What is LyX?
- LyX is an advanced, open-source "document processor". Unlike
- standard word processors, LyX encourages writing based on the
- structure of your documents, not their appearance. It lets you
- concentrate on writing, leaving details of visual layout to the
- software.
-
- You can read more about this concept in the documentation,
- which you'll find under the Help menu. If you plan to use LyX,
- you really should read about it to be able to make the best of
- it.
-
-What is LyX not?
-
- LyX is not just another word processor that claims to be a
- Desktop Publishing program. It's a more modern way of
- creating documents that look much nicer, but without wasting
- time with layout-fiddling. For these reasons you might need
- a little time to get used to the differences.
- If you are looking for a free Desktop Publishing program for
- Unix, you will be disappointed.
+ LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to
+ writing based on the structure of your documents, not their
+ appearance. It is released under a Free Software / Open Source
+ license.
+
+ LyX is for people that write and want their writing to look great,
+ right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting
+ details, 'finger painting' font attributes or futzing around with
+ page boundaries. You just write. In the background, Prof. Knuth's
+ legendary TeX typesetting engine makes you look good.
+
+ On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output
+ --- or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced ---
+ looks like nothing else. Gone are the days of industrially bland
+ .docs, all looking similarly not-quite-right, yet coming out
+ unpredictably different on different printer drivers. Gone are the
+ crashes 'eating' your dissertation the evening before going to
+ press.
+
+ LyX is stable and fully featured. It is a multi-platform, fully
+ internationalized application running natively on Unix/Linux and
+ the Macintosh and modern Windows platforms.
What do I need to run LyX?
- Either of :
- * a Unix-like system (or Windows with cygwin, OS/2 with XFree)
- with at least X11R5
- * Windows 98 or newer
- * Mac OS 10.2 or newer
+ Either:
+ * a Unix-like system (including Windows with Cygwin)
+ * Windows 7 or newer
+ * Mac OS 10.13 or newer
- A decent LaTeX2e installation (e.g. teTeX for unix) not older
- than 1995/12/01.
- Python 1.5.2 or later to convert old LyX files
+ A decent LaTeX2e installation (e.g. TeX Live for Linux, MikTeX for
+ Windows).
+
+ Python (2.7 or 3.5 and newer) to convert old LyX files and for
+ helper scripts.
How does the LyX version scheme work?
- LyX uses a continuous numbering scheme in which odd or
- even numbering is not significant. Instead a number '1.x.y'
- indicates stable release '1.x', fix level 'y'. Prereleases
- are labeled with a "pre" suffix. Thus there are three possible
- file names:
-
- lyx-1.4.0.tar.gz -- stable release
- lyx-1.4.5.tar.gz -- fifth maintenance release of the
- 1.4 stable release
- lyx-1.4.0pre1.tar.gz -- potentially unstable test release
-
- The maintenance releases are designed primarily to fix bugs. The
- goal here is not to have parallel development as for the linux
- kernel (the team is too small to afford that), but rather to
- include all the simple (so that the maintenance burden on us
- is not too high) and safe (so that system administrators can
- install them without fear) bug fixes. Experience shows that
- these releases will contain a few new features, and that the
- bulk of the patches will be documentation updates.
-
- If you get the source from cvs, the version string will look like
- one of:
-
- 1.4.1cvs -- this is the stable branch on which maintenance
- release 1.4.1 will eventually be tagged.
- 1.5.0cvs -- this is the main branch on which stable
- release 1.5.0 will eventually be tagged.
+ LyX uses a contiguous numbering scheme for versions, where a
+ number "2.x.y" indicates a stable release '2.x', maintenance
+ release 'y'. In other words, LyX 2.3.0 was the first stable
+ release in the 2.3-series of LyX. At the time of writing, the
+ latest maintenance release in the 2.3-series is LyX 2.3.7.
+
+ Please note that maintenance releases are designed primarily to
+ fix bugs, and that the file format will _never_ change due to a
+ maintenance release.
