Uwe Stöhr wrote:
I can't test this without uninstalling/reinstalling LyX. When I run
reconfigure from inside LyX, it either does not look for all the
missing LaTeX packages or else does so by a method other than trying
to compile a test document using that class.
No, it doesn't matter from where you run the script. When the "Install
missing packages on the fly" option is set to "ask me" or "yes", MiKTeX
will get active.
That used to be true, but I just ran reconfigure from inside rc2 (twice,
in fact) with MikTeX set to "ask me", and I got no pop-ups from MikTeX.
It only took 10 seconds.
Please note, though, that when I ran the installer I had MikTeX's
"Install missing packages on-the-fly" option set to 'No'.
The installer sets it back to "yes" while installing to assure that the
first configuration installs all packages needed by LyX. You can reset
this later.
I didn't need to reset it -- it was still set to 'no' after
installation. Does the installer automatically reset it to its previous
value?
I just checked my LaTeX configuration page in LyX. It shows a number of
missing document classes (none of which I use) in section 4, but every
font package (section 2), every standard document class (section 3) and
every "other" package (section 7) are marked present, and I know I did
not have all those installed before installing rc2. So I guess MikTeX
really was operating in automatic-install mode (even though I looked at
the setting _while the script was running_ and it said 'no'), and that
must account for the delay. Given the number of packages it must have
installed, the script's run time would not be unusual.
So latex should have failed on the test documents using missing
classes without any attempt to go to the Internet.
There won't be a fail, the configure script still prints out if a
package could be found or not.
No, but if the installer is compiling a test document looking for
abc.sty and abc.sty is not installed (and MikTeX is set to "no"), latex
will report an error compiling the file (this is what I meant by
"failed") and the configuration script interprets the error as package
not installed.
Incidentally, when the installer ran the configuration script, some
packages got a 'yes', some got a 'no', and some got neither one -- the
space where 'yes' or 'no' should be was just blank. It didn't seem to
bother the configuration script, so I did not mention it before.
For the future, I vote for letting the user, not the installer, decide
about on-the-fly installation. It's not just a matter of the time and
bandwidth. I'm installing on a laptop with a fairly modest hard drive,
and while I currently have space for all those packages (many of which I
will not use in this lifetime), down the road I may end up having to
uninstall some to free space.
Actually, given the problems some users have when installing with no
Internet connection or an unfortunate choice of repository, my vote
would be for the installer to set MikTeX to 'no' (and reset to the
user's setting afterward). Any functional MikTeX installation should
have basic classes such as article installed. I think it's less painful
to have the installer display a message (or have LyX open up with a
default message) explaining that the user may need to install additional
packages than to have the installation script risk connection problems
by automatically installing things.
Incidentally, in case I forgot to mention it in the first message,
thanks as always for providing the Windows compilations and installers.
Cheers,
Paul
