I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it and tried
this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}

\usepackage{biblatex}
\addbibresource{~/latex/bib/general.bib}

\begin{document}
Citing Miller\,\cite{G.Mill1952}
\printbibliography
\end{document}

The bib exists, as you see here:

~/latex> ls bib/gen*
bib/general.bib bib/general.bib.bak

and the entry G.Mill1952 also exists

~/latex> grep G.Mill1952 bib/*
grep: bib/SDS: Is a directory
bib/general.bib:@ARTICLE{G.Mill1952,
bib/general.bib.bak:@ARTICLE{G.Mill1952,

But I get an error upon attempting to compile the thing,
using

pdflatex biblatexttest
....
LaTeX Warning: Citation 'G.Mill1952' on page 1 undefined on input line 10.

LaTeX Warning: Empty bibliography on input line 11.

So what am I missing here?
--
Dieter Britz

Am Mon, 24 Apr 2023 14:17:49 +0200 schrieb db:

> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it and tried
> this:

> \addbibresource{~/latex/bib/general.bib}

I doubt that ~ will work. Use a normal path and not shorthands from
the command line.

> But I get an error upon attempting to compile the thing,
> using
>
> pdflatex biblatexttest
> ...
> LaTeX Warning: Citation 'G.Mill1952' on page 1 undefined on input line 10.
>

well apart from pdflatex you will also have to call biber

--
Ulrike Fischer
http://www.troubleshooting-tex.de/

Am 24.04.2023 um 14:17 schrieb db:
>
> ~/latex> ls bib/gen*
> bib/general.bib  bib/general.bib.bak
>
> and the entry G.Mill1952 also exists
>
> ~/latex> grep G.Mill1952 bib/*
> grep: bib/SDS: Is a directory
> bib/general.bib:@ARTICLE{G.Mill1952,
> bib/general.bib.bak:@ARTICLE{G.Mill1952,
>

I would be care full withs names and dots. Try an underscore G_Mill1952.

On 24.04.2023 14.44, Ulrike Fischer wrote:
> Am Mon, 24 Apr 2023 14:17:49 +0200 schrieb db:
>
>> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it and tried
>> this:
>
>>
>
> I doubt that ~ will work. Use a normal path and not shorthands from
> the command line >
>
>> But I get an error upon attempting to compile the thing,
>> using
>>
>> pdflatex biblatexttest
>> ...
>> LaTeX Warning: Citation 'G.Mill1952' on page 1 undefined on input line 10.
>>
>
> well apart from pdflatex you will also have to call biber

OK, but I tried \addbibresource{/home/db/latex/bib/general.bib}
and \addbibresource{$home/db/latex/bib/general.bib}
with the same result.

--
Dieter Britz

On Tue, 25 Apr 2023, db wrote:

> On 24.04.2023 14.44, Ulrike Fischer wrote:
>> Am Mon, 24 Apr 2023 14:17:49 +0200 schrieb db:
>>
>>> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it and tried
>>> this:
>>
>>>
>>
>> I doubt that ~ will work. Use a normal path and not shorthands from
>> the command line >
>>
>>> But I get an error upon attempting to compile the thing,
>>> using
>>>
>>> pdflatex biblatexttest
>>> ...
>>> LaTeX Warning: Citation 'G.Mill1952' on page 1 undefined on input line 10.
>>>
>>
>> well apart from pdflatex you will also have to call biber
>
> OK, but I tried \addbibresource{/home/db/latex/bib/general.bib}
> and \addbibresource{$home/db/latex/bib/general.bib}
> with the same result.

But you DO NOT mention if you use biber (as indicated above) or bibtex
comands. So do you use biber command? Or bibtex? Because pdflatex
alone is not enough: "you will also have to call biber"

--
Paweł

>
> --
> Dieter Britz
>
>

On 24/04/2023 13:17, db wrote:
> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it

Have a look at http://latex.silmaril.ie/formattinginformation/xrefs.html#bib

> So what am I missing here?

