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One page including all pages with Frequently Asked Questions

This page is intended to help you look at, and search in, all the text of the frequently asked questions. In order to actually edit the contents, you will have to go to the corresponding FAQ-page.

Please note that not all pages in the FAQ-group are actually included below. The PageList should contain a list of all pages in this group.

Table of contents (hide)

1. The Basic Concepts
1. 1.1 What is LyX?
2. 1.2 That's fine, but is it useful?
3. 1.3 Where do I start?
4. 1.4 Does LyX run on my computer?
5. 1.5 How much hard disk space does LyX need?
6. 1.6 Is LyX Open Source?
7. 1.7 TeX
8. 1.8 LaTeX
9. 1.9 LyX
10. 1.10 Can LyX be used to edit LaTeX files?
11. 1.11 Can I read/write Word files?
12. 1.12 Can I read/write HTML files?
13. 1.13 Someone talked about an lfun, what is that?
14. 1.14 What is the minibuffer?
15. 1.15 What is ERT?
16. 1.16 Harvard style
17. 1.17 MLA style
18. 1.18 APA style
19. 1.19 Footnote / Endnote style?
2. Getting Started
1. 2.1 What do I need for compilation?
2. 2.2 How do I compile it?
3. 2.3 I hate compiling. Where are precompiled binaries?
4. 2.4 Known problems
5. 2.5 Other dependencies
3. Platform-specific Questions
1. 3.1 How can I use LyX on Linux?
2. 3.2 How can I use LyX in Windows?
3. 3.3 How do I install LyX on Mac OS X?
4. 3.4 How can I use LyX on OS X?
4. Getting Help
1. 4.1 You still haven't answered my question!
2. 4.2 I want to mail someone about my problem.
3. 4.3 What to put in a request for help.
4. 4.4 The developers asked my to provide a backtrace. What's that?
5. 4.5 The developers asked me to provide a profile. How?
6. 4.6 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for LyX stuff?
7. 4.7 Where can I get LyX material by FTP?
8. 4.8 What mailing lists are there?
9. 4.9 Terminology
10. 4.10 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
11. 4.11 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
12. 4.12 Replying to someone else's article
13. 4.13 Signature
14. 4.14 Tips
15. 4.15 Netiquette
16. 4.16 Links
17. 4.17 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
5. Using LyX: Questions on Specific Tasks
1. 5.1 Terminology
2. 5.2 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
3. 5.3 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
4. 5.4 Replying to someone else's article
5. 5.5 Signature
6. 5.6 Tips
7. 5.7 Netiquette
8. 5.8 Links
9. 5.9 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
10. 5.10 Terminology
11. 5.11 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
12. 5.12 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
13. 5.13 Replying to someone else's article
14. 5.14 Signature
15. 5.15 Tips
16. 5.16 Netiquette
17. 5.17 Links
18. 5.18 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
19. 5.19 Terminology
20. 5.20 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
21. 5.21 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
22. 5.22 Replying to someone else's article
23. 5.23 Signature
24. 5.24 Tips
25. 5.25 Netiquette
26. 5.26 Links
27. 5.27 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
28. 5.28 Terminology
29. 5.29 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
30. 5.30 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
31. 5.31 Replying to someone else's article
32. 5.32 Signature
33. 5.33 Tips
34. 5.34 Netiquette
35. 5.35 Links
36. 5.36 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
37. 5.37 Terminology
38. 5.38 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
39. 5.39 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
40. 5.40 Replying to someone else's article
41. 5.41 Signature
42. 5.42 Tips
43. 5.43 Netiquette
44. 5.44 Links
45. 5.45 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
46. 5.46 Terminology
47. 5.47 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
48. 5.48 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
49. 5.49 Replying to someone else's article
50. 5.50 Signature
51. 5.51 Tips
52. 5.52 Netiquette
53. 5.53 Links
54. 5.54 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
55. 5.55 Terminology
56. 5.56 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
57. 5.57 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
