zathura

The zathura-sandbox binary runs zathura with a seccomp and/or landlock based sandbox. Note that several features are disabled in sandbox mode:

• Saving/writing files
• Input methods (e.g., ibus)
• Printing
• Bookmarks and history
• D-Bus integration
• SyncTeX support

Sandbox mode is experimental and currently tested with glibc.

Zathura uses a plain text configuration file named zathurarc to customize behavior and appearance.

File Locations:

• /etc/zathurarc (System-wide)
• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/zathura/zathurarc (User-specific)

Rules:

• Each line is evaluated independently (except empty lines and comments starting with #).
• You cannot write multiple commands on a single line.
• For string values containing spaces, you must use escaping or quotes (e.g., "hello world").

Zathura supports SyncTeX forward and backward synchronization. For forward synchronization, use the --synctex-forward and --synctex-editor-command options. For backward synchronization, zathura provides a D-Bus interface that editors can call.

# Example gvim configuration for SyncTeX
function! Synctex()
  execute "silent !zathura --synctex-forward " . line('.') . ":" . col('.') . ":" . bufname('%') . " " . g:syncpdf
  redraw!
endfunction
map <C-enter> :call Synctex()<cr>

# Launching zathura with gvim integration
zathura -x "gvim --servername vim -c \"let g:syncpdf='$1'\" --remote +%{line} %{input}" $file

To build and install zathura, use the meson build system with the ninja backend. Ensure you have the necessary build dependencies installed before running these commands.

meson build
cd build
ninja
ninja install

Adjust how documents are displayed upon opening using these settings:

• adjust-open: Sets the auto adjustment mode. Options: best-fit (default) or width.
• page-mode: Sets the default page sizing mode. Options: none (default), equal_width (scales all pages to match current width), or equal_height (scales all pages to match current height).
• pages-per-row: Defines the number of pages rendered side-by-side in a row (default: 1).
• single-page-mode: If true, documents open in single-page view mode.
• first-page-column: Defines the column for the first page in multi-column layouts. Uses a colon-separated list for different pages-per-row values (e.g., 1:2 means for 1 page per row use col 1, for 2 pages per row use col 2).

Use the set command in zathurarc to change and make permanent any zathura options.

Syntax: set <option> <new value>

Supported Value Types:

• INT: Integer number
• FLOAT: Floating point number
• STRING: Character string (requires escaping for spaces/special characters)
• BOOL: true or false

Colors: Supports HTML color codes and CSS3-style rgb(r,g,b) or rgba(r,g,b,a).

• For rgba, components are integers (0-255) and alpha is a float (0-1).
• When using HTML hex codes, escape the hash symbol (\#CCBBCC) or use quotes.

set option1 5
set option2 2.0
set option3 hello
set option4 hello\ world
set option5 "hello world"

# Color examples
set default-fg "#CCBBCC"
set default-fg \#CCBBCC

Customize what information appears in the statusbar:

• statusbar-basename: If true, uses the file's basename in the statusbar.
• statusbar-home-tilde: If true, replaces $HOME with ~ in the file path.
• statusbar-page-percent: If true, displays the current page as a percentage of total pages.
• statusbar-h-padding / statusbar-v-padding: Horizontal and vertical padding for the statusbar.

For developers using SyncTeX for backward synchronization:

• synctex: Enables/disables SyncTeX backward synchronization support (default: true).
• synctex-editor-command: The command to execute for SyncTeX backward synchronization.
• synctex-edit-modifier: The modifier key required with the left mouse button to trigger SyncTeX backward synchronization. Options: shift, ctrl, alt (default: ctrl).

Customize how searching and highlighting work:

• incremental-search: Enables/disables searching while typing (default: true).
• nohlsearch: Enables/disables the highlighting of search results (default: false).
• search-hadjust: Enables/disables horizontally centered search results (default: true).
• abort-clear-search: If true, search results are cleared when the search is aborted (default: true).