Earl DeShazer wrote:
I am guessing this is a fairly common issue, but I have scoured the users, developers, gname, etc. mailing lists and have turned up one reference to a similar problem. However, there were no responses to the posting.
I am trying to install LyX on a Windows XP machine. I have installed MiKTex, Ghostscript, ImageMagick and LyX 1.3.5.
I take it to mean you're using Ruurd's port of LyX 1.3.5, as opposed to compiling your own.
From the instructions, I believed that to run LyX initially was as simple as double-clicking the executable.
Mmm, sort of (once it's installed properly). LyX expects you to have a "home" directory. It will create a subdirectory tree under your home containing assorted stuff, including configuration information. So if you install it in, say, C:\LatexPrograms\lyx and then double click the icon for lyx.exe, it may not find all your configuration info (or at least any changes you make).
I prefer to create a shortcut to LyX. The target line reads:
C:\<path to LyX installation>\bin\lyx.exe -userdir C:\<path to document home>.
Unfortunately, I got this message in the xterm:
LyXTextClassList::Read: no textclasses found!
And this message in a warning box:
LyX wasn't able to find any layout description! Check the contents of the file "textclass.lst" Sorry, has to exit :-(
I have a textclass.lst file in my c:/LatexPrograms/lyx/share
directory.
I am not sure what I am looking for in this file.
Mainly a length greater than zero.
Did I miss something in my installation or is there some documentation somewhere to help me fix my problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I think Rob Saunders pointed you to the Wiki page for Windows installations. When you installed LyX, it should have run the configuration script automatically. Among other things, the configuration script would write a (non-empty) textclass.lst file. If the file is zero-length, you can try running the configuration script from a DOS prompt. Better yet, delete the zero-length file and try opening LyX. If it opens, run Edit->Reconfigure.
Have a look at the Wiki page (http://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/WindowsSetup), specifically at the part about "if Help->Configuration returns an error". There are a variety of problems with the configuration script and some of the helper utilities bundled with the Windows version. To get configuration to work correctly, you need to upgrade to a more recent version of sed than the one bundled with Ruurd's port. There's a zip file on the Wiki that I think contains the necessary ingredients.
If none of this helps, please post details on what you tried and how it failed, and hopefully one of us who's been through the throes of installation will recognized the pathology.
FWIW, installation does typically succeed with a little tweaking, and the end result is well worth the effort.
Here is my full configuration information:
lyx -version LyX 1.3.5 of Wed, Oct 6, 2004
Built on Jan 3 2005, 09:55:08
Configuration
Host type: i686-pc-cygwin
Special build flags: C Compiler: wrapmsvc
C Compiler flags: -g
C++ Compiler: wrapmsvc C++ Compiler flags: /Zc:forScope /MD /EHsc /O2
Linker flags: -L/cygdrive/c/Qt/3.2.1NonCommercial/lib
Frontend: qt
Qt version: 3.2.1
LyX binary dir: /usr/local/bin
LyX files dir: /usr/local/share/lyx
It should be noted that I do not have a /usr/local directory at all, so I am not sure what these last two things are pointing to.
I suspect they existed on the box Ruurd used to compile LyX -- assuming this is in fact Ruurd's port.
-- Paul