1. You need to run LaTeX, then biber, then LaTeX again.

2. You may get better results using

\usepackage{fontspec}

instead of

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

3. Try processing with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX instead of pdflatex.

4. You probably need to specify your processor:

\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}

Peter

On 25.04.2023 17.02, Paweł Wlaź wrote:
>
>
> On Tue, 25 Apr 2023, db wrote:
>
>> On 24.04.2023 14.44, Ulrike Fischer wrote:
>>> Am Mon, 24 Apr 2023 14:17:49 +0200 schrieb db:
>>>
>>>> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it and tried
>>>> this:
>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> I doubt that ~ will work. Use a normal path and not shorthands from
>>> the command line >
>>>
>>>> But I get an error upon attempting to compile the thing,
>>>> using
>>>>
>>>> pdflatex biblatexttest
>>>> ...
>>>> LaTeX Warning: Citation 'G.Mill1952' on page 1 undefined on input
>>>> line 10.
>>>>
>>>
>>> well apart from pdflatex you will also have to call biber
>>
>> OK, but I tried \addbibresource{/home/db/latex/bib/general.bib}
>>             and \addbibresource{$home/db/latex/bib/general.bib}
>> with the same result.
>
> But you DO NOT mention if you use biber (as indicated above) or bibtex
> comands. So do you use biber command? Or bibtex? Because pdflatex alone
> is not enough: "you will also have to call biber"
>
No, I have not. I use LaTeX with typed in commands, until now first
pdflatex, followed by bibtex, and pdflatex once again.
SO, if I switch to bibLaTeX, what commands should I use?
--
Dieter Britz

On 25.04.2023 17.39, Peter Flynn wrote:
> On 24/04/2023 13:17, db wrote:
>> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it
>
> Have a look at
> http://latex.silmaril.ie/formattinginformation/xrefs.html#bib
>
>> So what am I missing here?
>
> 1. You need to run LaTeX, then biber, then LaTeX again.

I tried that, and still get "undefined reference" for the
bib file that does indeed exist, and exists where I say it is.
--
Dieter Britz

On 26.04.2023 14.25, db wrote:
> On 25.04.2023 17.39, Peter Flynn wrote:
>> On 24/04/2023 13:17, db wrote:
>>> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it
>>
>> Have a look at
>> http://latex.silmaril.ie/formattinginformation/xrefs.html#bib
>>
>>> So what am I missing here?
>>
>> 1. You need to run LaTeX, then biber, then LaTeX again.
>
> I tried that, and still get "undefined reference" for the
> bib file that does indeed exist, and exists where I say it is.

This works, using pdflatex, bibtex, pdflatex, pdflatex.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}

\begin{document}
Citing Miller\,\cite{G.Mill1952}

\bibliographystyle{/home/db/latex/elsevier/elsarticle-num}
\bibliography{%
/home/db/latex/bib/general}

\end{document}

- which shows the reference is indeed resolvable. I must be
using bibLaTeX incorrectly, but how?

--
Dieter Britz

Am Wed, 26 Apr 2023 14:18:25 +0200 schrieb db:

> No, I have not. I use LaTeX with typed in commands, until now first
> pdflatex, followed by bibtex, and pdflatex once again.
> SO, if I switch to bibLaTeX, what commands should I use?

Well as I wrote (and Pawel repeated): "you will also have to call
biber"

And just to make sure: bib_ER_ is not bib_TEX_

--
Ulrike Fischer
http://www.troubleshooting-tex.de/

On 26/04/2023 14:11, db wrote:
[...]
> - which shows the reference is indeed resolvable. I must be using
> bibLaTeX incorrectly, but how?

Can you post the document and the bib file somewhere we can download and
test them?

Peter

On 26.04.2023 16.50, Peter Flynn wrote:
> On 26/04/2023 14:11, db wrote:
> [...]
>> - which shows the reference is indeed resolvable. I must be using
>> bibLaTeX incorrectly, but how?
>
> Can you post the document and the bib file somewhere we can download and
> test them?
>
> Peter
>
>

That might be awkward, the entry is one out of 1268. I could extract
the one cited here and put it into its own file, but that might not
replicate the problem. The problem is no doubt due to the specs for
where the entry is (inside the larger bib file general.bib).

I will experiment a bit more, e.g. do just that and put it in the
same directory as the document file, see what happens.
--
Dieter Britz

On 27.04.2023 11.03, db wrote:
> On 26.04.2023 16.50, Peter Flynn wrote:
>> On 26/04/2023 14:11, db wrote:
>> [...]
>>> - which shows the reference is indeed resolvable. I must be using
>>> bibLaTeX incorrectly, but how?
>>
>> Can you post the document and the bib file somewhere we can download
>> and test them?
>>
>> Peter
>>
>>
>
> That might be awkward, the entry is one out of 1268. I could extract
> the  one cited here and put it into its own file, but that might not
> replicate the problem. The problem is no doubt due to the specs for
> where the entry is (inside the larger bib file general.bib).
>
> I will experiment a bit more, e.g. do just that and put it in the
> same directory as the document file, see what happens.

