Annotation of latex_in_netbsd.mdwn, revision 1.1
1.1 ! jdf 1: # Latex in NetBSD
! 2:
! 3: [LaTeX](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX) is a typesetting system, most famous
! 4: for its use in scientific environments.
! 5:
! 6: Especially when you need mathematical formulas or complicated diagrams, or you
! 7: want to generate documents automatically, Latex is a very good choice.
! 8:
! 9: It is much more difficult to use than Office, and you have to expect to learn
! 10: much before you can use it, and to consult a web search or a good book often if
! 11: you want to use it. So if you just want to type a few letters, you are probably
! 12: better off using some Office suite which is intuitively usable.
! 13:
! 14: This tutorial is about using Latex on NetBSD. If you want to learn Latex, you
! 15: should either go to a Latex course or introduction, or read a book about it
! 16: (there is a [good one](http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX) available on
! 17: Wikibooks, though it is imho rather good as a reference than a tutorial).
! 18:
! 19: ## Installing Latex
! 20:
! 21: If you want to use Latex, you should at least install the package
! 22: `tex-latex-bin`. Then you have the minimal definitions you need for compiling
! 23: primitive Latex files.
! 24:
! 25: ## Installing additional packages from pkgsrc
! 26:
! 27: Latex in NetBSD is split into several small packages, each providing one more
! 28: Latex packages If you want to use Latex, you don't have to do much.
! 29:
! 30: For each package, there's usually also a package with the same name, but `-doc`
! 31: appended, which is the documentation for the package. So you can install each
! 32: package without its documentation.
! 33:
! 34: If you want to install further files, you should search on
! 35: [pkgsrc.se](http://pkgsrc.se) for the files. Entering the search terms and
! 36: "latex" will usually find the appropriate result.
! 37:
! 38: ### Example: amsmath
! 39:
! 40: I've just been looking for the `amsmath` package I use for some mathematical
! 41: formula markup. So I did (using binary packages):
! 42:
! 43: $ pkgin search amsmath
! 44: tex-amsmath-doc-2.13pl26389 Documentation for tex-amsmath
! 45: tex-amsmath-2.13nb2 = AMS mathematical facilities for LaTeX
! 46:
! 47: =: package is installed and up-to-date
! 48: <: package is installed but newer version is available
! 49: >: installed package has a greater version than available package
! 50:
! 51: Here you see there is the normal package (`tex-amsmath-2.13nb2`), and the
! 52: documentation package (`tex-amsmath-doc-2.13pl26389`). As I have a good internet
! 53: connection in the university, I don't need the local documentation, and I only
! 54: install the `tex-amsmath` package:
! 55:
! 56: $ pkgin install tex-amsmath
! 57: calculating dependencies... done.
! 58:
! 59: nothing to upgrade.
! 60: 1 packages to be installed: tex-amsmath-2.13nb2 (0B to download, 174K to
! 61: install)
! 62:
! 63: proceed ? [Y/n]
! 64: downloading packages...
! 65: installing packages...
! 66: installing tex-amsmath-2.13nb2...
! 67: pkg_install warnings: 1, errors: 0
! 68: pkg_install error log can be found in /var/db/pkgin/pkg_install-err.log
! 69: reading local summary...
! 70: processing local summary...
! 71: updating database: 100%
! 72: marking tex-amsmath-2.13nb2 as non auto-removable
! 73:
! 74: ## Installing additional packages by hand
! 75:
! 76: You will come across some smaller packages that are not available in pkgsrc. But
! 77: there are also ways to install a package local (e.g., in your home directory),
! 78: without interfering with the package management.
! 79:
! 80: The major resource for documents installed in your home is `~/texmf/`, where you
! 81: put your own Latex classes. For system-wide files, `/usr/pkg/share/texmf-dist/`
! 82: is the major resource.
! 83:
! 84: So if you found a package (e.g., on [CTAN](http://www.ctan.org), a major
! 85: resource for Latex files), you unpack it and put the files in one of these
! 86: directories, depending on whether you want them only for one user or for all
! 87: users on the system.
! 88:
! 89: For all filetypes, there are special subdirectories of these (along many other
! 90: paths). You can find them using the tool `kpsepath` (part of `kpathsea`).
! 91:
! 92: In my case, I wanted to use `alphadin`, a package for having German-styled
! 93: citation references. So I went to
! 94: [CTAN](http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive//bibliography/bibtex/contrib/german/din1505),
! 95: downloaded the package, and unpacked it:
! 96:
! 97: $ unzip din1505.zip
! 98: Archive: din1505.zip
! 99: creating: din1505/
! 100: extracting: din1505/abbrvdin.bst
! 101: extracting: din1505/alphadin.bst
! 102: extracting: din1505/plaindin.bst
! 103: extracting: din1505/unsrtdin.bst
! 104: extracting: din1505/natdin.bst
! 105: extracting: din1505/natbib.cfg
! 106: extracting: din1505/leitbild3.pdf
! 107: extracting: din1505/leitbild.bib
! 108: extracting: din1505/normpatsoft.pdf
! 109:
! 110:
! 111: Running `kpsepath` showed that the directory to install the contained `.bst`
! 112: files was `~/texmf/bibtex/bst`:
! 113:
! 114: $ kpsepath bst
! 115: .:/home/gnrp/.texlive2012/texmf-config/bibtex/bst//:/home/gnrp/.texlive2012/texmf-var/bibtex/bst//:/home/gnrp/texmf/bibtex/bst//:!!/usr/pkg/etc/texmf/bibtex/bst//:!!/var/lib/texmf/bibtex/bst//:!!/usr/pkg/share/texmf/bibtex/bst//:!!/usr/pkg/share/texmf-local/bibtex/bst//:!!/usr/pkg/share/texmf-dist/bibtex/bst//:/home/gnrp/.texlive2012/texmf-config/bibtex/csf//:/home/gnrp/.texlive2012/texmf-var/bibtex/csf//:/home/gnrp/texmf/bibtex/csf//:!!/usr/pkg/etc/texmf/bibtex/csf//:!!/var/lib/texmf/bibtex/csf//:!!/usr/pkg/share/texmf/bibtex/csf//:!!/usr/pkg/share/texmf-local/bibtex/csf//:!!/usr/pkg/share/texmf-dist/bibtex/csf//
! 116:
! 117: So I moved the files to `~/texmf/bibtex/bst`:
! 118:
! 119: $ cd din1505/
! 120: $ mv *.bst ~/texmf/bibtex/bst
! 121:
! 122: Afterwards, compiling everything worked fine.
