Compilation failed when using xelatex about vimtex

[lervag]

Steps to reproduce

1. vimtex.vim config
…

let g:vimtex_compiler_latexmk_engines = {
      \ '_'                : '-xelatex',

FYI: I would recommend using the %! TeX program = xelatex to specify the latexmk engine instead of changing the default engine.

NOTES

• if I change the engine to lualatex, the compilation works, EXCEPT if I am trying to use fontspec by adding alone the line \usepackage{fontspec} ; but maybe it is another problem, as I got an error message in the log contrary to the compilation error with xelatex.

You can check the actual latexmk output with \lo or :VimtexCompileOutput.

Looking around, I tried to get the error message from latexmk directly running latexmk -verbose -pdflatex='xelatex %O %S' -pdf tata.tex

Good work, that's exactly how you should proceed to investigate this! I'm glad to see you figured it out!

[Twix53791]

Looking around, I tried to get the error message from latexmk directly running latexmk -verbose -pdflatex='xelatex %O %S' -pdf tata.tex

I got something like "I can't find the format file xelatex.fmt!" and looking around, I understand than in fact I missed a texlive package : texlive-xetex.

SOLUTION : install texlive-xetex (and texlive-luatex for lualatex engine...)