58. 5.58 Replying to someone else's article
59. 5.59 Signature
60. 5.60 Tips
61. 5.61 Netiquette
62. 5.62 Links
63. 5.63 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
64. 5.64 Terminology
65. 5.65 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
66. 5.66 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
67. 5.67 Replying to someone else's article
68. 5.68 Signature
69. 5.69 Tips
70. 5.70 Netiquette
71. 5.71 Links
72. 5.72 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
73. 5.73 Terminology
74. 5.74 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
75. 5.75 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
76. 5.76 Replying to someone else's article
77. 5.77 Signature
78. 5.78 Tips
79. 5.79 Netiquette
80. 5.80 Links
81. 5.81 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
82. 5.82 How can I make the whole document ragged right?
83. 5.83 How do I avoid hyphenation globally?
84. 5.84 How do I avoid hyphenation for a specific region of my document?
85. 5.85 How do I avoid hyphenation for specific words?
86. 5.86 How do I kill widows and orphans?
87. 5.87 How can I write the symbol for the set of real numbers?
88. 5.88 How can I typeset units? (SI units for instance)
89. 5.89 How do I get a proper tilde-character? (~)
90. 5.90 How do I get a superscript/subscript in the text?
91. 5.91 Terminology
92. 5.92 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
93. 5.93 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
94. 5.94 Replying to someone else's article
95. 5.95 Signature
96. 5.96 Tips
97. 5.97 Netiquette
98. 5.98 Links
99. 5.99 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
100. 5.100 Terminology
101. 5.101 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
102. 5.102 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
103. 5.103 Replying to someone else's article
104. 5.104 Signature
105. 5.105 Tips
106. 5.106 Netiquette
107. 5.107 Links
108. 5.108 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
109. 5.109 Terminology
110. 5.110 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
111. 5.111 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
112. 5.112 Replying to someone else's article
113. 5.113 Signature
114. 5.114 Tips
115. 5.115 Netiquette
116. 5.116 Links
117. 5.117 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
118. 5.118 Terminology
119. 5.119 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
120. 5.120 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
121. 5.121 Replying to someone else's article
122. 5.122 Signature
123. 5.123 Tips
124. 5.124 Netiquette
125. 5.125 Links
126. 5.126 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
6. Customizing LyX
1. 6.1 Terminology
2. 6.2 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
3. 6.3 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
4. 6.4 Replying to someone else's article
5. 6.5 Signature
6. 6.6 Tips
7. 6.7 Netiquette
8. 6.8 Links
9. 6.9 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
10. 6.10 Terminology
11. 6.11 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
12. 6.12 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
13. 6.13 Replying to someone else's article
14. 6.14 Signature
15. 6.15 Tips
16. 6.16 Netiquette
17. 6.17 Links
18. 6.18 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
7. Technical Details
1. 7.1 Terminology
2. 7.2 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
3. 7.3 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
4. 7.4 Replying to someone else's article
5. 7.5 Signature
6. 7.6 Tips
7. 7.7 Netiquette
8. 7.8 Links
9. 7.9 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
10. 7.10 Terminology
11. 7.11 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
12. 7.12 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
13. 7.13 Replying to someone else's article
14. 7.14 Signature
15. 7.15 Tips
16. 7.16 Netiquette
17. 7.17 Links
18. 7.18 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
19. 7.19 Terminology
20. 7.20 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)
21. 7.21 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?
22. 7.22 Replying to someone else's article
23. 7.23 Signature
24. 7.24 Tips
25. 7.25 Netiquette
26. 7.26 Links
27. 7.27 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting
8. Unsorted FAQs

