1LYX(1) LyX 1.5 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.
63 -i [--import] fmt file.xxx
65 where fmt is the import format of choice and file.xxx is the file
66 to be imported.
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70 LYX_DIR_15x
71 can be used to specify which system directory to use.
72 The system directory is determined by searching for the file "chkcon‐
74 fig.ltx". Directories are searched in this order:
75 1) -sysdir command line parameter
76 2) LYX_DIR_15x environment variable
77 3) Maybe <path of binary>/TOP_SRCDIR/lib
78 4) <path of binary>/../share/<name of binary>/
79 5) hardcoded lyx_dir (usually /usr/local/share/lyx on UNIX)
80 LYX_USERDIR_15x
82 can be used to specify which user directory to use.
83 The user directory is, in order of precedence:
85 1) -userdir command line parameter
86 2) LYX_USERDIR_15x environment variable
87 3) $HOME/.<name of binary> if no explicit setting is made
88 LYX_LOCALEDIR
91 can be used to tell LyX where to look for the translations of
92 its GUI strings in other languages.
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95 ~/.lyx/preferences Personal configuration file
96 ~/.lyx/lyxrc.defaults Personal autodetected configuration file
97 LIBDIR/lyxrc.dist System wide configuration file
98 LIBDIR/configure.py Updates LyX if config has changed
99 LIBDIR/bind/ Keybindings
100 LIBDIR/clipart/ Clipart pictures
101 LIBDIR/doc/ Documentation in LyX format.
102 LIBDIR/examples/ Example documents
103 LIBDIR/images/ Images used as icons or in popups
104 LIBDIR/kbd/ Keyboard mappings
105 LIBDIR/layouts/ Layout descriptions
106 LIBDIR/templates/ Templates for documents
107 LIBDIR/tex/ Extra TeX files
108 LIBDIR is the system directory. This is usually /usr/local/share/lyx on
110 UNIX.
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113 tex2lyx(1), latex(1).
114 Full documentation in either native LyX or postscript format.
116
118 There are still some bugs in LyX. To report one, read if possible the
119 Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX. You'll find detailed
120 info on submitting bug reports there. If you can't do that, send
121 details to the LyX Developers mailing list lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org, or
122 use the LyX bug tracker at http://bugzilla.lyx.org/. Don't forget to
123 mention which version you are having problems with!
124 LaTeX import is still not perfect and may produce buggy *.lyx files.
126 Consult the tex2lyx documentation.
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130 LyX is Copyright (C) 1995 by Matthias Ettrich, 1995-2008 LyX Team
131Version 1.5 Feb 2007 LYX(1)