3 LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to
4 writing based on the structure of your documents, not their
5 appearance. It is released under a Free Software / Open Source
8 LyX is for people that write and want their writing to look great,
9 right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting
10 details, 'finger painting' font attributes or futzing around with
11 page boundaries. You just write. In the background, Prof. Knuth's
12 legendary TeX typesetting engine makes you look good.
14 On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output
15 -- or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced --
16 looks like nothing else. Gone are the days of industrially bland
17 .docs, all looking similarly not-quite-right, yet coming out
18 unpredictably different on different printer drivers. Gone are the
19 crashes 'eating' your dissertation the evening before going to
22 LyX is stable and fully featured. It is a multi-platform, fully
23 internationalized application running natively on Unix/Linux and
24 the Macintosh and modern Windows platforms.
26 What do I need to run LyX?
29 * a Unix-like system (including Windows with cygwin)
31 * Mac OS 10.2 or newer
33 A decent LaTeX2e installation (e.g. teTeX for unix) not older
35 Python 1.5.2 or later to convert old LyX files
37 How does the LyX version scheme work?
39 LyX uses a continuous numbering scheme in which odd or
40 even numbering is not significant. Instead a number '1.x.y'
41 indicates stable release '1.x', fix level 'y'. Prereleases
42 are labeled with a "pre" suffix. Thus there are three possible
45 lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz -- stable release
46 lyx-1.4.5.tar.gz -- fifth maintenance release of the
48 lyx-1.4.0pre1.tar.gz -- potentially unstable test release
50 The maintenance releases are designed primarily to fix bugs. The
51 goal here is not to have parallel development as for the linux
52 kernel (the team is too small to afford that), but rather to
53 include all the simple (so that the maintenance burden on us
54 is not too high) and safe (so that system administrators can
55 install them without fear) bug fixes. Experience shows that
56 these releases will contain a few new features, and that the
57 bulk of the patches will be documentation updates.
59 If you get the source from cvs, the version string will look like
62 1.4.1cvs -- this is the stable branch on which maintenance
63 release 1.4.1 will eventually be tagged.
64 1.5.0cvs -- this is the main branch on which stable
65 release 1.5.0 will eventually be tagged.
71 How do I upgrade from an earlier LyX version?
73 Read the file UPGRADING for info on this subject.
75 What do I need to compile LyX from the source distribution?
77 * A good C++ compiler. Development is being done mainly with
78 gcc/g++, but some others work also. As of LyX 1.4.0, you need at
82 * The Xforms library, version 1.0.
83 * LibXpm, version 4.7 or newer.
86 * The Qt library, version 3.0 or newer (although version 2.3
89 Read the file "INSTALL" for more information on compiling.
91 Okay, I've installed LyX. What now?
93 Once you've installed it, and everything looks fine, go read
94 the "Introduction" item under the Help menu. You should follow
95 the instructions there, which tell you to read (or at least skim)
96 the Tutorial. After that, you should also read "Help>LaTeX
97 configuration" which provides info on your LaTeX configuration
98 as LyX sees it. You might be missing a package or two that you'd
101 User-level configuration is possible via the Tools>Preferences menu.
103 Does LyX have support for non-English speakers/writers/readers?
105 Yes. LyX supports writing in many languages, including
106 right-to-left languages like Arabic or Hebrew. There is a port
107 of LyX named CJK-LyX which adds support for Chinese, Korean
108 and Japanese (http://cellular.phys.pusan.ac.kr/cjk.html)
110 Menus and error messages have been translated to 17 languages.
111 For the status of the different translations, see
112 http://www.lyx.org/devel/i18n.php
114 Keymaps can ease typing in many languages.
116 Internet resources of relevance to LyX
118 The LyX homepage contains valuable information about LyX and the
119 various LyX mailing lists, as well as links to mirrors and other
120 LyX homepages around the world:
123 The LyX Wiki is the place where users can share information on
124 setting up and using LyX.
127 The main LyX archive site:
128 ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/
130 The LyX Development page has information about the development
131 effort. LyX is under CVS control, so you can get the very
132 latest sources from there at any time.
133 http://www.lyx.org/devel
134 ftp://ftp.devel.lyx.org/pub/lyx/
136 How do I submit a bug report?
138 If possible, read the Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX.
139 You'll find detailed info on submitting bug reports there.
141 If you can't do that, send details to the LyX Developers' mailing
142 list, or use the LyX bug tracker at http://bugzilla.lyx.org/.
143 Don't forget to mention which version you are having problems with!
145 How can I participate in the development of LyX?
147 Any help with the development of LyX is greatly appreciated ---
148 after all, LyX wouldn't be what it is today without the help
149 of volunteers. We need your help!
151 If you want to work on LyX, you should contact the developer's
152 mailing list for discussion on how to do your stuff. LyX is being
153 cleaned up, and therefore it's important to follow some rules.
154 Read about those rules in development/Code_rules/.
156 If you don't know C++, there are many other ways to
157 contribute. Write documentation. Help to internationalize LyX
158 by translating documentation or menus/error messages, or by
159 writing a new keymap. Write a new textclass. Find bugs (but
160 please read the list of known bugs first). Contribute money.
161 Or just offer feature suggestions (but please read the online
164 Thank you for trying LyX. We appreciate your feedback in the mailing