On Apr 4, 2007, at 2:43 PM, Timothy Reaves wrote:
Jean-Marc Lasgouttes wrote:
"Timothy" == Timothy Reaves <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
Timothy> A lot of the responders are missing the point, and are
Timothy> holding to their 'if I can figures it out, so should anyone
Timothy> else' mentality. Many people have mentioned relying on their
Timothy> OS'es package management system. Oh, wait, only the UNIX
Timothy> variants have them. Windows and OS X do not. So, LaTeX and
Timothy> LyX are only for Linux users. Gotcha!
Hmpf. And do you blame OpenOffice if it cannot print on your brand
new
ColorMatic3200, just because you do not have the drivers? After all,
there is this enticing "Print" menu! (OK, this is unfair, but in this
respect I plead tit-for-tat :)
We _do_ care about these problems, and we are going to do something
about it, but the solution is not going to be "let's reconfigure the
user's TeX distribution".
In general, we try to be very conservative about what packages are
used by LyX (in terms of stability and availability). It seems that
the nomencl.sty package does not follow this rule and this is
regrettable. JMarc
I think this is a perfect example of someone showing my point
about missing the point (too many points)!
Let's take your example about a printer driver. When I want a new
printer driver, I download the driver, run the installer, and
done. I can use the new printer. By your example above, you imply
directly that the same can be done with TeX packages. So, where is
the package I download for nomencl, that when I double click on it
it will install, and all is well. Oh, wait a minute, such things
don't exist! Your analogy fails. Horribly.
Whereas a package manager may be nice, it's not really needed.
Why couldn't LyX users, who know what they're doing, bundle up sets
of styles (don't know the proper name for each type of TeX
'thing'), use a cross-platform install product, and there you go.
If I knew the proper location of these files, I'd do it. I'd
volunteer.
But I don't know. And the docs you find online simply state to
install them into their correct locations.
A solution doesn't have to be some large, complex C++ monstrosity.
It can be as simple as user-contributed packages, even OS
specific. Have a package, list what files (as in nomencl, etc) it
contains, and allow users to contribute their platform specific
installers. Again, I'd volunteer to do that for all Macs for all
packages. Some one would just need to help me understand what goes
where, and how they tie back to LyX.
The LyX/Mac installer already does this for a few latex styles,
including srcltx.sty, preview.sty, lyxchess.sty, lyxskak.sty,
broadway.cls, cv.cls, hollywood.cls, and revtex.cls. It would be
trivial to add others. (However, I note that srcltx.sty and
preview.sty are now part of texlive and gwtex, as is nomencl.sty. I'm
not sure I want to get into the business of trying to determine which
version of these packages should be used, but if there's an easy,
reliable way of doing it, that would be great.)
By the way, I'd love to have someone who knows what he's doing
rewrite the LyX/Mac installer; right now it's an AppleScript mess. (I
am not a developer; I only play one on the internet -- and not too
well at that.)
Bennett
