Report non TeX Live distribution detected in `quarto check install`

Currently quarto check only reports TeX Live distribution
https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/blob/32836c350416d79b1298ec0e84b2ebca2243bc94/src/command/check/check.ts#L400-L426

but Quarto can work also with non TeX Live, and it detects this by looking for pdflatex in PATH
https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/blob/32836c350416d79b1298ec0e84b2ebca2243bc94/src/command/check/check.ts#L400-L426

https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/blob/32836c350416d79b1298ec0e84b2ebca2243bc94/src/command/render/latexmk/latex.ts#L29-L41

We should also report that. Or even, report our default pdf engine we expect
https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/blob/32836c350416d79b1298ec0e84b2ebca2243bc94/src/command/render/latexmk/latex.ts#L110-L121

As this is what we'll call

So lualatex should be on PATH as this is the default (https://quarto.org/docs/output-formats/pdf-engine.html#alternate-pdf-engines)

Discussed in https://github.com/quarto-dev/quarto-cli/discussions/13480

^{Originally posted by snhansen October 1, 2025}

Description

I've just made a fresh installation of both Quarto and MiKTeX, but Quarto doesn't seem to detect the MiKTeX installation. The MiKTeX installation isn't the portable one and commands like latex and pdflatex are available via CLI. How can I make it detect the installation?

Here's the result of quarto check:

C:\Users\au234616>quarto check
Quarto 1.8.25
[>] Checking environment information...
      Quarto cache location: C:\Users\au234616\AppData\Local\quarto
[>] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.6.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.3.1: OK
      Typst version 0.13.0: OK
[>] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[>] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.8.25
      Path: C:\Users\au234616\AppData\Local\Programs\Quarto\bin
      CodePage: 1252

[>] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: (not installed)
      Chromium: (not installed)

[>] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Tex:  (not detected)

[>] Checking Chrome Headless....................OK
      Using: Chrome found on system
      Path: C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe
      Source: Windows Registry

[>] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[>] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.13.7
      Path: C:/Users/au234616/AppData/Local/Programs/Python/Python313/python.exe
      Jupyter: 5.8.1
      Kernels: python3

[>] Checking Jupyter engine render....OK

[>] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.5.1
      Path: C:/PROGRA~1/R/R-45~1.1
      LibPaths:
        - C:/Users/au234616/AppData/Local/R/win-library/4.5
        - C:/Program Files/R/R-4.5.1/library
      knitr: 1.50
      rmarkdown: 2.30

[>] Checking Knitr engine render......OK
```</div>