1. The Basic Concepts

(from LyX) General information about the LyX application

§1.1 What is LyX?

LyX is a program that provides a more modern approach to writing documents with a computer, an approach that breaks with the obsolete tradition of the "typewriter concept." It is designed for authors who want professional output quickly with a minimum of effort without becoming specialists in typesetting. The job of typesetting is done mostly by the computer, not the author; with LyX, the author can concentrate on the contents of her writing.

LyX provides an "almost-WYSIWYG" view of the document. "Almost" means that the line and page breaks are not displayed exactly as they will appear in the printed document. However, that's not really necessary, since LyX uses a separate typesetter program (called LaTeX) to perform the final formatting of your text (alternatively, but less well integrated, LyX can also use DocBook instead of LaTeX). While LyX contains everything it needs to be a comfortable user interface, the typesetting program contains everything necessary to format text, and do so very, very well.

So, line and page breaks aren't your problem anymore. Remembering which number to use for the next subsection isn't your problem anymore. Recalling what font you used for all of your section headings isn't your problem anymore. You tell LyX (and LaTeX) what kind of document you're editing and what type of paragraph this-or-that text is, the computer can typeset it accordingly. Of course you can also still do some low-level formatting for fine-tuning. However, the proper way with LyX is to tell the computer what the text is, not what it should look like. So, we like to say that LyX gives you WYSIWYM editing (What You See Is What You Mean).

§1.2 That's fine, but is it useful?

Absolutely. The following type of documents have been produced with LyX (see also this page):

Memos
Letters
Dissertations (260 pages in a single document, longer using include files)
- for example, [1]
Presentation slides
Lecture notes (133 pages, 27 figures on a 33 MHz 486 machine!)
Seminar notebooks (500+ pages)
Conference proceedings (e.g., Proceedings of the Second Continental Workshop on the Geoid in Europe, (Finnish Geodetic Institute Report 98:4), 292 pages)
Software Documentation (the LyX User Guide is about 150 pages)
Books
- see [2] for an example on PostgreSQL
- Donnay, J-P., Barnsley, M.J., and Longley, P.A., eds., 2001, Remote Sensing and Urban Analysis (Taylor and Francis: London).
- Herbert Voss: Praktische Kryptologie mit Java 286 pages, lots of equations, tables, figures. ISBN 3-8311-1458-7
- Yann Collette and Patrick Siarry, Optimisation multiobjectifs, 2002, Eyrolles
- Johann Dr�o and Alain P�trowsky and Eric Taillard and Patrick Siarry, M�taheuristiques pour l'optimisation difficile, 2003, Eyrolles
Papers published in the following refereed journals:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics (Suetterlin, P. 1998, A&A, 333, 305; Suetterlin, P. & Wiehr, E. 1998, A&A, 336, 367)
- Astronomical Journal (Ressler, M. E. & Barsony, M. 2001, AJ, 121, 1098)
Novels (400+ page novel due out in September 2000; an 836 page novel is currently with an agent)
Scripts for plays and movies
Business proposals for > $1 M (US)

§1.3 Where do I start?

The project's website (http://www.lyx.org) is the first place to go for anything related to LyX. News, examples, downloads, and lots of other stuff is available there. After you have installed LyX and started it the first time, read the Tutorial (Help->Tutorial). Yes, I really mean that.

Other basic introductory guides may be found at the Tutorials site on this wiki.

§1.4 Does LyX run on my computer?

LyX is known to run on the following platforms:

Linux
Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7; there's also a CygWin version available)
Mac OS X
SparcLinux
Sun Solaris
Tru64 Unix
HP-UX
OSF1 flore V4.0 1091 alpha
OS/2

§1.5 How much hard disk space does LyX need?

(Information outdated!)

The LyX binary consumes about 2.0 MB of disk space, while the supporting files occupy another 12.6 MB (9.1 MB of which is consumed by the docs! You can delete the languages you don't care about to save some space). Of course, you do need to have a LaTeX-compiler, e.g. TeXLive or MikTeX, installed. This consumes about 115 MB, as well as ghostscript, which is another 10 MB!

§1.6 Is LyX Open Source?

Yes. LyX is distributed under the GNU GPL.

FAQ

(from LaTeX)

What is LaTeX?

Leslie Lamport created LaTeX as a structured, high-level interface to TeX. Technically, LaTeX is a large macro package that loads on top of TeX. An advantage of using LaTeX instead of "plain" TeX is that LaTeX takes care of many stylistic details automatically; also, many people have written add-on packages for LaTeX that solve common typesetting problems. In particular, the American Mathematical Society has sponsored the development of a package named "amsmath" that simplifies the typesetting of complicated mathematical expressions.

(from TeX)

What is TeX?

Donald E. Knuth, a mathematician and computer scientist, developed the TeX typesetting system "for the creation of beautiful books--and especially for books that contain a lot of mathematics." His brilliant work was a resounding success, and some variant of TeX is now used by most professional mathematicians. If you pick a random mathematics book published in the last five years, the chances are good that it was formatted with TeX.

Also see LaTeX.

FAQ

(from Pronunciation)

And how are those weird names pronounced?

§1.7 TeX

The FAQ of the TeX User Group (TUG) says:

The 'X' is "really" the Greek letter Chi, and is pronounced by English-speakers either a bit like the 'ch' in the Scots word 'loch' ([x] in the IPA) or like 'k'. It definitely is not pronounced 'ks' (the Greek letter with that sound doesn't look remotely like the Latin alphabet 'X').