That worked. I extrascted the entry G.Mill1952 as the file Miller.bib
in the directory I am working in, and changed the sentence in the
document to
\addbibresource{Miller.bib}

and it worked. So the problem is that the thread doesn't work. It
works if I don't use biblatex.
--
Dieter Britz

db wrote:

> I decided to get to griups with BibLaTeX. I googled it and tried
> this:
>
> \documentclass{article}
> \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
> \usepackage[english]{babel}
>
> \usepackage{biblatex}
> \addbibresource{~/latex/bib/general.bib}

Seems you want to use the tilde character, ~ , for denoting your home-directory.

So in this context you want to use ~ within LaTeX as an ordinary character.

But ~ is an active character in LaTeX. It is defined as an expandable macro
which in turn expands to some tokens which denote directives for adding
horizontal space while not allowing a linebreak.

So my _blind guess_ is:

Probably s.th. like

\expandafter\addbibresource\expandafter{\string~/latex/bib/general.bib}

or

\expandafter\addbibresource\expandafter{\detokenize{~/latex/bib/general.bib}}

does the trick.

Assuming your example is saved as test.tex , command-sequence for compiling might be:

Open a shell like bash or a command-prompt or whatever is used on your
computer-platform for typing commands.
Change to the directory where test.tex is saved.
Then:

pdflatex test.tex
biber test.bcf
pdflatex test.tex
pdflatex test.tex
pdflatex test.tex

(When calling biber you may need to provide more options.
Consult the biber manual for more information.)

Nowadays, biblatex as backend uses biber by default.

If you want to use bibtex as backend, then instead of

\usepackage{biblatex}

you need to do

\usepackage[backend=bibtex]{biblatex}

and compile via

pdflatex test.tex
bibtex test.aux
pdflatex test.tex
pdflatex test.tex
pdflatex test.tex

(When calling bibtex you may need to provide more options, e.g.,
denoting bibliography style etc.
Consult the bibtex manual for more information.)

or

\usepackage[backend=bibtex8]{biblatex}

and compile via

pdflatex test.tex
bibtex8 --wolfgang test.aux
pdflatex test.tex
pdflatex test.tex
pdflatex test.tex

(bibtex8 is an 8-bit implementation of BibTeX written in C
which has been enhanced by some features.

The manual sysd about the -W/--wolfgang-option: set really
huge BibTeX capacity for Wolfgang.

When calling bibtex you may need to provide more options, e.g.,
denoting bibliography style etc.
Consult the bibtex manual for more information.)

> \begin{document}
> Citing Miller\,\cite{G.Mill1952}
> \printbibliography
> \end{document}
>
> The bib exists, as you see here:
>
> ~/latex> ls bib/gen*
> bib/general.bib  bib/general.bib.bak
>
> and the entry G.Mill1952 also exists
>
> ~/latex> grep G.Mill1952 bib/*
> grep: bib/SDS: Is a directory
> bib/general.bib:@ARTICLE{G.Mill1952,
> bib/general.bib.bak:@ARTICLE{G.Mill1952,
>
> But I get an error upon attempting to compile the thing,
> using
>
> pdflatex biblatexttest
> ...
> LaTeX Warning: Citation 'G.Mill1952' on page 1 undefined on input line 10.
>
>
> LaTeX Warning: Empty bibliography on input line 11.
>
> So what am I missing here?

You did not provide a bib-file which lets testers reproduce the
erroneous behavior.

You did not reveal your platform and tex-distribution.

You did not reveal what commands you type for compiling or what commands
the fancy editor/interface in use by you passes on for doing the
compilation.

Therefore I cannot say for certain, only do some guesswork.

Ulrich

On 27/04/2023 10:03, db wrote:
> On 26.04.2023 16.50, Peter Flynn wrote:
>> On 26/04/2023 14:11, db wrote:
>> [...]
>>> - which shows the reference is indeed resolvable. I must be
>>> using bibLaTeX incorrectly, but how?
>>
>> Can you post the document and the bib file somewhere we can
>> download and test them?
>
> That might be awkward, the entry is one out of 1268. I could extract
> the one cited here and put it into its own file, but that might not
> replicate the problem.

If you could do that we could at least eliminate some of the possibilities.

> The problem is no doubt due to the specs for where the entry is
> (inside the larger bib file general.bib).

I would be very surprised if it was due to size. Both bibtex and
biblatex have been used to typeset files very much larger than that.

> I will experiment a bit more, e.g. do just that and put it in the
> same directory as the document file, see what happens.
That could possibly eliminate filename problems.

Peter