have been more accurate as title.

 

[balamw]

The warning was found inside a *.blg file. From the looks of it, the *.bbl file contains incomplete bibitem's. So you are right, the problem has more to do with bibtex than with latex. How to fix bibtex would have been more accurate as title.

Sometimes I have seen it that the .bbl file gets corrupted on one pass of processing and won't let go after that. Can you delete all the intermediate files or copy them from the machine where it works?

B

 

[MrFusion]

Sometimes I have seen it that the .bbl file gets corrupted on one pass of processing and won't let go after that. Can you delete all the intermediate files or copy them from the machine where it works?

B

My script runs as follows
run pdflatex (x2)
run bibtex (x1) -> .bbl file is incomplete
run pdflatex (x3)
delete all tmp files // I like to keep my folder clean and neat anyway
open pdf file

I rather not copy the .bbl file and keep it static since the text (and thus the .bbl) is still under review.

Edit: I just trashed the entire installation and installed MacTeX instead. Everything so far seems to be working and the system is still stable.