§1.8 LaTeX

The FAQ of the TeX User Group (TUG) says:

Lamport never recommended how one should pronounce LaTeX, but a lot of people pronounce it 'Lay TeX', 'Lay Tech' or perhaps 'Lah TeX' (with TeX pronounced as the program itself; see the rules for TeX). It is definitely not to be pronounced in the same way as the rubber-tree gum.
The 'epsilon' in 'LaTeX2e' is supposed to be suggestive of a small improvement over the old LaTeX 2.09. Nevertheless, most people pronounce the name as 'LaTeX-two-ee'.

§1.9 LyX

As you can see in this thread and this one, there's no real consensus. Proposals from the developers include:

[liks] to rhyme with "Weetabix" (John)
"try to make the 'eeeee' sound a bit more like 'yyyyy' [...] You english speaking cretins are not able to hear the difference between 'LyX' and 'Licks'" (Lars).
"L�ks with short � (that is in IPA). I've heard "Liks" with short "i", too." (Andr�)

Proposals from users include:

Since it's written in C++, home of the dangling memory pointer, maybe "leaks"? (Paul)

Some consensus is:

The 'X' is (not) pronounced as a Chi as in TeX and LaTeX.
It's not pronounced "Throatwobbler Mangrove".

The "official truth", according to the Wikipedia:

LyX was original going to be named Lyrix; so
most likely it should be pronounced like the English word "licks".

Conclusion:

"Find something you are comfortable with and use that." (Lars)

Threads where this was discussed:

FAQ

(from Compatibility)

Compatibility with other word/document processors

§1.10 Can LyX be used to edit LaTeX files?

Not directly, no. LyX is not a LaTeX editor in that sense, the way TeXShop or Kile or emacs is, and you cannot directly edit the LaTeX source that LyX produces from within LyX itself (though you can see it, by opening the View>Source pane).

Rather, LyX uses its own internal file format, which it converts to LaTeX as necessary. From LyX's point of view, then, LaTeX is just one among many output formats that it can produce, though it is, of course, a particularly important one. Other such formats include DocBook, plain text, and (as of LyX 2.0) XHTML. (And these can in turn be converted to yet other formats, of course.)

If you have a LaTeX file you want to edit in LyX, that file can be imported (File>Import>LaTeX) or converted from the command line using the tex2lyx program that comes with LyX. It's not perfect, but it will usually do a pretty good job importing your file, and then you can clean it up manually.

So, in a sense, LyX can be used to edit LaTeX files. The LaTeX files that LyX produces are both machine and human friendly, and they can be edited as usual. The resulting file can then re-imported. That said, the limitations of tex2lyx make perfect "round trip" editing impossible in most cases. So, again, LyX is not a LaTeX editor.

§1.11 Can I read/write Word files?

Yes, but not trivially. See ImportExport for more information.

§1.12 Can I read/write HTML files?

Yes, with varying degrees of success. See ImportExport for more information.

Compatibility MSWord HTML Import Export FAQ

(from Terminology) LyX-internal Slang and Terminology

§1.13 Someone talked about an lfun, what is that?

It's an abbreviation of LyX function. Lfuns are used internally by LyX (the internal parts of LyX use those functions to communicate), it can be used by external programs (such as JabRef) to communicate with LyX (e.g. to insert a citation from an external bibliography manager), but you can also insert them yourself via the minibuffer.

See this site for more information.

§1.14 What is the minibuffer?

The minibuffer is a small input widget that is sometimes visible at the bottom of the LyX main window (you can open and close it with Alt+X).

The minibuffer is an expert tool to directly pass LyX Functions (lfuns) to LyX, which might be faster than using dialogs, provided that you know the functions.

See this site for more information.

§1.15 What is ERT?

The acronym ERT (Evil Red Text) refers to raw LaTeX commands inserted into the body of your LyX document. In historical versions of LyX, ERT appeared in the user interface alongside regular text as red characters.

"ERT" was coined on the developers mailing list by Larry Marso, who advocated an embedded raw LaTeX inset to hide raw LaTeX, and thus, to present a cleaner LyX user interface for complex documents. (see "A Brief History of ERT", LDN, March 15, 2000).

