I dug around this morning, and this issue is fixed in the most current org versions. I had been testing against the latest org package from ELPA which was 9.8.10. I now see there was a major preview engine rewrite committed about a month ago. I pulled down the latest git version (v10.0-pre), and now my output matches the warning you see, and the previews are rendering.
The mismatch between `dvipng` as the default process and the xelatex output engine was only for the v9 branch. So this is moot in the current source, and only affects the outdated packages. My apologies! I'll stick to the git version for testing instead of ELPA if I ever find other oddities! --Stewart On Mon, Nov 2, 2026 at 10:59 PM Karthik Chikmagalur < [email protected]> wrote: > > In some older org files I was updating, I ran into an error involving > > dvipng and previews. In the latest org version, this minimum > > example will trigger the error: > > """ > > #+LATEX_COMPILER:xelatex > > Here is a formula: $x^2$. > > """ > > > > Opening this file, and issuing `org-latex-preview` will trigger an > > error: > > "org-compile-file: File "/tmp/orgtexrMvaP3.dvi" wasn’t produced > > Please adjust ‘dvipng’ part of ‘org-preview-latex-process-alist’." > > I am anot able to reproduce this. When I try the above reproducer, I > get this (expected) warning: > > ⛔ Warning (org): xelatex does not support precompilation. Disabling LaTeX > preview precompile in this buffer. > To re-enable, run `(setq-local org-latex-preview-process-precompile t)' > or reopen this buffer. > > The LaTeX fragment then renders as expected. > > > From what I can tell, `fontspec` is being included in the preview > > snippet, but `latex` is being used by the dvipng default process. > > Why do you believe this? > > Can you provide the contents of the following two buffers after > producing the failure: > > *Org Preview LaTeX Output* > *Org Preview Convert Output* > > Karthik >
