What prepare does and its limits

fledge prepare turns your project into a submission ZIP that is proven to rebuild the same PDF. It works on a separate copy and never edits your files. It releases the ZIP only when every required step succeeds.

The steps

your project ──copy──▶ snapshot ──build──▶ baseline PDF
                                               │
          needed inputs + requested changes ◀──┘   (build trace decides "needed")
                          │
                     prepared copy ──build──▶ prepared PDF ──compare with baseline
                          │
                     submission.zip ──extract fresh──build──▶ archive PDF ──compare
                          │
                   publish output only if every required step passed

  1. Snapshot. Fledge imports the folder or ZIP into a private workspace. It rejects paths that escape the project, links and oversized inputs, and drops operating-system metadata.

  2. Baseline build. Fledge compiles the original in a sandbox with shell escape and network access disabled. The build trace (the TeX recorder plus the latexmk database) records every file TeX read.

  3. Select needed inputs. The trace and the literal dependency graph decide which files ship. Unrelated drafts, images and data are left out. Files the build never reads but must still ship go in [package] include. A conservative cleanup also removes rebuildable debris such as .aux, .log and editor backups, but never a .bbl; --no-cleanup skips only that cleanup. A generated main.bbl (and main.run.xml) beside the main file is kept automatically for services that do not run BibTeX or Biber.

  4. Checks. Source, bibliography and PDF checks run on the selected inputs and the baseline PDF: missing files, citations, labels, TODO markers and anything you configured.

  5. Apply requested changes. Only changes you asked for are applied, such as --layout flat, comment removal or bibliography formatting. See preparation options.

  6. Prepared build and comparison. The changed copy is rebuilt and compared with the baseline by page count, extracted text and page renders.

  7. Archive rebuild. Fledge writes the ZIP, extracts it into a fresh directory, builds it again and requires an exact match. Source and bibliography policies run again on the extracted files.

  8. Publish. Only now does the output directory appear. A blocked, expired or cancelled run publishes nothing.

What each command covers

Command

Covers

fledge inspect INPUT

Source and bibliography checks on the snapshot; no build, so no TeX needed

fledge check INPUT

Those checks plus the baseline build and PDF checks

fledge prepare INPUT --dry-run

check plus a preview of requested changes; no bundle

fledge prepare INPUT --output DIR

Every step above

fledge bib check INPUT

Bibliography checks only

fledge fmt INPUT --check

Read-only tex-fmt formatting check

fledge pdf check FILE

Configured PDF checks on an existing PDF

Without workflow.documents, Fledge builds one document. To verify a paper and its supplement separately, see independent packages.

What a pass means

A passing prepare means the ZIP contains what the build needed, rebuilds from a fresh extraction and matches your original PDF within the stated comparison. It does not mean the paper meets a venue’s rules unless you configured those rules, and it does not judge the content. The limitations page lists what Fledge cannot establish, and the workflow reference covers package selection, report formats, redaction and resource limits in detail.