Recent LyX version have a so-called ERT inset, also known as TeX Mode. This is the inset you use if you need/want to insert native (La)TeX commands (via Insert→TeX Code). You might notice that this object in fact still displays "ERT" on its label as long as it has no content.

Especially the old-timers often simply speak of "ERT" when they mean raw LaTeX.

See ERT for more information.

FAQ Terminology

(from CitingLyxWebSite)

How to cite LyX?

§1.16 Harvard style

Examples: http://www.ils.salford.ac.uk/help/userguides/general/bibcit.pdf(approve sites)

LyX - The Document Processor [online], Available: http://www.lyx.org/ (Accessed 16 Feb. 2003)

§1.17 MLA style

Examples: http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/find/citation/mla.html

LyX - The Document Processor. Feb. 2003., 16 Feb. 2003, <http://www.lyx.org/>

§1.18 APA style

Examples: http://wwwlib.murdoch.edu.au/find/citation/apa.html

LyX - The Document Processor. Retrieved February 16, 2003, from http://www.lyx.org/.

Example of BibTeX entry:

@MISC{ LyX,
        title = {{LyX 1.6.1 - The Document Processor [Computer software and manual]}},                                                                                      
        author = {{The LyX Team}},
        howpublished = {Internet: http://www.lyx.org},
        year = {2009},
        note = {Retrieved February 16, 2009, from http://www.lyx.org},
        url = {http://www.lyx.org/}
}

§1.19 Footnote / Endnote style?

This refers to footnote/endnote as outlined in the "Chicago Manual of Style", suitable for the social sciences
Examples: http://libguides.murdoch.edu.au/Chicago(approve sites)

LyX - The Document Processor. [online] Feb. 2003. <http://www.lyx.org/>. Accessed 16 Feb. 2003.

FAQ Citation

2. Getting Started

(from Obtaining)

Obtaining and compiling LyX

§2.1 What do I need for compilation?

LyX source code: lyx-1.x.x.tar.gz
Get it here
The remaining requirements may be details you don't need to worry about, if your operating system distribution will arrange for them all in one go. For instance, see the Ubuntu compilation instructions for how to ensure that all dependencies are ready for compiling. Otherwise, you will somehow also need to ensure you have:

* QT 4 library: using the latest version available is recommended.

* A modern C++ compiler. If you are using gcc, LyX requires at least version 3.x.

§2.2 How do I compile it?

./configure
make
make install (usually as root, though you don't have to be if you add flags to the configure command)

See the INSTALL file for more details.

§2.3 I hate compiling. Where are precompiled binaries?

Binaries for Windows and Mac OS X are provided at the LyX homepage.

For more info, see

the Windows pages and
the Mac pages on this wiki.

Linux binaries are usually provided by the Linux distributions. For more info, see

the Linux pages on this wiki.

§2.4 Known problems

SuSE 8.2 ships a buggy prerelease of gcc 3.3 which fails compiling LyX. You have to upgrade to gcc 3.3.1 final (there's an update available from SuSE at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/gcc/8.2 or ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/ftp.suse.com/projects/gcc/8.2). Please read the README, since C++ programs compiled with this compiler might not run on stock 8.2 installs.
Exactly the same applies for SuSE 8.1 and gcc 3.2, you can find updated compilers at ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/projects/gcc/8.1 or ftp://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/linux/suse/ftp.suse.com/projects/gcc/8.1.

§2.5 Other dependencies

Except compilation dependencies you need other packages to have LyX working properly. You may be able to get Lyx installed, but the ability to convert may not be there. Look here.

FAQ Install

(from SurprisedForNewUsers ?)

3. Platform-specific Questions

from Linux)

Questions Related to LyX on Linux

§3.1 How can I use LyX on Linux?

LyX is available via the package manager of most distributions, including all the most widely used ones. So installing LyX on your flavor of Linux is probably fairly simple. The Linux pages on this wiki contain additional information on installing the latest and greatest version of LyX on your favorite Linux distribution.

The other option, obviously, is to compile LyX yourself, and this tends to be fairly straightforward on Linux. There is more information on compiling LyX elsewhere on the wiki.

FAQ Linux

from Windows)

Questions Related to LyX on Windows

§3.2 How can I use LyX in Windows?

Go to the Windows pages on this wiki where you'll find pages describing how to install the latest and greatest version of LyX on Windows.

FAQ Windows

from Mac)

Questions Related to LyX on Apple Mac OS X

§3.3 How do I install LyX on Mac OS X?

