MiKTeX 2.9.7440

MiKTeX 2.9.7420 as been released on May 17, 2020.

Breaking changes

Removal of Omega 1.15

Omega 1.15 is obsolete and has now been removed from the distribution.

Windows 8.3 file names

In the past, it was possible to specify Windows 8.3 file names (aka short file names) when invoking a TeX engine. As of 2.9.7440, this is not supported anymore.

Impact: The following use case is broken:

pdflatex abraka~1.tex

where abraka~1.tex is the 8.3 variant of the long file name abrakadabra.tex.

Package database signing

In the past, package database signing was optional. As of MiKTeX 2.9.7440, it is required that MiKTeX package database files are provided with a valid signature.

Reason: In order to support custom remote package repositories (see Allow local http mirrors), it must be ensured that the conntents of the custom package repository is unmodified.

Impact: Users will receive an error message if they visit an outdated (no signature) or modified (tampered database) package repository.

Unrestricted shell escape commands and elevated privileges

As of MiKTeX 2.9.7440, it is possible to prevent the execution of unrestricted shell escape commands when a program is running with elevated privileges:

initexmf --verbose --set-config-value [Core]AllowUnrestrictedSuperUser=f

This prevents the following use case:

sudo pdflatex --shell-escape file.tex

where file.tex contains:

\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{shellesc}
\begin{document}
\ShellEscape{echo hello, world! > hello.txt}
\input{hello.txt}
\end{document}

For more information and discussion, visit the issue page at GitHub:

  • 533: Unrestricted shell escape commands and elevated privileges

Ubuntu 20.04 & Fedora 32

MiKTeX is now available for Ubuntu 20.04 and Fedora 32. See this howto for more info.

Fixed issues

  • 486: Luatex cannot find input file when using texify on windows
  • 491: Empty file error when trying to complete the setup on a Mac
  • 510: Long file name support
  • 514: Kerberos Proxy support
  • 520: Make MiKTeX Console usable for keyboard only users
  • 521: Cannot install on Fedora 32
  • 528: Ubuntu 20.04 Repositories
  • 532: Calling external commands with quotes in path via shell on Windows
  • 541: Change BibTeX "I couldn't open database file" message to include double extension