MathJax default URL

[twsh]

I am using Pandoc 3.1.3 (because it's what Ubuntu gives me) with the following command: pandoc --standalone --mathjax --output=foo.html foo.md. In my HTML I see this:

<script src="https://polyfill.io/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=es6"></script>
<script src="/usr/share/javascript/mathjax/MathJax.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

This doesn't display my maths, presumably because I don't have a local copy of MathJax.

I would have expected this:

<script src="https://polyfill.io/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=es6"></script>
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-chtml-full.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

To get that, I have to use --mathjax=https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/mathjax@3/es5/tex-chtml-full.js.

Is this something that changed in a later version of Pandoc? Or am I wrong to expect the link to the CDN when I don't specify it?

[jgm]

Stock pandoc will give you an https link for mathjax.
My guess is that Debian/Ubuntu modified this to use their locally installed version. There's probably a package you can install that will give this to you.

[jgm]

You can always install the deb we provide.

[twsh]

Thank you! After you suggested that I checked and saw that there is something in the package description about installing the package libjs-mathjax.

[jgm]

In my opinion, it's a weird decision for Debian. After all, you're probably going to be using pandoc to create an HTML file to serve on a website, not locally, and the /usr/.../ URL seems inappropriate for that use.

[twsh]

That's how I generally use it, anyway.

[twsh]

I found this in README.Debian, via the changelog for the package when they made this choice in 2018, which explains the packager's reasoning:

Some output formats depend on external material,
e.g. Javascript code for rendering mathematical equations.

Pandoc commonly links to such external material hosted on a public CDN.
Due to concerns for potential breach of privacy,
Debian-packaged Pandoc instead links to locally packaged material.

https://packages.ubuntu.com/noble/pandoc