Ed Gatzke wrote:
You've probably done this already, but when you add a style or layout or
anything to the /usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/ tree, run the texhash
program.
The couple of times I have done this, my latex'ing time quadrupled for some
strange reason, so the performance hit was frustrating. One time dvis and
fonts got fouled up as well.
There are like three different ways listed to get classes added to latex,
one involves setting a bunch of environment vars as well. There are two
or three programs that can fix your paths when you make mods, so it is a
bit screwy having option.
There must be a crapload of cls files for journals and theses out there,
but I can't see a large portion of them adding up to more than 5 - 10 MB,
especially if you zip the text files initially. Give the user an option
to pick the ones they want to install early on, then download them from
a contrib site if you want.
It is much easier to have the well-written installer handle it as opposed
to idiot users like me mucking it all up later...
I'm a bit fuzzy on what you're proposing here. If you add a bunch of
LaTeX classes that don't have layout files, they won't be usable from
LyX. So we're down to classes for which someone has donated a layout
file. There are a few floating around that are not part of the LyX
package (I think there might be a few on the Wiki), but my impression is
that the number of layout files publicly available but not shipping with
LyX is a bit small.
As far as the classes/styles themselves (ones that don't come with your
LaTeX distribution), using LyX rather than the LaTeX distro to install
them might create some compatibility adventures (if an updated version
of your distro changes the package installation procedure), and I think
would be a bit of a pain to program (since installation procedures are
somewhat platform- and distribution-specific).
What might work would be a "wizard" that would walk you through the steps.
/Paul
