SH: I'm not quite sure why your idea worked. When Angus mentored
> me on this I must have flunked. I thought that LyX copied
> the Windows PATH and then appended the Path_prefix string
> to it internally... maybe it used to work that way.
Paul:
That was my impression as well (except that I thought the path prefix
was prepended to the Windows path), so perhaps something has in fact
changed. If they're being merged, I strongly suggest to the developers
that it go back to prepending, since that's the best way to avoid
conflicts with eponymous but incorrect programs. (IIRC, Windows has a
convert function somewhere whose name collides with the ImageMagick
convert utility.)
>
SH: So that was the difference in our environments, mine didn't
> have the system Python near the beginning of LyX Path_prefix.
>
> That indicates the Lyx local python package is broken a bit,
> because I don't think you are using it. Maybe if you temp
> removed your system Python from LyX Path_prefix, or even
> put it at the end, then your Rescan would fail too since
> it would be relying on the local lyx python package.
Paul: You are indeed correct; hiding the full Python
directory causes Rescan to fail.
----------------------------------------------------
Re: cannot confiogure lyx on WinXP
Paul A. Rubin
Sat, 13 May 2006 14:15:27 -0700
"The path prefix is appended (prepended?) to the system command
path; so if the path prefix directories do not exist but the
correct directories are on the system command path, the programs
should be found."
-----------------------------------------------
Angus:
"The installer searches the Registry in various ways in order to find
the whereabouts of sh.exe, gswinc.exe, python.exe, etc. It's blindingly
obvious that it should first ascertain whether these things are already
in the PATH. Never mind ;-) ... By which I meant that I should have done
so yet didn't ;-) ...
Think of both the registry and the PATH environment variable as simply
*hints* of where to find a given executable. The LyX installer uses the
registry to generate the \path_prefix string which, in turn, is used
by a lyx.exe process to modify its local copy of the PATH environment
variable.
Note that the lyx.exe process hasn't looked for any other .exe binary
at this point.
When it comes to do so, it will look for (say) python.exe only in
those directories that are components of its own copy of the PATH
environment variable.
So, it doesn't really matter if your registry or your "global" PATH (as
visible from, say, cmd.exe as "echo %PATH%") contain ancient cruft so
long as the local PATH environment variable used by the lyx.exe process
contains the directory that actually holds python.exe. That's the beauty
of the \path_prefix for you; you, the user, have total control.
-----------------------------------------------------
I've been mulling over who is a good candidate for *Editor*.
Somebody who can use a high fluting word like *eponymous* in
a sentence sounds like the right kind of guy. I'm glad that
you clarified the part about 'prepended' which should have
been obvious to me from reading the prior posts (above).
However, since "prepended" isn't a word, there is something
of a shadow tinging your bid for the prestigious Editor role.
But maybe that is the kind of leader we need, innovative.
Bo Peng has figured out that LyX local Python package is
missing some files since the system standalone works ok. I
wonder if he is thinking: 'if I am called, then I will serve'.
Remember to keep an eye on the rivals, good primate advice.
Doesn't it feel like karmic balance has been restored since
this topic has come full circle from theory to a practical
instance?!; to have the answer so decisively demonstrated.
Although it feels more like serendipity than synchronicity.
Paul: "I don't suppose it cures the common cold as well?"
That reminds me, it is time to close and take my elixirs.
Is Pythoness eponymous to Python?
Stephen
