Hal Kierstead wrote:
> 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.
Please report bugs for these errors at
http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome and include an example .tex file
that shows the bug. These problems are sometimes easy to fix, the only thing
we need is to be aware of them and a test case.
> A huge annoyance is that theorems, etc. are displayed in ERT.
The problem with theorems is that they are only recognized if the preamble
is the same that would be used by LyX. Otherwise it cannot be guaranteed
that the PDF output will be the same as in the original document. If the
origional .tex file was produced by LyX, and your co-author did not define a
new theorem style, but only changed an existing theorem or added a new one,
then the theorems should be imported correctrly by tex2lyx. If this is not
the case then please file bug report.
> 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.
Yes, this should be possible (with one limitation): There are some
constructs in LyX that cannot be expressed in LaTeX or are not exported
(e.g. Notes). We discussed in the past how to get rid of this limitation,
but, but we do not have a consensus on a good soluition yet. Again, if have
documents that do not re-import correctly, please file a bug.
Georg
