Gr�goire Colbert a �crit :
>
> Hello,
>
> I'd like to make a report using LaTeX because it seems very powerful.
> Unfortunately, I don't know how to use french accents and typography with
> the packages in Mandrake.
>
> I've explored a little bit, and I found the "_french_" package by Bernard
> Gaulle, but it seems quite hard to install. So :
> 1 - Is there a precompiled version of tetex in Mandrake with builtin french
> ?
> 2 - Otherwise : what do I need to do in order to install this "_french_"
> thing. There are a lot of files in the archive, and I didn't find how to
> install it. If someone who already did that could the installation to me, it
> would be cool, because I don't have much time to study LaTeX, I need to
> hurry for my work. So please don't answer with "RTFM", I don't have the
> time.
French package cannot be distributed in the distro because of copyright
problems. Maybe it could be with other wharewares in application cds ?
But there is also light version (frenchie), coming with two file, one
for babel (french.ldf) and one for standalone use (frenchle.sty). The
first one is present in Mandrake tetex package, why isn't the second ?
I followed mostly the linux rootard's guide (french wordtrick, sorry)
http://www.freenix.fr/unix/linux/Guide, section 16.7, even if it was
originally written for an english redhat system. Here are the various
step to follow :
- unatr the french.tar.gz archive in /usr/share/texmf/tex/generic
- edit /usr/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf, and change TEXINPUTS.latex =
.;$TEXMF/tex/{latex,generic,}// to TEXINPUTS.latex =
.;$TEXMF/tex/{generic/french,latex,generic,}//
- rename /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/config/language.dat to
/usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/config/language.dat.babel
- rename /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/babel/hyphen.cfg to
/usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/babel/hyphen.cfg.babel
- symlink /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/hyphen/ushyph1.tex to
/usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/hyphen/ushyph.tex
- cd to /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/tex/generic/french/initex then
texconfig rehash
initex latex.ltx
- and finally move latex.fmt to /usr/lib/texmf/texmf/web2c
Result was OK for me. But i isn't a latex guru, maybe some steps are
useless, or could be done otherwise. I'll be happy to receive
corrections.
By the way, how about Mandrake's mini-install-HOWTO for such current
packages that cannot be distributed ? There would be a french-install
HOWTO, a jdk-install-HOWTO, etc... And even for some distributed
packages including many distro-specific configuration, as a
XFree3.3.6-to-XFree4.0.1-HOWTO for exemple. Standard HOWTO are perfect
for slackware distribution, where all configuration is hand-made, but
for heavily customized distro as Mandrake, they're not the ideal
information source.
--
Guillaume Rousse
Iremia - Universit� de la R�union
Plus petites unit�s de mesure
- de longueur : le millim�tre
- de volume : le millilitre
- d'intelligence : le militaire