! 123:
! 124: ## Useful packages
! 125:
! 126: For writing my Bachelor's thesis, I used the following packages. Some of them
! 127: are very basic and are generally useful for many purposes, but especially for
! 128: scientific documents, they are useful:
! 129:
! 130: * `tex-babel`
! 131: * `tex-amsmath`
! 132: * `tex-amscls`
! 133: * `tex-stmaryrd`
! 134: * `tex-microtype`
! 135: * `tex-oberdiek`
! 136: * `tex-bibtex` -- [BibTeX](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibtex) is a system to
! 137: handle citations in a document.
! 138:
! 139: ## Editors
! 140:
! 141: If you don't want to hassle learning Latex, but still use its powerful
! 142: typesetting, or some other specifics (such as the formulas), you can use the
! 143: software LyX (editors/lyx), which creates Latex documents with
! 144: a WYSIWYG (or rather, WYSIWYM) interface. Even if you can write Latex, you
! 145: should have a look at it -- it's a very mighty tool sometimes making your work
! 146: much easier.
! 147:
! 148: When it comes to editors, there are several different ones, each with its own
! 149: specific strength. Many people use just plain vi or vim, which I did in the
! 150: beginning as well. But then, I found `geany` (devel/geany), which is an IDE
! 151: originally, but also serves for coding Latex. It is a lightweight, but also
! 152: minimalistic tool for writing Latex code.
! 153:
! 154: Another very popular tool is `kile` (editors/kile), which has many features, and
! 155: also is part of KDE, but a bit too much for some of my older computers (where I
! 156: don't install KDE because of disk space issues).
! 157:
! 158: ## Workflow
! 159:
! 160: When using Latex, you have the full set of tools available which are usually
! 161: used for software development. There are two major ideas that are very handy for
! 162: using Latex: Version control systems and Makefiles.
! 163:
! 164: ### Makefiles
! 165:
! 166: For some specific tasks, you have to build a Latex file several times, and in a
! 167: specific order. E.g., when you want to have the table of contents, and bibtex
! 168: work correctly, you have to call Latex three times, and bibtex after the first
! 169: run. So instead of typing `latex ba.tex` three times, or always using your
! 170: cursor keys to get
! 171: `latex ba.tex; bibtex ba; latex ba.tex; latex ba.tex`,
! 172: you could also put everything in a Makefile:
! 173:
! 174: $ cat Makeba
! 175: all:
! 176: pdflatex ba.tex
! 177: bibtex ba
! 178: pdflatex ba.tex
! 179: pdflatex ba.tex
! 180:
! 181: So when you call `make` in the directory of your Latex file now, all these
! 182: commands will be called one after the other, and you don't have to care for the
! 183: order afterwards anymore -- this is handled in the Makefile now.
! 184:
! 185: ### Version control systems
! 186:
! 187: When developing software, people often use
! 188: [version control systems (VCS)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Version_control_system):
! 189: This text is not an introduction to VCSes, where you should definetly consider a
! 190: tutorial or a book, but about how to use them with Latex.
! 191:
! 192: I personally use
! 193: [fossil](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_(software))
! 194: (devel/fossil) because it provides also an integrated webserver and a GUI you
! 195: use in your web browser, while most people currently prefer
! 196: [git](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Git_(software))
! 197: (devel/scmgit). The commands are nearly 1:1 usable by replacing
! 198: `fossil` by `git`, but you should learn how to use your own VCS anyway.
! 199:
! 200: So, when I start a project with Latex, I create the directory, and then a fossil
! 201: repository in it:
! 202:
! 203: $ mkdir ba
! 204: $ cd ba
! 205: $ fossil new repo.fossil
! 206: project-id: 0e8cff7588381fbd87525d2dddc9359e3b9717a5
! 207: server-id: 194b4ed5e1c17724009d038b6bbcd0c44cc3aed7
! 208: admin-user: gnrp (initial password is "660930")
! 209: $ fossil open repo.fossil
! 210: $ vi Makefile
! 211: $ vi ba.tex
! 212: $ vi ba.bib
! 213: ...[Writing content to these three files]...
! 214: $ fossil add ba.tex ba.bib Makefile
! 215: $ fossil commit
! 216:
! 217: And commit them for the first time.
! 218: Now, all you have to do is to do a `fossil commit` everytime you finish some
! 219: work, or want to synchronise the documents between computers.
! 220: If you should by accident delete a file, you can recover it from the version
! 221: control system. Or if you notice you deleted a paragraph long ago, but you still
! 222: need it, you can use the VCS to check which version it was in and then recover
! 223: it from that version.
! 224:
! 225: Learning how to use a VCS *really* helps in working in a more secure manner, and
! 226: being able to recover from errors or for looking at the progress of the project
! 227: (when you use fossil, start a fossil gui by `fossil ui` and then look at the
! 228: *Timeline*).
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