Quarto book does not run same working dir for HTML or PDF

• Create a project

quarto create project book test-quarto-book --no-prompt

• Tweak content

 cd .\test-quarto-book\
mkdir chapters
mv intro.qmd .\chapters\
rm .\summary.qmd
rm .\references.qmd

• Modify config by adding a filter, and moving intro.qmd into chapters

project:
  type: book

book:
  title: "Test-quarto-book"
  author: "Norah Jones"
  date: "11/03/2024"
  chapters:
    - index.qmd
    - chapters/intro.qmd

bibliography: references.bib

format:
  html:
    theme: cosmo
  pdf:
    documentclass: scrreprt

filters: 
  - workdir.lua

• Add this Lua filter

Pandoc = function(doc)
  quarto.log.output("LUA_WD: "..pandoc.system.get_working_directory())
end

Now see the difference of context

For HTML

> quarto render --to html
[1/2] index.qmd
LUA_WD: C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\quarto\test-quarto-book
[2/2] chapters\intro.qmd
LUA_WD: C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\quarto\test-quarto-book\chapters

Output created: _book\index.html

For PDF

> quarto render --to pdf
[1/2] index.qmd
[2/2] chapters\intro.qmd

pandoc
  to: latex
  output-file: index.tex
  standalone: true
  toc: true
  number-sections: true
  top-level-division: chapter
  pdf-engine: xelatex
  variables:
    graphics: true
    tables: true
  default-image-extension: pdf

metadata
  crossref:
    chapters: true
  documentclass: scrreprt
  papersize: letter
  classoption:
    - DIV=11
    - numbers=noendperiod
  header-includes:
    - '\KOMAoption{captions}{tableheading}'
  block-headings: true
  bibliography:
    - references.bib
  title: Test-quarto-book
  author: Norah Jones
  date: 11/03/2024

LUA_WD: C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\quarto\test-quarto-book

Rendering PDF
running xelatex - 1
  This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999995 (TeX Live 2023) (preloaded format=xelatex)
   restricted \write18 enabled.
  entering extended mode

running xelatex - 2
  This is XeTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-0.999995 (TeX Live 2023) (preloaded format=xelatex)
   restricted \write18 enabled.
  entering extended mode


Output created: _book\Test-quarto-book.pdf

You can see for PDF we use the Lua filters only once and not twice, with only the project root as workdir.

What is the impact ?

I believe this causes issues with extensions filter like

• https://github.com/quarto-ext/include-code-files/issues/4

Do

quarto add quarto-ext/include-code-files --no-prompt

Add configuration to _config.yml

filters:
   - include-code-files

and create chapters/test.c

/* test*/


void setup(){

}



void loop(){
    
}

and add into chapters/intro.qmd

```{.c include='test.c'}
```

Now quarto render --to html works because test.c is resolved according to .qmd working dir but quarto render --to pdf does not work and shows this log

Cannot open file test.c | Skipping includes

This is because Lua will resolve test.c based on project directory this time.

To confirm this, add these lines in the extension file

--- Filter function for code blocks
local function transclude (cb)
  if cb.attributes.include then
    local content = ""
    quarto.log.output("LUA_DIR: "..pandoc.system.get_working_directory())
    local fh = io.open(cb.attributes.include)

We know see this:

LUA_DIR: C:\Users\chris\AppData\Local\Temp\quarto\test-quarto-book
Cannot open file test.c | Skipping includes

So it means depending on the format used, the path resolution in Quarto Lua will be different.

1. Either this is a bug and behavior should not be different,
2. Or we should provide helper to use in Lua so that path are resolved correctly.

For example if include= was always relative to root project

```{.c include='chapters/test.c'}
```

and in Lua using quarto.project.directory

local fh = io.open(pandoc.path.join({quarto.project.directory, cb.attributes.include}))

This would make it work for HTML and PDF with same syntax.

Status on this

Anyhow, this is for illustration. There is a difference in Lua processing for Book chapters between HTML and PDF. If this is a limitation because of a requirement for Book rendering, we should find a way to provide the right tools in Quarto Lua API.

Or maybe this is just a matter of updating the include-code-files extension for this logic - but it seems it could be more than that to me...

Opening for discussion and future reference

Reproduce the difference with the book configuration, workdir.lua, chapters/intro.qmd, and the include-code-files example using chapters/test.c. Compare the HTML and PDF logs, especially pandoc.system.get_working_directory(), then inspect the Lua filter and extension file to identify the rendering-path boundary. Done should mean the issue’s intended path-resolution behavior is established and implemented or documented consistently for both formats.