compiling bibliography doesn't work with emacs (missing file *.bbl and its log file *.blg). Works on command line

Question

without emacs

i have this doc.tex file:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage[backend=biber]{biblatex}
\usepackage{csquotes}

\title{}
\date{}
\author{}
\bibliography{bibliography}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\thispagestyle{empty} % has to be after  \maketitle

testing bibliography ---> \autocite{test:test}

\printbibliography
\end{document}

and this bibliography.bib file:

@book{test:test,
  title = {test},
}

which both compiles to the desired pdf file (with the desired printed bibliography):

$ xelatex doc.tex && biber doc && xelatex doc.tex

---

with emacs

however, if i use GNU Emacs 25.1.1 and auctex-11.89.4 for that, it doesn't work:

i think this is the important part of the log file (i can't upload the full log file, due to the character limitation on stackexchange.com):

Package biblatex Info: Trying to load bibliographic data...
Package biblatex Info: ... file 'doc.bbl' not found.

No file doc.bbl.
Package biblatex Info: Reference section=0 on input line 11.
Package biblatex Info: Reference segment=0 on input line 11.
LaTeX Font Info:    External font `cmex10' loaded for size
(Font)              <12> on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    External font `cmex10' loaded for size
(Font)              <8> on input line 12.
LaTeX Font Info:    External font `cmex10' loaded for size
(Font)              <6> on input line 12.

LaTeX Warning: Citation 'test:test' on page 1 undefined on input line 15.


LaTeX Warning: Empty bibliography on input line 17.

[1

] (./doc.aux)

LaTeX Warning: There were undefined references.


Package biblatex Warning: Please (re)run Biber on the file:
(biblatex)                doc
(biblatex)                and rerun LaTeX afterwards.

Package logreq Info: Writing requests to 'doc.run.xml'.
\openout1 = `doc.run.xml'.

 ) 

But unfortunately, i don't know what causes these errors. (in particular file 'doc.bbl' not found)

what have i tried?

Reading this tex.stackexchange.com question, some solutions are given.

reinstalling emacs and auctex

doesn't change anything.

reading a different log file (.blg)

unfortunately, no file with the extension .blg is given after building with emacs.

EDIT my emacs auctex settings:

(with-eval-after-load 'tex
    (setq LaTeX-item-indent -2 LaTeX-indent-level 4)
    (setq-default TeX-master nil)
    (setq TeX-parse-self t)          
    (setq TeX-auto-save t)                                        
    (add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook 'visual-line-mode)
    (add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook 'flyspell-mode)     
    (add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook 'LaTeX-math-mode)
    (add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook 'turn-on-reftex)
    (setq reftex-plug-into-AUCTeX t)                                    
    (setq-default TeX-engine 'xetex)   
    (setq LaTeX-biblatex-use-Biber t)
    (setq-default TeX-PDF-mode t))

Answer 1

This is normal - the basic AucTex work flow requires that you run the various compilation steps one at a time. This is done through the TeX-command-master command, bound to C-c C-c. The first time you run it, it will call latex on your file, or whatever option you have set for TeX-engine (i.e., xelatex in this case). Once that's done, you may need to rerun it to have your bibliography compiled (with bibtex or biber), and again to compile your bibliography into the completed document.

Basically, the command line sequence:

xelatex doc.tex && biber doc && xelatex doc.tex

Becomes:

C-c C-c latex, C-c C-c biber, C-c C-c latex

Note - AucTeX is pretty good at guessing which step is next. When you enter C-c C-c you'll see a message listing the default value. If it's the command you want (i.e., latex or biber), just hit enter.

Also, you'll get prompts if AucTex thinks you need to run another command, such as when a document is compiled before its bibliography is available. Watch for these prompts, and keep hitting C-c C-c until you see the "completed" sign!