1LYX(1) LyX 2.0.1 LYX(1)
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6 LyX - A Document Processor
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9 lyx [ command-line switches ] [ name[.lyx] ... ]
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12 LyX is too complex to be described completely in the "man" page format.
13 If your system is properly configured, you can access the full documen‐
14 tation within LyX under the Help menu.
15 LyX is a document preparation system. It excels at letting you create
17 complex technical and scientific articles with mathematics, cross-ref‐
18 erences, bibliographies, indices, etc. It is very good at documents of
19 any length in which the usual processing abilities are required: auto‐
20 matic sectioning and pagination, spellchecking, and so forth. It can
21 also be used to write a letter to your mom, though granted, there are
22 probably simpler programs available for that. It is definitely not the
23 best tool for creating banners, flyers, or advertisements, though with
24 some effort all these can be done, too. Some examples of what it is
25 used for: memos, letters, dissertations and theses, lecture notes, sem‐
26 inar notebooks, conference proceedings, software documentation, books
27 (on PostgreSQL, remote sensing, cryptology, fictional novels, poetry,
28 and even a children's book or two), articles in refereed scientific
29 journals, scripts for plays and movies, business proposals... you get
30 the idea.
31 Currently, LyX uses the Qt4 library as a toolkit. LyX should run every‐
33 where, where this library runs. This is on all major Unix platforms as
34 well as Windows and Mac OS X (which actually is a unix platform).
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37 LyX supports the following command-line switches.
38 -help summarizes LyX usage
40 -version
42 provides version information on the build of LyX.
43 -sysdir directory
45 sets system directory. Normally not needed.
46 -userdir directory
48 sets user directory. Needed if you want to use LyX with different
49 lyxrc settings.
50 -geometry WxH+X+Y
52 set geometry of the main window.
53 -dbg feature[,feature...]
55 where feature is a name or number. Use "lyx -dbg" to see the
56 list of available debug features.
57 -x [--execute] command
59 where command is a lyx command.
60 -e [--export] fmt
62 where fmt is the export format of choice. Look on Tools->Prefer‐
63 ences->File formats->Format to get an idea which parameters
64 should be passed. Note that the order of -e and -x switches mat‐
65 ters.
66 -i [--import] fmt file.xxx
68 where fmt is the import format of choice and file.xxx is the file
69 to be imported.
70 -f [--force-overwrite] what
72 where what is is either "all", "main" or "none". Specify "all"
73 to allow overwriting all files during a batch export, "main" to
74 allow overwriting the main file only, or "none" to disallow over‐
75 writing any file. When this switch is followed by anything else
76 other than "all", "main" or "none", the behavior is as if "all"
77 was specified, but what follows is left on the command line for
78 further processing.
79 -n [--no-remote]
81 open documents passed as arguments in a new instance, even if
82 another instance of LyX is already running.
83 -r [--remote]
85 by using the lyxpipe, ask an already running instance of LyX to
86 open the documents passed as arguments and then exit. If the lyx‐
87 pipe is not set up or is not working, a new instance is created
88 and execution continues normally.
89 -batch
91 causes LyX to run the given commands without opening a GUI win‐
92 dow. Thus, something like:
93 lyx -batch -x "buffer-print printer default dvips" myfile.lyx
94 will cause LyX to print myfile.lyx to the default printer, using
95 dvips and the default print settings (which, of course, have to
96 have been configured already).
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100 LYX_DIR_20x
101 can be used to specify which system directory to use.
102 The system directory is determined by searching for the file "chkcon‐
104 fig.ltx". Directories are searched in this order:
105 1) -sysdir command line parameter
106 2) LYX_DIR_20x environment variable
107 3) Maybe <path of binary>/TOP_SRCDIR/lib
108 4) <path of binary>/../share/<name of binary>/
109 5) hardcoded lyx_dir (at build time: /usr/share/lyx)
110 LYX_USERDIR_20x
112 can be used to specify which user directory to use.
113 The user directory is, in order of precedence:
115 1) -userdir command line parameter
116 2) LYX_USERDIR_20x environment variable
117 3) $HOME/.<name of binary> if no explicit setting is made
118 LYX_LOCALEDIR
121 can be used to tell LyX where to look for the translations of
122 its GUI strings in other languages.
123 LYX_FORCE_OVERWRITE
126 can be used to change the default behavior when exporting from
127 command line.
128 By default, LyX overwrites the main file when exporting from command
130 line but not the ancillary files. This behavior can be changed by set‐
131 ting this environment variable, which relieves the need of using the -f
132 switch. Allowed values are either "all", "main" or "none", with same
133 meaning as for the -f switch.
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136 ~/.lyx/preferences Personal configuration file
137 ~/.lyx/lyxrc.defaults Personal autodetected configuration file
138 LIBDIR/lyxrc.dist System wide configuration file
139 LIBDIR/configure.py Updates LyX if config has changed
140 LIBDIR/bind/ Keybindings
141 LIBDIR/clipart/ Clipart pictures
142 LIBDIR/doc/ Documentation in LyX format.
143 LIBDIR/examples/ Example documents
144 LIBDIR/images/ Images used as icons or in popups
145 LIBDIR/kbd/ Keyboard mappings
146 LIBDIR/layouts/ Layout descriptions
147 LIBDIR/templates/ Templates for documents
148 LIBDIR/tex/ Extra TeX files
149 LIBDIR is the system directory. This was at build time /usr/share/lyx.
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154 tex2lyx(1), latex(1).
155 Full documentation in either native LyX or postscript format.
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159 There are still some bugs in LyX. To report one, read if possible the
160 Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX. You'll find detailed
161 info on submitting bug reports there. If you can't do that, send
162 details to the LyX Developers mailing list lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org, or
163 use the LyX bug tracker at http://bugzilla.lyx.org/. Don't forget to
164 mention which version you are having problems with!
165 LaTeX import is still not perfect and may produce buggy *.lyx files.
167 Consult the tex2lyx documentation.
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171 LyX is Copyright (C) 1995 by Matthias Ettrich, 1995-2010 LyX Team
172Version 2.0.1 2011-08-31 LYX(1)