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LyX for Mac OS X

This is a HOWTO for LyX/Mac, a full-featured native implementation of LyX on the Mac OS X.

Download

LyX/Mac is available as a binary for Mac OS X 10.4 and later. (Note additional prerequisites below.) The download page is here.

For users who prefer emacs-like modifier key bindings, there is additional information on customizing these keys, including patched binary versions.

Mac

Prerequisite

You need a TeX installation. The easiest option is to use MacTeX. The .dmg file for a complete MacTeX installation is very large (> 1 GB), but it is a very complete distribution and installs right out of the box. MacTeX includes all the components necessary for TeX to work, and includes the bibliography managing program BibDesk.

Users with slower download speeds might want to download BasicTeX, a much smaller distribution, linked from the MacTeX page.

Useful Helper Programs

Previewers

LyX/Mac uses the system default viewers, and should require no configuration for PDF and HTML.

Spellcheckers

As of LyX/Mac 2.0, spellchecking support is included by default.

Bibtex tools

• BibDesk is a highly recommended tool for maintaining BibTeX databases. Other possibilities include JabRef, tkbibtex (used with Tcl/Tk Aqua) or its aquafied counterpart, AquaTkbibtex, respectively, and Endnote (used with scripts that convert Endnote citations to LaTeX citations).

Envelopes

To print envelopes, install envelope in /usr/local/bin and make it executable. While you're writing a letter in LyX, do File -> Export -> Custom -> ASCII and give envelope as the command; it will parse the address from the letter and print an envelope, including the USPS barcode.

OmniGraffle converter

OmniGraffle is a great software for creating diagrams under Mac OS X (in particular, it works very well with LaTeXiT so that you can easily insert math formulae into diagrams). As it doesn't have a command line mode, you can use an AppleScript in order to insert ".graffle" files directly into LyX.

• Put og-export.scpt somewhere on your disk (e.g. in $HOME/Library/Scripts/).
• In order to use it, go to LyX preferences, add an OmniGraffle file format (just type auto for the editor), and then add converters:
  • OmniGraffle -> PDF (ps2pdf) converter: osascript replace/with/path/to/og-export.scpt `pwd`/$$i `pwd`/$$o pdf
  • OmniGraffle -> EPS converter: osascript replace/with/path/to/og-export.scpt `pwd`/$$i `pwd`/$$o eps
  • OmniGraffle -> PNG converter: osascript replace/with/path/to/og-export.scpt $$i $$o png
• Note that currently, LyX doesn't work with OmniGraffle packages (e.g. diagrams including images). This problem will hopefully be solved in the future (see this bug for details).

Beyond basics

PdfSync

-- Please note that there are new instructions about reverse search in Additional Features Manual.

PdfSync is similar to reverse DVI search but is for the (now more common) method of directly producing pdf files. If you use the program Skim as your previewer you can COMAND-SHIFT-click in the previewed pdf file which causes the cursor to move to that point in LyX.

• In LyX > Preferences > File formats > PDF (pdflatex), enter open -a Skim.app $$i in the viewer setting. *Then* you need to click the Modify button, and then Save.
• In Skim > Preferences > Sync select LyX.
• Include \usepackage{pdfsync} in the preamble of your LyX files.

  Troubleshooting PdfSync

  Make sure that the .lyxpipe.in and .lyxpipe.out files do not exist when LyX is not running. (They are normally deleted when LyX quits, but if LyX crashes, they remain and prevent LyX from communicating with PDFView.) Their location can be found in LyX > Preferences > Paths.

Version Control

-- Please note that there are new instructions about version control in Additional Features Manual.

Version control is useful for managing large documents, or documents with multiple authors. In order to implement it, you need to have RCS (Revision Control System) installed. This is a standard part of Xcode. The simplest way to get version control working, is to install the Xcode Tools package contained on the OS X install DVD. See the Mac Version Control page for more information.

Interaction with X11.

Xfig or X-windows previewers like xdvi or gv can be used with LyX/Mac if you modify your ~/MacOSX/environment.plist file. For details, see the environment.plist page. Alternatively, you can change the viewer for postscript or dvi with DISPLAY=:0.0 gv or DISPLAY=:0.0 xdvi. Note that X11 must be running first for either of these to work.

DVI viewers

By default, LyX will generate PDF files. If for some reason you prefer to create and view DVI files, some set-up hints are provided on the Mac-DVI page.

Pipes

Name in Path Problem (JabRef)

Programs such as JabRef communicate with LyX via pipes, which are sometimes named incorrectly by default (e.g., they assume that the pipe is in a directory that has a space in its name, such as Application Support, but other programs often cannot deal with spaces in paths). You may need to fix the lyxpipe path in both LyX and JabRef in Mac OS X.

To fix the LyX pipe in JabRef, open JabRef and go to Preferences>External Programs and in "Path to LyX pipe" enter /Applications/LyX.app/Contents/Resources/lyxpipe. Close JabRef.

Then open LyX, go to LyX>Preferences>Paths, and in "LyXServer pipe" enter /Applications/LyX.app/Contents/Resources/lyxpipe. Reconfigure. Close LyX.

The next time you run LyX and JabRef, you should be able to push citations directly from your BibTeX bibliography in JabRef into LyX. If anything goes wrong, JabRef will return an error message, and you will have to redefine the pipe. You might try the following: (1) change the LyXServer path in LyX -> Preferences -> Paths back to ~/.lyx; (2) recreate the ~/.lyx directory by entering in a terminal session, "mkdir ~/.lyx"; and (3) restart LyX.

Known issues

1. Due to limitations in the Qt/Mac library, interface languages other than English modify the organization of the toolbar menus and it may not be possible to directly enter some special characters into the document preamble (you can copy them to the preamble).

Please report any other bugs to the appropriate LyX mailing list. A web gateway is also available.

The information on this page is believed to be accurate, has been used successfully on many systems and sites, and has benefited from the comments and suggestions of many users. Due to the variations in individual systems, this information and the various files and code available on this page are conveyed as is with no warranty of any kind.

More information

This group contains the following pages:

Categories

Mac JabRef lyxpipe TeX