diff --git a/render b/render
index 7c69002..dc4b52b 100755
--- a/render
+++ b/render
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import logging
 import os
 from pathlib import Path
 import re
+import shlex
 import shutil
 import subprocess
 import sys
@@ -109,12 +110,11 @@ def get_pdf_name(filename):
 
 def run_pdflatex(fname="out.tex", path="."):
     outdir = os.path.realpath(os.path.join(os.getcwd(), "slides"))
-
-    subprocess.call(
-        ["pdflatex", "-synctex=1", "-interaction=nonstopmode", fname], cwd=path
-    )
+    cmd = shlex.split(f"pdflatex -synctex=1 -interaction=nonstopmode {fname}")
+    retcode = subprocess.call(cmd, cwd=path)
     pdfname = get_pdf_name(fname)
     shutil.copy(os.path.join(path, pdfname), os.path.join(outdir, pdfname))
+    return retcode
 
 
 def parse_config(fname):
@@ -201,6 +201,9 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         default="config/config.yaml",
         help="indicate the configuration YAML file - default: 'config/config.yaml'",
     )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-n", "--no-rerun", default=False, action=argparse.BooleanOptionalAction
+    )
     args = parser.parse_args()
 
     logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -233,8 +236,10 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
         for section_estimate, fname in enumerate(file_list):
             to_adapt = os.path.join(tempdir, "slides", fname) + ".tex"
             find_and_replace_sections(boundaries, section_estimate, to_adapt)
-
         # now the typesetting needs to be triggered
         run_pdflatex(fname=args.master_tex, path=os.path.join(tempdir, "slides"))
         # re-run might be required
+        if args.no_rerun:
+            print("no rerun as requested")
+            sys.exit()
         run_pdflatex(fname=args.master_tex, path=os.path.join(tempdir, "slides"))