Here is a compact HowTo

§3.4 How can I use LyX on OS X?

Go to the Mac pages on this wiki where you'll find some hints about getting LyX up and running on Mac OS X.

FAQ Mac

4. Getting Help

(from FurtherHelp)

How to get further assistance

§4.1 You still haven't answered my question!

Then RTFM, especially the Tutorial. The documentation really is quite good.

There are also numerous example files included with LyX. Try File→Open→Examples.

If you think your problem may be LaTeX related, then look in LaTeX, A Document Preparation System, 2nd Ed. by Leslie Lamport (1994) or The LaTeX Companion, 2nd Ed. by Frank Mittelbach et al. (2004).

Furthermore, for LaTeX related questions, there is an excellent newsgroup comp.text.tex, which is archived ([3]). There are also numerous LaTeX FAQ's and other resources on the web (we especially recommend The TeX Users Group FAQ).

For LyX related questions, a search in the lyx-users or lyx-devel mail archives is often helpful, also remember that google is your friend (TM).

§4.2 I want to mail someone about my problem.

Send email to the LyX Users list lyx-users@lists.lyx.org. If LyX is actually crashing or otherwise non-functional, then try the developers' list at lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org.

§4.3 What to put in a request for help.

Include your version of LyX and a description of what you are trying to do, along with evidence that you've actually read the docs. Also, please send a minimal example.

If LyX has crashed, include the version of LyX, the operating system, the frontend (xforms, qt), the version of the frontend toolkit* (if it seems to be a screen drawing problem), and a precise description of the events that lead to the crash. The easier it is for the developers to reproduce your crash, the more likely it will get fixed. If you're brave and like to hack, use gdb to generate a backtrace and include the results with your mail. If this is not possible, just describe what you did as completely as you can.

typing lyx --version in a terminal will give you most of these informations.

§4.4 The developers asked my to provide a backtrace. What's that?

A backtrace is a list of the last function calls of a programm before a certain event, e.g. a crash. It helps the developers to find out where the crash occured and which operations were involved.

A backtrace can be produced as follows:

1.) Linux

assure that program gdb is installed
open a console/terminal
type gdb lyx
type run; LyX will start
now try to trigger the crash; note that LyX will not close
type bt to get the backtrace and post the result

This type of backtrace is better than nothing, but note that much better backtrace can be done if you compile LyX yourself from the sources or (svn-tree) and give additional parameter for configure script (./configure --enable-debug). If the names do not show in the backtrace, try running gdb with libtool --mode=execute gdb src/lyx instead. Also, it is sometimes useful to see the backtrace for all the threads, which can be displayed with thread apply all bt instead of bt.

§4.5 The developers asked me to provide a profile. How?

You will find here a description in the case where you are building LyX with configure.

There are three main types of tools

System-wide profilers, such as sysprof or oprofile on Linux, or Shark.app on Mac OS X:
- configure LyX with --enable-build-type=prof, then make
- launch your profiler and then run LyX and do the actions you want to measure.
- the tool will give you the proportion of time spent in different parts of the code (LyX, graphics drivers, kernel...).
gprof, the GNU profiler, which reports spent time in the part of the code that has been instrumented (i.e., not the kernel, nor Qt or the graphics drivers)
- configure lyx with --enable-build-type=gprof, then make
- run LyX and do the actions you want to measure. File gmon.out is created in the current directory.
- to create a report run something like: gprof src/lyx gmon.out > gprof.txt
- the first part of the report gives times spent in function, no subcalls included. the second part includes also subcalls (it also lists above the functions which calls the current examined function and below those which are called by the current f), note however that neither Qt nor X calls are included.
Callgrind (http://www.valgrind.org) with a profile data visualizer such as kcachegrind
- Install valgrind and kcachegrind (packages valgrind kcachegrind graphviz under Debian/Ubuntu).
- Compile LyX in developer mode (--enable-build-type=dev).
- Run LyX via valgrind with valgrind --tool=callgrind --instr-atstart=no lyx. The option no tells valgrind not to record immediately, which would considerably slow down LyX starting up.
- Start recording with callgrind_control --instr=on. Stop recording with callgrind_control --instr=off. Generate a new profile data file with callgrind_control --dump.
- Opening the profile data with kcachegrind lets you explore the function calls and gives the proportion spent in different subcalls. A graph at a particular point of interest can be exported with File ▷ Export Graph.

