diff --git a/CONTROLLER_TESTS b/CONTROLLER_TESTS
index 500a46de..e9090097 100755
--- a/CONTROLLER_TESTS
+++ b/CONTROLLER_TESTS
@@ -28,9 +28,11 @@ rss_with_content
 rss_with_headlines
 export_html
 export_markup
+pdf
 
 TODO
 
-pdf
+tex
 export_pdf
 export_tex
+
diff --git a/app/controllers/wiki_controller.rb b/app/controllers/wiki_controller.rb
index 54b1796a..0f6da854 100755
--- a/app/controllers/wiki_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/wiki_controller.rb
@@ -186,8 +186,9 @@ class WikiController < ApplicationController
     file_path = WikiService.storage_path + file_name
 
     export_page_to_tex(file_path + '.tex') unless FileTest.exists?(file_path + '.tex')
+    # NB: this is _very_ slow
     convert_tex_to_pdf(file_path + '.tex')
-    send_file(file_name + '.pdf')
+    send_file(file_path + '.pdf')
   end
 
   def print
@@ -273,7 +274,9 @@ class WikiController < ApplicationController
   end
 
   def convert_tex_to_pdf(tex_path)
-    `cd #{File.dirname(tex_path)}; pdflatex --interaction=scrollmode '#{File.basename(tex_path)}'`
+    # TODO remove earlier PDF files with the same prefix
+    # TODO handle gracefully situation where pdflatex is not available
+    logger.info `pdflatex --interaction=nonstopmode --output-directory #{File.dirname(tex_path)} #{File.basename(tex_path)}`
   end
 
   def export_page_to_tex(file_path)
diff --git a/test/functional/wiki_controller_test.rb b/test/functional/wiki_controller_test.rb
index d0851b6c..7010c59e 100755
--- a/test/functional/wiki_controller_test.rb
+++ b/test/functional/wiki_controller_test.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 #!/bin/env ruby
 
+# Uncomment the line below to enable pdflatex tests; don't forget to comment them again 
+# commiting to SVN
+$INSTIKI_TEST_PDFLATEX = true
+
 require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../test_helper'
 require 'wiki_controller'
 require 'rexml/document'
 
-unless RedClothForTex.available?
-  $stderr.puts 'Warning: latex is not available, skipping all related tests' 
-end
-
 # Raise errors beyond the default web-based presentation
 class WikiController; def rescue_action(e) logger.error(e); raise e end; end
 
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ class WikiControllerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
 
   def test_authenticate
     @web.password = 'pswd'
-    
+
     r = process('authenticate', 'web' => 'wiki1', 'password' => 'wrong password')
     assert_redirected_to :action => 'login'
     assert_nil r.cookies['web_address']
@@ -263,12 +263,20 @@ class WikiControllerTest < Test::Unit::TestCase
   end
 
 
+if ENV['INSTIKI_TEST_LATEX'] or defined? $INSTIKI_TEST_PDFLATEX
+
   def test_pdf
     if RedClothForTex.available?
       process('pdf', 'web' => 'wiki1', 'id' => 'HomePage')
     end
   end
 
+else
+  puts "Warning: tests involving pdflatex are very slow, therefore they are disable by default."
+  puts "         Set environment variable INSTIKI_TEST_PDFLATEX or global Ruby variable"
+  puts "         $INSTIKI_TEST_PDFLATEX to enable them."
+end
+
 
   def test_print
     process('print', 'web' => 'wiki1', 'id' => 'HomePage')