Weird compile result -- bug?

[Paul A. Rubin]

Hi all,

Over on the user list, there's a lengthy thread (actually set of 
threads) triggered by user Rich Shepard trying to compile a report whose 
bibliography stubbornly refused to appear. Rich was using biblatex. 
After copies trial and error, Rich got the report to work, but with no 
explanation why.

I was beating on a copy of it (which I am not at liberty to share) and 
discovered that if made any non-fatal change to the preamble, the 
bibliography would show up. In particular, just adding \usepackage{} 
(with the argument deliberately empty) to the preamble in LyX coaxed the 
bibliography to show up.

Comparing the .tex files that LyX exported with and without the 
\usepackage{} command, I discovered two changes. One of course was the 
inclusion of \usepackage{}. The other was that 
\usepackage[style=authoryear]{biblatex} in the original document morphed 
into \usepackage[style=authoryear,backend=bibtex8]{biblatex} in the 
modified document.

So I went to the original document and, in the bibliography settings, 
changed the processor option from default to bibtex8, and sure enough 
the original compiled correctly.

I'm not sure if this is a bug or something the user is responsible for 
knowing (it was news to me, but I never use biblatex). So I'm reporting 
it here to let wiser minds decide.

Paul