Hi,
Attached is a patch that allows users to customise the environment they
want for descriptive lists. This gives us more flexibility when
exporting to LaTeX,
Best, /PA
PS: hopefully fixed the template
--
Sagen's Paradeiser! (ORF: Als Radiohören gefährlich war) => write BE!
2nd year of the New Koprocracy
From 10c16d22933c26e6151c96b64d57d1610fdb456d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: "Pedro A. Aranda" <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:56:33 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] ox-latex.el: New variable org-latex-descriptive-environment
lisp/ox-latex.el: (org-latex-descriptive-environment): New custom
variable.
(org-latex-plain-list): use it instead of the hard-coded value.
doc/org-manual.doc: Document `org-latex-descriptive-environment`
etc/ORG-NEWS: Announce `org-latex-descriptive-environment`
---
doc/org-manual.org | 22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
etc/ORG-NEWS | 7 +++++++
lisp/ox-latex.el | 14 +++++++++++++-
3 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/doc/org-manual.org b/doc/org-manual.org
index baa1127a0..4835fad1d 100644
--- a/doc/org-manual.org
+++ b/doc/org-manual.org
@@ -14723,6 +14723,28 @@ four:
- Five
#+end_example
+*** Description lists in LaTeX export
+#+cindex: description lists, in @LaTeX{} export
+#+vindex: org-latex-descriptive-environment
+
+Description lists are exported using the LaTeX environment
+~description~ by default. You can change it setting custom variable
+~org-latex-descriptive-environment~. You may need to do so, if you
+mix plain list items with descriptive items like in:
+
+#+begin_src org
+- Note :: this is a list of things I need
+- Water
+- Sleep
+- Silence
+#+end_src
+
+To use environment ~itemize~ in this case, add this to your
+configguration
+#+begin_src emacs-lisp
+(setq-default org-latex-descriptive-environment "itemize")
+#+end_src
+
*** Source blocks in LaTeX export
:PROPERTIES:
:DESCRIPTION: Attributes specific to source code blocks.
diff --git a/etc/ORG-NEWS b/etc/ORG-NEWS
index 93c108690..6a8ee23eb 100644
--- a/etc/ORG-NEWS
+++ b/etc/ORG-NEWS
@@ -195,6 +195,13 @@ addition to being added to a data attribute, ~data-linenr~, on that
highlight and copy/paste multiple lines from a code block without
having the line numbers included.
+*** New custom variable ~org-latex-descriptive-environment~
+
+~org-latex-descriptive-environment~ allows you to use custom
+environment for descriptive lists when exporting to LaTeX.
+Use it when the default ~description~ environment does not fit your
+needs. The recommended alternative value is ~itemize~.
+
** New functions and changes in function arguments
# This also includes changes in function behavior from Elisp perspective.
diff --git a/lisp/ox-latex.el b/lisp/ox-latex.el
index a54ac5a3b..829dcc1b7 100644
--- a/lisp/ox-latex.el
+++ b/lisp/ox-latex.el
@@ -2161,6 +2161,18 @@ holding export options."
"\\end{document}")))
+(defcustom org-latex-descriptive-environment "description"
+ "The environment to use for lists tagged as descriptive.
+
+Set this variable to itemize if using
+- tag ::
+upsets the typesetting of a list."
+ :group 'org-export-latex
+ :package-version '(Org . "10.0")
+ :type 'string
+ :safe #'stringp)
+
+
;;; Transcode Functions
@@ -3220,7 +3232,7 @@ contextual information."
(latex-type (let ((env (plist-get attr :environment)))
(cond (env (format "%s" env))
((eq type 'ordered) "enumerate")
- ((eq type 'descriptive) "description")
+ ((eq type 'descriptive) org-latex-descriptive-environment)
(t "itemize")))))
(org-latex--wrap-label
plain-list
--
2.43.0
