while using pandoc on arch, i got an error as i tried to convert a markdown to a pdf.

conversion snippet:

pandoc document.md -o document.pdf

resulted in:

Error producing PDF.
! LaTeX Error: File `xcolor.sty' not found.

Type X to quit or <RETURN> to proceed,
or enter new name. (Default extension: sty)

Enter file name: 
! Emergency stop.
<read *> 

l.7 \usepackage

to use pandoc you first need a tex engine, like texlive:

sudo pacman -S texlive

i installed only the ones that seemed relevant, as all packages amount to over 1 GB together (??).

turns out, i was missing something. this reddit comment helped me out:

If you want to figure out which one you need to install to get a certain LaTeX package, use for example pacman -F bbm.sty. You will need to run pacman -Fy once if you have never used pacman -F at all.

very good to know. running it:

sudo pacman -F soul.sty

gave me:

extra/texlive-plaingeneric 2025.2-3 (texlive)
    usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/generic/soul/soul.sty

which i just had to install with pacman:

sudo pacman -S soul