1 !Important Changes in LyX 2.4.0
6 * It is now possible to cancel background export processes at any time. A menu
7 entry to do so will appear on the Document menu when such a process is
8 underway. The LFUN for this is export-cancel. One can also click on the red
9 'x' next to the spinner to cancel export. Thanks to this functionality, we now
10 remove the "Stop command?" prompt, which polled users whether to stop a long
13 * The items on the Edit menu have been reordered, and many of the shortcuts
14 have been changed so that they are more intuitive in the case of often
15 used items. We understand that this may frustrate some users and apologize,
16 while noting that menu shortcuts can always be customized by copying the
17 stdmenus.inc file to the user directory and editing it.
19 * Backspace and other forms of deletion will now merge paragraphs even when they
20 have different layouts.
22 * Ctrl-click on a cross-reference will now take you to its label.
24 * Default shortcuts for saving bookmarks have been changed to Alt-NUM, where
25 NUM is the number of the bookmark. (They were previously Shift-F1, etc.)
27 * Shift-F3 can be used for word-find-backwards (i.e., find previous) on Linux
30 * The shortcut to use the selection for a find on macOS is now Cmd-E, as is the
31 Apple standard. The shortcut for find the next occurrence of the current
32 find buffer text is Cmd-G. The shortcut for toggle of font emphasis has been
33 changed to Cmd-Ctrl-E.
35 * Continuous spellcheck is now on by default, but only if the user does not have
36 an existing preferences file. In that case, the old setting is preserved.
38 * Document (or selection statistics) is now shown in status bar and can be
39 disabled by the context menu.
41 * The actual enabled state of the synchronize TeX output option of the document
42 is used to enable or disable the menu item for forward-search.
44 * When using the document compare function, there is now an option to display the
45 differences using a special "Document Compare" author.
47 * InsetRef now supports starred commands. The starred commands stop hyperref from
48 creating a link (and are only available when hyperref is used). There is a
49 checkbox "No Hyperlink" for this purpose.
51 * Alt-Escape can be used to 'float' and redock widgets like the table of contents
54 * Edit > Paste operation now preserves newlines in text by default.
56 * Dark mode on Windows is possible now by choosing "fusion" user interface style
57 in the user interface preferences dialog, your system style has to be set to dark.
59 * One can now use the Text Properties dialog in mathed to not only change
60 colors but also other text properties, except strikethrough and language
64 !!Documents compilation process and images conversion
66 * LyX now uses utf8 encoding per default for all languages. This does
67 not affect existing documents. Note that LyX also does not touch
68 personal defaults and templates. That is to say, if you still see
69 traditional encoding preset for new documents, you can change that
70 by selecting "Unicode (utf8) [default]" and hitting "Save as
71 Documents Defaults" afterwards. Your personal templates need to be
72 changed manually if desired.
74 * LyX defaults to the "HE8" LaTeX font encoding with Hebrew if the
75 "Culmus" LaTeX fonts are installed.
77 * Documents that use TeX fonts can only be compiled with XeTeX if the input
78 encoding is set to "utf8-plain" or "ascii".
80 * With LyXHTML output, there are now different CSS classes generated for
81 different depths: enumi, enumii, enumiii, and enumiv, and similarly for
82 itemize: lyxitemi, etc. There is also a new HTMLClass tag, which makes it
83 easier to provide specific classes for paragraphs.
85 * HTML support has been updated to output XHTML5 files. A major change is the
86 use of XML entities instead of HTML ones (e.g., LyX now outputs -
89 * DocBook support has been revamped and now targets DocBook 5 (i.e.
90 only XML, SGML is gone). Some supporting files for the previous
91 implementation have been removed: all examples (lib/examples),
92 some layouts (existing documents should still work, but with a
93 DocBook 5 output instead of DocBook 4 SGML). The dependency on
94 sgmltools has been removed, this new support is always enabled.
95 Having sgmltools installed or not will not change anything in LyX.
97 * Postscript -> PDF convertor (ps2pdf) uses -dALLOWPSTRANSPARENCY by
98 default now (implemented since ghostscript 9.53.3, see bug #12303).
100 * There is a widespread ban on postscript conversions across different
101 linux distributions and there are currently two way how to address
102 various image conversion errors when typesetting your documents:
103 - either manually remove the bans of EPS/PDF coders in ImageMagick
104 policy.xml configuration file
105 - or install alternative converters for bitmap <-> postscript.
106 In particular pdftoppm (poppler-utils) and tiff2ps (libtiff-tools)
107 are now recognized and activated in case LyX detects ImageMagick
108 policy ban. These will allow eps<->png(jpg) conversion chain to
109 be found when processing your documents.
