On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 6:45 PM, Hal Kierstead <hal.kierst...@me.com> wrote:
>
> On Aug 13, 2015, at 2:31 PM, Steve Thompson <scth...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hal,
> I think I did understand. You want your collaborator to be able to make
> arbitrary changes to the .tex file, then have tex2lyx figure out how to
> create a new .lyx file. But your collaborator could have done anything. That
> makes the “modified” file no different from any other completely arbitrary
> new input file.
> Steve
>
>
>
> Steve -
>
> I do not think you understood me. Suppose a create a LyX file and use it to
> generate a tex file. I send it to my coauthor who does not use LyX. He
> makes modifications to the LaTex file without changing the front material,
> and sends me his Tex file. I should be able to use tex2lyx to make a
> revised version of my LyX file. But this requires many corrections by
> hand.
>
> Hal
>
>
> Steve -
>
> First of all, tex2lyx already comes close to making a good LyX file. The
> main problem is that there always seem to be a handful or errors that must
> be fixed before the file will run. For some reason the program cannot
> handle options like \begin{thm}[Main Lemma], but also other options. It
> also seems that comments in the Latex file can sometimes produce errors. A
> huge annoyance is that theorems, etc. are displayed in ERT.
>
> I understand that for arbitrary LaTex files some of these issues maybe very
> complicated or impossible, but what I am asking for does not involve
> arbitrary files. Let’s take an easy case. Suppose my coauthor only makes
> changes between \begin{document} and \end{document} of the LaTex file, and
> does not use any new constructs. Shouldn’t it be possible, perhaps with a
> helper file that records settings and any other special issues, to make a
> good LyX version? Or even easier, shouldn’t I be able to export a Latex
> file and then without changing it, import it and get the same LyX file back.
> Yes, I know there is no reason to do this, but it is a benchmark.
>
> Hal
Hal,
I think your reasoning is sound. I agree that it would be really nice
to have clean round trip (even though as Steve rightly points out this
is useless in theory if we don't make any manual change). The reason
is simply that it is hard to import LaTeX, *even* LaTeX that LyX
produces. Sometimes one way is easier than the other way. tex2lyx is
actually a completely separate program from LyX (it is literally a
separate binary program). There is no communication between the two.
Communication wouldn't even help. Import is just a completely
different procedure from export.
Many people (including myself) agree with you that it would be nice to
have this. To see previous discussions on this topic, search for "LyX
roundtrip LaTeX" or something similar.
Best,
Scott
