John Kane wrote:
From a DOS prompt, try the following:
1. Type 'path' to get the system path. Make sure that
>>(a) the MiKTeX bin directory is properly listed and (b) no directory
ahead of it contains a file named latex.exe.
Appears not to: Path is
c:\program
files\imagemagick-6.2.5-q16;C:\Perl\bin\;C:\texmf\miktex\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program
Files\Common Files\MDL Shared\ISIS;C:\msys\1.0\bin
and I don't see anything in texmf or miktex that
looks suspicious
The output you posted shows that you are executing the latex.exe
provided by MiKTeX, which confirms the lack of suspects here.
2. I've attached the file used to test your LaTeX
installation. and run 'latex chklatex.ltx'. It should cough up a
log file, that should contain the string 'ThisIsLaTeX2e'
(lack of spaces intentional).
I ran the 'latex chklatex.ltx' file. No sign of
'ThisIsLaTeX2e' as far as I can see. The log is at
http://ca.geocities.com/jrkrideau/LyX/LatexLog12nov05.pdf
.
Roger that. For comparison purposes, here is what I get on my system:
--- log begins ---
This is e-TeX, Version 3.141592-2.2 (MiKTeX 2.4) (preloaded format=latex
2005.11.4) 13 NOV 2005 15:56
entering extended mode
**chklatex.ltx
(chklatex.ltx
LaTeX2e <2003/12/01>
Babel <v3.8g> and hyphenation patterns for english, dumylang,
nohyphenation, ge
rman, ngerman, french, loaded.
ThisIsLaTeX2e )
Here is how much of TeX's memory you used:
6 strings out of 95901
56 string characters out of 1195189
44793 words of memory out of 1048577
3139 multiletter control sequences out of 60000
3640 words of font info for 14 fonts, out of 1000000 for 2000
14 hyphenation exceptions out of 4999
5i,0n,1p,49b,8s stack positions out of 5000i,500n,10000p,200000b,32768s
No pages of output.
--- log ends ---
So something seems amiss with MiKTeX, and if I had to guess I would say
that there is a configuration file somewhere that has developed an
unfortunate sense of humor. Unfortunately, my knowledge of LaTeX in
general and MiKTeX in particular does not go very far beyond the funky
capitalizations thereof. I note that my log mentions a preloaded format
and yours does not. You might try running the MiKTeX Options program
from the Start menu, clicking the Update Now button on the general tab.
If you upgraded an old MiKTeX (as the paragraph below suggests) and
did not rediddle the formats, things could get dicey. (I had font
generation go on hiatus until I did a format refresh.)
The annoying thing is that I spend an hour and a half
downloading and installing a new copy of MiKTeX and I
thought that I had manged to kill off everything from
the old installation. Well another clean sweep
tomorrow or Monday and I'll see what happens.
Try the update thingy first, lest the re-re-install waste time. Someone
once said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly
but expecting different results. They obviously were not installing
software when they wrote that (or else equated installing software with
insanity, which might not be entirely incorrect).
Below is a quick summary of what I think I have at the
moment.
Thanks for all the help. I get the feeling that this
may not be impossible after all.
Installed files and paths
Actual according to the LyX installer
C:\msys\1.0\bin (sh.exe)
C:\Python23 (Python.exe)
C:\texmf\miktex\bin (latex.exe)
C:\Perl\bin (Perl.exe)
C:\Program Files\gs\gs8.51\bin (gswin32c.exe)
C:\Program Files\ImageMagick-6.2.5-Q16 (convert.exe)
C:\LyX
Before installing LyX I checked and all of the above
programs loaded including latex.exe.
According to computer I also had gswview which also
loaded.
C:\GSTools\gsview (gsview32.exe)
LyX path after installation
C:\msys\1.0\bin;C:\Python23;C:\texmf\miktex\bin;C:\Perl\bin;C:\Program
Files\gs\gs8.51\bin;C:\Program
Files\ImageMagick-6.2.5-Q16
I added the gsview path and reconfigured. New LyX
paths
C:\msys\1.0\bin;C:\Python23;C:\texmf\miktex\bin;C:\Perl\bin;C:\Program
Files\gs\gs8.51\bin;C:\Program
Files\ImageMagick-6.2.5-Q16;C:\GSTools\gsview
Systems Paths
c:\program
files\imagemagick-6.2.5-q16;C:\Perl\bin\;C:\texmf\miktex\bin;C:\WINDOWS\system32;C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem;C:\Program
Files\Common Files\MDL Shared\ISIS;C:\msys\1.0\bin
This all looks copacetic. I should have mentioned earlier that (IIRC)
you have to install Ghostscript before you install Ghostgum. If you did
them in the opposite order, that might explain your registry adventure
(although I think if you try to install Ghostgum first it just punts).
Also, once upon a time LyX users on Windows experienced major problems
if Ghostscript was installed in a path containing spaces (for instance,
under Program Files). I ended up installing it under C:\gs (after
trying it under Program Files and paying the price). That was before
LyX 1.3.6, which is designed to allow spaces in paths. Nonetheless, I'm
not positive whether 1.3.6 cures the space problem, or whether something
else (ImageMagick?) that uses the Ghostscript library commands is
allergic to spaces. In any event, that would explain neither adventures
in LaTeX nor the registry hiccup installing Ghostgum.
Paul