110 Package maintainers of distributions (e.g. openSUSE or Debian derivates)
111 where ghostscript conversions of ImageMagick are banned can simply
112 add dependencies for poppler-utils and libtiff-tools to workaround
115 * LyX now supports hebrew and hungarian quotation styles.
117 !!!The following pref variables were added in 2.4:
119 * \ct_additions_underlined true|false: determines whether additions in change tracking
120 are underlined in the workarea (default: true).
122 * \ct_markup_copied true|false: determines whether change tracking markup should be
123 preserved on copy/paste (default: false).
125 * \citation_search_view lyxpaperview: determines whether external script "lyxpaperview"
126 should be used for looking up citation source.
128 * \draw_strategy partial|backingstore: when this is set to
129 "backingstore", the drawing code will force the use of an
130 intermediate surface, instead of just drawing changed regions on
131 screen. Note that "backingstore" is actually always enforced on
132 macOS and Wayland (default: partial).
134 * \screen_limit true|false: determines whether the text width on screen is limited
135 (both fullscreen and normal view).
137 * \screen_width <length>: sets the width of the text on screen if \screen_limit is true.
139 !!!The following pref variables were changed in 2.4:
143 !!!The following pref variables are obsoleted in 2.4:
146 The font encoding is now automatically set depending on the document
150 Removed in favor of \screen_limit
153 Removed in favor of \screen_width
156 This is no longer necessary due to the rewrite of the painter.
158 * \use_pixmap_cacheqimage
159 There is no evidence that this painting mode was useful anymore.
161 * \date_insert_format
162 The function date-insert has been removed and superseded by info-insert date.
163 The latter does not need a pref value anymore.
166 !!!The following new LyX functions have been introduced in 2.4:
168 * bibtex-database-list: output a list of all bibtex files used in the current buffer.
169 The function outputs absolute paths in the OS style and separated by the os-specific
170 path separator. This function is intended for bibliography managers.
172 * branch-sync-all: Open/close all insets of selected branch (depending on its activation status).
174 * buffer-reset-export advises LyX to remove the auxiliary files before doing the next
177 * buffer-write-as-template is a new convenience function to ease saving a document
178 in the (personal) templates folder.
180 * export-cancel: Used to cancel background export processes.
182 * font-nospellcheck marks the word under cursor or selection to the effect that the
183 spellchecker ignores it.
185 * ifrelatives is a helper function to check whether a buffer has a master or children.
187 * lyxfiles-open opens the new examples or templates dialog.
189 * master-buffer-forall executes an lfun in the master and all children of a document.
191 * paragraph-select is a new convenience function to select the paragraph
192 surrounding the actual cursor position.
194 * search-string-set [arg] stores the <arg>, the currently selected text or the word under
195 cursor in the search cache that is used by word-find[-backward|-forward] if no argument
198 * spelling-add-local adds words for a given language to the document's local spelling
201 * spelling-remove-local removes words for a given language from the document's local
204 * index-tag-all adds a copy of the index entry under cursor to after all occurrences of the
205 word that precedes the index inset.
207 * inset-insert-copy inserts the inset's content (in ToC pane) at the position of the cursor.
209 * inset-split is a new convenience function that splits an inset into two at the given
210 cursor position. This is only implemented for text insets currently.
212 * tabular-style-insert: Insert a table in a specified style.
214 * tab-group-next, tab-group-previous: Activate another tab group in split view.
215 The new functions bound to F6/S-F6 in CUA bindings.
218 !!!The following LyX functions have been changed in 2.4:
220 * citation-insert now returns a list of undefined citations if passed through the LyX Server.
222 * file-insert: optional second parameter "ignorelang" to make the insertion
223 ignore the inserted file's main language (and rather adapt it to the insertion
226 * info-insert buffer vcs-*: renamed to info-insert vcs *
228 * inset-edit recognizes optional argument "nogui" - no editor will be launched in
229 such case, only filename will be returned (for use in scripts).
231 * outline-in/out can now take argument "local", that restricts their
232 action to the current paragraph.
234 * set-graphics-group was renamed to graphics-set-group.
236 * tabular-feature: added toggle parameters "toggle-all-lines", "toggle-border-lines"
237 and "toggle-inner-lines"
239 * word-delete-forward, word-delete-backward, char-delete-forward,
242 The 2.4 behavior of these functions is almost equivalent to the
243 pre-2.3 behavior: without argument, it just deletes the
244 next/previous element; with the "confirm" argument however, big
245 insets are selected on the first call and deleted only on the
246 second. This new behavior allow scripts to work intuitively and
247 require the argument only for interactive use.
250 !!!The following LyX functions have been removed in 2.4:
252 * date-insert: obsoleted by info-insert date.
254 !!!The following LyX function has been added and then removed in 2.4 development cycle.
256 * bidi: used as a first solution to provide icons that change
257 direction with language.