FAQ

from Internet)

Internet Resources

§4.6 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for LyX stuff?

http://www.lyx.org
http://www.lyx.org/trac, if you want to report a bug in LyX.
http://www.lyx.org/devel, if you are interested in the real blood and guts.
Known mirror sites include:

§4.7 Where can I get LyX material by FTP?

ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx (also known as ftp://ftp.via.ecp.fr)

§4.8 What mailing lists are there?

lyx-announce@lists.lyx.org (very low volume), for announcements related to LyX
lyx-users@lists.lyx.org (medium volume), for general usage issues
lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org (high volume), for development and debugging issues
lyx-docs@lists.lyx.org (excruciatingly low volume), for documentation issues

Unsubscribing from a mailing list

Generally, you would send email to

lyx-<foo>-subscribe@lists.lyx.org

to subscribe to these lists or to

lyx-<foo>-unsubscribe@lists.lyx.org

to unsubscribe, where <foo> is one of the following

announce
users
devel
docs

You should look at [4] for the full details.

An example: If you for instance wish to unsubscribe from the users' list, send an email to

lyx-users-unsubscribe@lists.lyx.org

Mailing list archives?

Are the mailing lists archived anywhere?

Yes. :-)

Okay, wise guy! Where are they archived?

Announce: [5]
Users: [6] and [7]
Devel: [8] and [9]

FAQ Mailing lists WWW

from ListNetiquette) This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§4.9 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§4.10 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§4.11 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§4.12 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§4.13 Signature

Some mail software (e.g. Pine) can recognize signatures if you put a line containing two hyphens and one space just before the signature (-- ). The mail program can then automatically remove the signature when a reply is composed. In a thread with several levels, the advantage of skipping signatures should be obvious. Below is an example:
-- John Doe, Non-existant LyX-user since forever...

§4.14 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§4.15 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§4.16 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§4.17 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

5. Using LyX: Questions on Specific Tasks

from LaTeXErrors This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.1 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.2 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.3 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.4 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.5 Signature

§5.6 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.7 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.8 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.9 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Titling This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.10 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.11 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.12 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.13 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.14 Signature

§5.15 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.16 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.17 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.18 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from TOC This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.19 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.20 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.21 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.22 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.23 Signature

§5.24 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.25 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.26 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.27 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Numbering This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.28 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.29 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.30 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.31 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.32 Signature

§5.33 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.34 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.35 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.36 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Spacing This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.37 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.38 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.39 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.40 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.41 Signature

§5.42 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.43 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.44 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.45 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Tables This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.46 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.47 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.48 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.49 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.50 Signature

§5.51 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.52 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.53 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.54 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Figures This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.55 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.56 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.57 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.58 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.59 Signature

§5.60 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.61 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.62 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.63 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Math This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.64 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.65 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.66 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.67 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.68 Signature

§5.69 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.70 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.71 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.72 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Boxes This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.73 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.74 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.75 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.76 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.77 Signature

§5.78 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.79 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.80 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.81 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from TextAppearance Frequently Asked Questions about tweaking the general appearance of the text

§5.82 How can I make the whole document ragged right?

Quick and dirty solution: Insert \raggedright in TeX mode at the beginning of the document.
If you want it for a limited area, go to Edit→Paragraph Settings ... and set Alignment to "Left".
More elegant solution (better quality and also hyphenation): \usepackage{ragged2e} in preamble and \RaggedRight (with capitals) in TeX mode at the beginning of the document.
For limited areas, insert {\RaggedRight at the beginning and }, both in TeX mode, at the end of the respective area.

§5.83 How do I avoid hyphenation globally?

There are several possible solutions:

Set the language to something like Welsh for the relevant text. This prevents hyphenation as long as you don't have Welsh hyphenation installed (but note that this is fragile; if you compile the document on a different computer that has Welsh hyphenation, the result will be different).
Insert \exhyphenpenalty=10000\hyphenpenalty=10000 in Document→Settings→Preamble.

§5.84 How do I avoid hyphenation for a specific region of my document?

There are several possible solutions:

Insert \hyphenpenalty=10000 before the paragraph, and \hyphenpenalty=50 in TeX mode after it.
Insert \begin{sloppy} before the paragraph, and \end{sloppy} in TeX mode after it.

