I get the following problem running
LyX Version 2.2.3 on a Mac with OSX El Capitan 10.11.6.
If I simply open the Lyx program with a new file, type in 'test', and try
to view the results, I get an error message in the log panel that opens:
`Package babel Error: Unknown language `english'. Either you have'
In the next pane, I have:
`\selectlanguage{english}
You may proceed, but expect unexpected results'
In the Document Settings, I find the Language package is always set to
'Automatic'. If I then reset this to 'Always Babel', the error goes away. I
discovered this by trial and error. It is certainly not remotely obvious.
Why would a babel package error go away when one sets the language package
to 'babel'? I would have expected that if the language package was set to
'Automatic', then it would either choose 'babel' or some other package. If
it chose 'babel', I might get 'babel' errors, but they would surely remain
if I set the option to 'Always Babel'!
The documentation in the Help file gives no hint as to why a babel error
would occur with automatic settings, but not with the 'Always Babel'
setting.
A related problem is that if I type in an incorrectly spelled word like
'testx', it will be flagged by the spell-checker, but no alternative is
suggested. Note that these errors occur in a completely new Lyx file, just
created, with only one word in it, and only default settings.
Similar spellcheck/babel errors occur in almost every other Lyx file I try.
Many are more serious than this, and don't allow me to proceed. This
creates problems with files shared with other researchers, who create Lyx
files that I edit.
I do not get this problem on other Macs I have access to, with the same
version of Lyx. However, there is no obvious clue to what is causing it.
Presumably a language setting either in Lyx or the Mac is incorrect, but I
have no idea what it could be. Whatever it is, the error message is not
very useful.
Hope someone can help -
Peter Drummond