260 !!!The following LyX documents have been moved in 2.4:
262 * As a result of a major restructuring of the templates and example
263 directories, almost all examples and templates files have been renamed and
264 moved to subfolders that reflect the layout category.
265 The files now have much more decriptive (and longer) names, and they use
266 URL encoding for specific special characters such as '(', ')' and '&'.
267 Notably also the file that opens for new users has been renamed (from
268 splash.lyx to Welcome.lyx).
271 !!!The following new files and folders have been added to the LyX directory
273 * The examples and templates directories have been completely re-organized.
274 They are now much more structured (by means of layout categories) and thus
275 consist of many new subfolders.
277 * The file images/icon.aliases provides simple string substitution
278 rules that can be used when searching for an icon. This mechanism
279 can be used to handle icons for renamed lfuns or new arguments.
282 !!!The following preferences files have been removed from the tarball in 2.4:
286 !!!The following metadata files have been added to the tarball in 2.4:
288 * Metainfo was updated from appdata.xml to org.lyx.LyX.metainfo.xml
289 and is by default installed to /usr/share/metainfo/ per freedesktop.org
293 !!Changes with respect to external programs and libraries in 2.4:
295 * The Qt5 libraries are now used by default. In order to link against
296 Qt6 the configure option --enable-qt6 has to be used. Qt4 is not
299 * The dependency on pplatex/dvipost was dropped.
301 * The dependency on sgmltools was dropped, see DocBook 5 section.
303 !!! Dependencies to generate ePub files:
305 * The DocBook XSLT 1.0 style sheets are a required dependency to generate
306 ePub files. All versions since 1.76.0 are supported.
308 Version 1.79.2 is bundled with LyX. If your system already provides xslt
309 style sheets you can use configure parameter --without-xslt-stylesheets to
310 avoid installing them.
313 * XSLT processor is needed, two options were successfully tested
315 - Works on Linux and OSX (tested with xsltproc 1.1.32).
318 - Tested on Linux, OSX and Windows.
319 - Java is a required dependency. Any JVM for Java 1.4 should be supported.
320 - Only Saxon versions 6.5.4 and 6.5.5 are supported.
321 - Version 6.5.5 is bundled with LyX. If your system already provides Saxon
322 (or xsltproc) you can use configure parameter --without-saxon to avoid
323 installation of this library.
325 * bash_completion script was updated for a newer syntax.
328 !!Known issues in version 2.4.0
330 * Various versions Qt6 have a problem with key events handling (QTBUG-123848).
331 This issue is documented in bug #12641 (e.g. LyX is unresponsive to
332 Control-Command keyboard shortcuts).
333 The fix for the Qt bug is announced for Qt 6.7, 6.5 and 6.2.
335 * Gnome environments defaulting to Wayland + mutter compositor might be missing
336 proper window decorations. This is a generic problem which can be for Qt-based
337 applications (including LyX) alleviated by setting QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=gnome
338 environment variable prior to running LyX.
340 * For others see http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome
343 !!Caveats when upgrading from earlier versions to 2.4.x
345 * LyX now uses the parskip package for vertical paragraph separation. Since the
346 output differs from the previous (sub-optimal) approach which applied paragraph
347 separation to sections, lists etc. as well, existing documents
348 are converted to use preamble code that maintains the previous layout.
349 The downside is that the workarea looks as if paragraph indendation rather
350 than paragraph separation was used (output is correct). We encourage you
351 to try if the new layout suits you, remove the respective preamble code
352 and re-set the paragraph separation to use the new layout.
354 * Autotools monolithic build option for building LyX binaries was removed,
355 for compilation speedup use parallel building on multiple cores instead.
357 * Several ttf fonts (esint10.ttf, stmary10.ttf, wasy10.ttf) were changed
358 to reflect the fact that newer Qt libraries do not support displaying certain
359 codepoints anymore (bug #8493, #10161).
360 Distribution packagers need to repack those font files in case they are
361 delivering the fonts as a separated package dependent from core LyX
362 in order to display correctly math symbols like \oint.
364 * Parentheses inside custom insets (defined in the local layout or in a
365 custom module) which has the "PassThru" tag set to true, in a hebrew text
366 will be reversed after conversion of existing documents.
368 To avoid that remove the "PassThru" tag, and restore it after
369 the conversion, or add the name of the inset, inset and the argument,
370 or layout and argument to the appropriate list, or dictionary in
371 the function "convert_hebrew_parentheses(document)" in lyx_2_4.py.
373 !! If upgrading from a LyX version before 2.3.0
375 * Please additionally see the release notes from the versions in-between:
376 https://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/ReleaseNotes
379 !!Detailed list of 2.4 changes
381 * For more comprehensive list of changes and new features in LyX 2.4 see
382 https://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/NewInLyX24