2 .\" Use the following command to view man page:
4 .\" tbl lyx.1 | nroff -man | less
6 .TH LYX 1 "@LYX_DATE@" "Version @VERSION@" "LyX @VERSION@"
8 LyX \- A Document Processor
16 \fBlyx@version_suffix@\fR [ \fIcommand\-line switches\fR ] [ \fIname[.lyx] ...\fR ]
19 \fBLyX\fR is too complex to be described completely in the "man" page
20 format. If your system is properly configured, you can access the full
21 documentation within \fBLyX\fR under the Help menu.
23 \fBLyX\fR is a document preparation system. It excels at letting you
24 create complex technical and scientific articles with mathematics,
25 cross\-references, bibliographies, indices, etc. It is very good at
26 documents of any length in which the usual processing abilities are
27 required: automatic sectioning and pagination, spellchecking, and so
28 forth. It can also be used to write a letter to your mom, though
29 granted, there are probably simpler programs available for that. It is
30 definitely not the best tool for creating banners, flyers, or
31 advertisements, though with some effort all these can be done, too.
32 Some examples of what it is used for: memos, letters, dissertations
33 and theses, lecture notes, seminar notebooks, conference proceedings,
34 software documentation, books (on PostgreSQL, remote sensing,
35 cryptology, fictional novels, poetry, and even a children's book or
36 two), articles in refereed scientific journals, scripts for plays and
37 movies, business proposals... you get the idea.
39 Currently, \fBLyX\fR uses the Qt4 library as a
40 toolkit. \fBLyX\fR should run everywhere, where this library runs.
41 This is on all major Unix platforms as well as Windows and Mac OS X
42 (which actually is a unix platform).
44 \fBLyX\fR supports the following command\-line switches.
50 provides version information on the build of LyX.
52 .BI \-sysdir " directory"
53 sets system directory. Normally not needed.
55 .BI \-userdir " directory"
56 sets user directory. Needed if you want to use LyX with different lyxrc
59 .BI \-geometry " WxH+X+Y"
60 set geometry of the main window.
62 .BI \-dbg " feature[,feature...]"
63 where feature is a name or number.
64 Use "\fBlyx@version_suffix@ \-dbg\fR" to see the list of available debug features.
66 \fB \-x [\-\-execute]\fP \fIcommand
67 where command is a lyx command.
69 \fB \-e [\-\-export]\fP \fIfmt
70 where fmt is the export format of choice.
71 Look on Tools->Preferences->File formats->Format to get an idea which parameters should be passed.
72 Note that the order of -e and -x switches matters.
74 \fB \-i [\-\-import]\fP \fIfmt file.xxx
75 where fmt is the import format of choice and file.xxx is the file to be imported.
77 \fB \-f [\-\-force\-overwrite]\fP \fIwhat
78 where what is is either "\fBall\fR", "\fBmain\fR" or "\fBnone\fR".
79 Specify "\fBall\fR" to allow overwriting all files during a batch export,
80 "\fBmain\fR" to allow overwriting the main file only, or "\fBnone\fR"
81 to disallow overwriting any file. When this switch is followed by anything
82 else other than "\fBall\fR", "\fBmain\fR" or "\fBnone\fR", the behavior is as
83 if "\fBall\fR" was specified, but what follows is left on the command line for
86 \fB \-n [\-\-no\-remote]\fP
87 open documents passed as arguments in a new instance, even if another
88 instance of LyX is already running.
90 \fB \-r [\-\-remote]\fP
91 by using the lyxpipe, ask an already running instance of LyX to open the
92 documents passed as arguments and then exit. If the lyxpipe is not set up or
93 is not working, a new instance is created and execution continues normally.
96 causes LyX to run the given commands without opening a GUI window.
99 lyx -batch -x "buffer-print printer default dvips" myfile.lyx
101 will cause LyX to print myfile.lyx to the default printer, using dvips and
102 the default print settings (which, of course, have to have been configured
108 can be used to specify which system directory to use.
110 The system directory is determined by searching for the file
111 "chkconfig.ltx". Directories are searched in this order:
113 1) \-sysdir command line parameter
115 2) @LYX_DIR_VER@ environment variable
117 3) Maybe <path of binary>/TOP_SRCDIR/lib
119 4) <path of binary>/../share/<name of binary>/
121 5) hardcoded lyx_dir (at build time: @real_pkgdatadir@)
124 can be used to specify which user directory to use.
126 The user directory is, in order of precedence:
128 1) \-userdir command line parameter
130 2) @LYX_USERDIR_VER@ environment variable
132 3) $HOME/.<name of binary> if no explicit setting is made
136 can be used to tell LyX where to look for the translations of its GUI
137 strings in other languages.
140 .B LYX_FORCE_OVERWRITE
141 can be used to change the default behavior when exporting from command
144 By default, LyX overwrites the main file when exporting from command
145 line but not the ancillary files. This behavior can be changed by setting
146 this environment variable, which relieves the need of using the \-f switch.
147 Allowed values are either "\fBall\fR", "\fBmain\fR" or "\fBnone\fR", with
148 same meaning as for the \-f switch.
151 .ta \w'\fILIBDIR\fR/lyxrc.in 'u
152 ~/.lyx/preferences Personal configuration file
153 ~/.lyx/lyxrc.defaults Personal autodetected configuration file
154 \fILIBDIR\fR/lyxrc.dist System wide configuration file
155 \fILIBDIR\fR/configure.py Updates \fBLyX\fR if config has changed
156 \fILIBDIR\fR/bind/ Keybindings
157 \fILIBDIR\fR/clipart/ Clipart pictures
158 \fILIBDIR\fR/doc/ Documentation in \fBLyX\fR format.
159 \fILIBDIR\fR/examples/ Example documents
160 \fILIBDIR\fR/images/ Images used as icons or in popups
161 \fILIBDIR\fR/kbd/ Keyboard mappings
162 \fILIBDIR\fR/layouts/ Layout descriptions
163 \fILIBDIR\fR/templates/ Templates for documents
164 \fILIBDIR\fR/tex/ Extra TeX files
169 is the system directory. This was at build time @real_pkgdatadir@.
171 tex2lyx@version_suffix@(1), latex(1).
173 Full documentation in either native \fBLyX\fR or postscript format.
175 There are still some bugs in \fBLyX\fR. To report one, read if
176 possible the Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX. You'll
177 find detailed info on submitting bug reports there. If you can't do
178 that, send details to the LyX Developers mailing list
179 lyx\-devel@lists.lyx.org, or use the LyX bug tracker at
180 http://bugzilla.lyx.org/. Don't forget to mention which version you
181 are having problems with!
183 \fBLaTeX\fR import is still not perfect and may produce buggy *.lyx
184 files. Consult the \fBtex2lyx@version_suffix@\fR documentation.
187 LyX is Copyright (C) 1995 by Matthias Ettrich, 1995-2010 LyX Team