+
+ In addition to the stable releases and maintenance releases, some
+ users may want to give a ``release candidate'' a try. This is a
+ release that should be stable enough for daily work, but yet may
+ be potentially unstable. If no major bugs are found, the release
+ candidate is soon released as the first stable release in a new
+ series. To summarize, there are three possible types of file names
+ that are of interest to normal users:
+
+ lyx-2.3.0.tar.gz -- stable release, first in the 2.3-series
+ lyx-2.2.4.tar.gz -- fourth maintenance release of LyX 2.2
+ lyx-2.4.0rc1.tar.gz -- potentially unstable release candidate
+
+ Note that the goal is not parallel development as for the Linux
+ kernel --- the team is too small to afford that --- but rather to
+ include all the simple and safe bug fixes. This is so that the
+ maintenance burden on us is not too high, and so that system
+ administrators can install new releases without fear. Experience
+ shows that these releases will contain a few new features, and
+ that the bulk of the patches will be documentation updates.
+
+ If you get the source from Git, the version string will look like
+ one of:
+
+ 2.3.1dev -- this is the stable branch on which maintenance
+ release 2.3.1 will eventually be tagged.
+ 2.4.0dev -- this is the main branch on which stable
+ release 2.4.0 will eventually be tagged.
What's new?
- Read NEWS.
-
-How do I install .tar.gz a binary distribution of LyX?
-
- Unpack it and run it. We recommend unpacking it in /usr/local,
- but it should work anywhere. In particular, you can try LyX
- in a temporary directory 'my_bin' before installing permanently
- by typing "my_bin/lyx".
-
- You should read the notes regarding this particular build in
- the file README.bin.
+ Read NEWS.
How do I upgrade from an earlier LyX version?
- Read the file UPGRADING for info on this subject.
+ Read the file UPGRADING for info on this subject.
What do I need to compile LyX from the source distribution?
- * A good C++ compiler. Development is being done mainly with
- gcc/g++, but some others work also. As of LyX 1.4.0, you need at
- least gcc 3.x.
+ * A C++11 compiler. Development is being done mainly with gcc/g++,
+ but clang and MSVC are known to work too. As of LyX 2.4.0, you
+ need at least gcc 4.9.
- Either:
- * The Xforms library, version 1.0.
- * LibXpm, version 4.7 or newer.
+ * The Qt library, at least version 5.2 (5.6 recommended). It is
+ also possible to compile with Qt 6.x.
- Or:
- * The Qt library, version 3.0 or newer (although version 2.3
- may work).
-
- Read the file "INSTALL" for more information on compiling.
+ Read the file "INSTALL" for more information on compiling.
Okay, I've installed LyX. What now?
- Once you've installed it, and everything looks fine, go read
- the "Introduction" item under the Help menu. You should follow
- the instructions there, which tell you to read (or at least skim)
- the Tutorial. After that, you should also read "Help>LaTeX
- configuration" which provides info on your LaTeX configuration
- as LyX sees it. You might be missing a package or two that you'd
- like to have.
+ Once you've installed it, and everything looks fine, go read
+ the "Introduction" item under the Help menu. You should follow
+ the instructions there, which tell you to read (or at least skim)
+ the Tutorial. After that, you should also read "Help>LaTeX
+ Configuration" which provides info on your LaTeX configuration
+ as LyX sees it. You might be missing a package or two that you'd
+ like to have.
- User-level configuration is possible via the Edit>Preferences menu.
+ User-level configuration is possible via the Tools>Preferences menu.
Does LyX have support for non-English speakers/writers/readers?
