Hi Manveru I don't think using a slow CTAN mirror was really the issue. If I compare the Miktex installation on the machine where I LyxWinInstalled, vs on my other machine where I standard-Lyx-installed, there are now thousands of extra directories created on the former (eg >1000 new directories in tex\latex). Because of their creation dates, I'm pretty sure LyxWinInstall is responsible. It seems to have asked Miktex to do a complete install of every conceivable package. However, I know Lyx can run fine with a much smaller set, and that's what I'm really asking about / suggesting here. I reckon my questions below still apply.
(In fact, despite my optimism in yesterday's email, the Miktex mega-update did in fact crash partway thru its 5-hour marathon. I haven't noticed a problem yet, but that's probably because the un-updated packages are fine anyway...) Defaulting to a CTAN mirror in Germany is a minor aspect, I think-- though it might be preferable to not have a default, and force the user to choose. I freely admit to knowing very little about Miktex or Tex generally (which is one reason why I think Lyx is so wonderful-- I don't have to learn that stuff!). Mark Bravington CSIRO CMIS Marine Lab Hobart Australia > ________________________________________ > From: Manveru [[email protected]] > Sent: 21 December 2010 17:49 > To: Bravington, Mark (CMIS, Hobart) > Cc: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [correction] LyXWinInstaller for LyX 1.6.0 -- similar for 1.6.8 > > 2010/12/20 Mark Bravington <[email protected]>: > > I'm just going through a similar painful process with Lyx 1.6.8 and > > LyxWinInstaller. I certainly appreciate the efforts of the LyxWinInstaller > > developers, but I do think there is a big problem with the current > > version-- and > > it doesn't warn you properly. > > > > My story is this. I have existing Lyx 1.6.7 and Miktex installations that > > work > > absolutely fine together. I want to upgrade Lyx to 1.6.8. Because I was > > worried > > that the standard LyX installer might decide to re-install Miktex from > > scratch > > or something like that (I can't remember whether it actually does, but I > > didn't > > want to find out the hard way), I tried WinInstaller instead-- I thought it > > would be quicker. Because I hadn't used it before, I chose the "Small" > > variant. > > The WinInstaller webpage seems to say it won't try to re-install Miktex if > > it > > doesn't have to, but WinInstaller still decided it needed to update 100s of > > Miktex packages. From Germany! > > > > (I live in Australia. I have no idea where I last installed Miktex packages > > from, so I trusted the box that said "use same place as last time > > (Germany)?"... > > which it clearly) > > > > It's going to take about 5 hours, and there are scary warnings on this > > thread > > about what will happen if I just stop the process. This time, I'll probably > > be > > lucky: work pays for the download, it's morning so I don't need to turn the > > computer off overnight, and the connection probably won't go down over the > > 5-hour period. None of these need be true if I am at home (so I guess I will > > avoid WinInstaller altogether on my home machine). For something this slow, > > I > > don't think "just wait until it finishes" is OK advice. > > > > From what little I can remember of the last time I installed a new Lyx > > version > > with the standard installer, the whole process was much quicker, whether or > > not > > it actually did re-install Miktex. (It was still slow enough that I wanted > > an > > alternative that didn't fiddle with Miktex, but not this one...) > > > > So... some questions/requests! > > > > Is this extremely slow process going to happen again if I use WinInstaller > > in > > "update" mode next time? [Might be a bit faster if I chose a better mirror site, but not much I suspect] > > > > Is there any way to tell WinInstaller, "don't bother to update every single > > miktex package ever written-- I'll wait for that to happen during normal Lyx > > usage, if & when a package is actually needed"? [Since I already had a > > perfectly > > good Miktex installation for my Lyx needs.] [I'd still like to know...] > > > > Can the introductory documentation please warn that "just saying yes" is > > going > > to lead to an incredible delay? [Maybe it's there already, but it wasn't > > obvious > > to me.] [Still applies I think...] > > > > Again, I do appreciate the efforts, and probably there is something simple > > that > > the developers can do to fix it -- but I am currently wishing I hadn't used > > WinInstaller! > > But slow MikTeX update is not a WinInstaller fault, rather yours. You > do not switch MikTeX to CTAN mirror near you. It is always safe to do > that on every MikTeX update. This is a process implements by MikTeX > author, not any of LyX authors. > > -- > Manveru > jabber: [email protected] > gg: 1624001 > http://www.manveru.pl >