- Yes. LyX supports writing in many languages, including
- right-to-left languages like Arabic or Hebrew. There is a port
- of LyX named CJK-LyX which adds support for Chinese, Korean
- and Japanese (http://cellular.phys.pusan.ac.kr/cjk.html)
-
- Menus and error messages have been translated to the following
- languages (* means there are language-specific keyboard menu
- bindings as well):
-
- French (fr)
- Spanish (es)
- Italian (it)
- Danish (da)
- Basque (eu)
- Nynorsk (nn)
- Finnish (fi) *
- German (de) *
- Russian (ru)
- Polish (pl)
- Slovak (sk)
- Slovenian (sl)
- Romanian (ro)
- Norwegian (no)
- Dutch (nl)
-
- Keymaps can ease typing in one or more of the following languages:
-
- Arabic
- Bulgarian
- Czech
- French, Swiss French
- German, Swiss German
- Greek
- Hebrew
- Hungarian (Magyar)
- Latvian
- Polish
- Portugese
- Romanian
- Slovenian
- Turkish
- Ukrainian
+ Yes. LyX supports writing in many languages, including
+ right-to-left languages like Arabic or Hebrew.
+
+ Menus and error messages have been translated to many languages.
+ For the status of the different translations, see
+ http://www.lyx.org/I18n
+
+ Keymaps can ease typing in many languages.
Internet resources of relevance to LyX
- The LyX homepage contains valuable information about LyX and the
- various LyX mailing lists, as well as links to mirrors and other
- LyX homepages around the world:
+ The LyX homepage contains valuable information about LyX and the
+ various LyX mailing lists, as well as links to mirrors and other
+ LyX homepages around the world:
http://www.lyx.org/
- The LyX Wiki is the place where users can share information on
- setting up and using LyX.
+ The LyX Wiki is the place where users can share information on
+ setting up and using LyX.
http://wiki.lyx.org/
- The main LyX archive site:
+ The main LyX archive site:
ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/
- The LyX Development page has information about the development
- effort. LyX is under CVS control, so you can get the very
- latest sources from there at any time.
- http://www.devel.lyx.org/
- ftp://www.devel.lyx.org/pub/lyx/
+ The LyX Development page has information about the development
+ effort. LyX is under Git version control, so you can get the very
+ latest sources from there at any time.
+ http://www.lyx.org/Development
How do I submit a bug report?
- If possible, read the Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX.
- You'll find detailed info on submitting bug reports there.
+ If possible, read the Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX.
+ You'll find detailed info on submitting bug reports there.
- If you can't do that, send details to the LyX Developers' mailing
- list, or use the LyX bug tracker at http://bugzilla.lyx.org/.
- Don't forget to mention which version you are having problems with!
+ If you can't do that, send details to the LyX Developers' mailing
+ list, or use the LyX bug tracker at
+ http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome .
+ Don't forget to mention which version you are having problems with!
How can I participate in the development of LyX?
- Any help with the development of LyX is greatly appreciated ---
- after all, LyX wouldn't be what it is today without the help
- of volunteers. We need your help!
-
- If you want to work on LyX, you should contact the developer's
- mailing list for discussion on how to do your stuff. LyX is being
- cleaned up, and therefore it's important to follow some rules.
- Read about those rules in development/Code_rules/.
-
- If you don't know C++, there are many other ways to
- contribute. Write documentation. Help to internationalize LyX
- by translating documentation or menus/error messages, or by
- writing a new keymap. Write a new textclass. Find bugs (but
- please read the list of known bugs first). Contribute money.
- Or just offer feature suggestions (but please read the online
- TODO list first).
+ Any help with the development of LyX is greatly appreciated ---
+ after all, LyX wouldn't be what it is today without the help
+ of volunteers. We need your help!
+
+ If you want to work on LyX, you should contact the developer's
+ mailing list for discussion on how to do your stuff. LyX is being
+ cleaned up, and therefore it's important to follow some rules.
+ Read about those rules in development/Code_rules/.
+
+ If you don't know C++, there are many other ways to
+ contribute. Write documentation. Help to internationalize LyX
+ by translating documentation or menus/error messages, or by
+ writing a new keymap. Write a new textclass. Find bugs (but
+ please read the list of known bugs first). Contribute money.
+ Or just offer feature suggestions (but please read the online
+ TODO list first).
Thank you for trying LyX. We appreciate your feedback in the mailing
lists.
projects / lyx.git / blobdiff