§5.85 How do I avoid hyphenation for specific words?

There are several possible solutions:

\hyphenation{foo} in Document→Settings→Preamble will disable hyphenation for the word foo in the whole document.
\usepackage{hyphenat}\nohyphens{foo} in Document→Settings→Preamble will also disable hyphenation for the word foo in the whole document.
\mbox{foo} in TeX mode in the document will disable hyphenation for the word foo only at the given occurrence

§5.86 How do I kill widows and orphans?

Okay, we are not playing Duke Nukem here! To eliminate widows and orphans (first line from a paragraph at the bottom of the page and the last line from a paragraph at the top of the page), add the following to the LaTeX preamble (Document→Settings→Preamble):

\widowpenalty=10000
\clubpenalty=10000

and perhaps

\raggedbottom

FAQ Text Appearance

from SpecialSymbols Frequently Asked Questions about producing specific Symbols and Text Formattings

§5.87 How can I write the symbol for the set of real numbers?

In math mode, write \mathbb to get 'blackboard' font and then type 'R'. Or use the Math panel and look at the Symbols→Miscellanous.

§5.88 How can I typeset units? (SI units for instance)

Use the package units or SIunits or siunitx.

§5.89 How do I get a proper tilde-character? (~)

If the tilde character is raised in the output, you probably use the LaTeX default font, which erroneously uses a raised "accent tilde" character for non-raised "text tildes". Your best bet is to switch to a different font in Document→Settings...→Fonts. If you want to retain the general look of the default LaTeX font, try Latin Modern Roman.

§5.90 How do I get a superscript/subscript in the text?

As of LyX 2.0, use the menu item Insert→Formatting→Superscript

In older versions, LyX provides only a math super/subscript (to be found at Insert→Formatting→Superscript as of LyX 1.6, and at Insert→Special Character→Superscript in older versions). For text superscripts, you should rather insert \textsuperscript{text} in TeX mode, because the math superscript does not look good in normal text. Some document classes (e.g. KOMA) also have a \textsubscript. If yours doesn't, you can load the fixltx2e package which defines it:

\usepackage{fixltx2e}

FAQ Symbols

from Multidoc This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.91 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.92 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.93 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.94 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.95 Signature

§5.96 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.97 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.98 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.99 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Output This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.100 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.101 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.102 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.103 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.104 Signature

§5.105 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.106 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.107 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.108 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from ImportExport This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.109 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.110 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.111 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.112 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.113 Signature

§5.114 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.115 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.116 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.117 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Fonts This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§5.118 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§5.119 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§5.120 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§5.121 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§5.122 Signature

§5.123 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§5.124 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§5.125 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§5.126 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

6. Customizing LyX

from CustomizeUI This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§6.1 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§6.2 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§6.3 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§6.4 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§6.5 Signature

§6.6 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§6.7 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§6.8 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§6.9 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Layouts This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§6.10 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§6.11 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§6.12 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§6.13 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§6.14 Signature

§6.15 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§6.16 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§6.17 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§6.18 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

7. Technical Details

from ERT This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§7.1 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§7.2 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§7.3 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§7.4 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§7.5 Signature

§7.6 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§7.7 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§7.8 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§7.9 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Questions Related to LyX and Qt This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§7.10 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§7.11 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§7.12 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§7.13 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§7.14 Signature

§7.15 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§7.16 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§7.17 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§7.18 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

from Units - List of units that are used in LyX This page contains some tips for posting on the Lyx User's list and the Lyx developers list

First of all, don't be afraid... they won't bite you :-) Below are some tips for making your posts easier for other people to read and respond to your questions:

§7.19 Terminology

The terms article, e-mail and post will be used as synonyms, all meanining a text sent to one of the mailing lists or news groups.

§7.20 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

Do not hijack threads. This happens when you start completely new issue/problem by replying to some unrelated message you see in maillist. Instead compose the message from scratch and fill the mail address of list by hand.
A descriptive title on the article is often useful, but if you can't think of anything good that's ok...
Make sure to include details of your system and the version of LyX you are running.
Before your first message is actually sent to the list, the mail server will send you an e-mail that you have to reply to. Once the mail server has gotten that reply your message will be sent to the list.

§7.21 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

Matej preaching about posting correct questions to a list:

State clearly what environment you have, i.e. not only LyX-version, but also the rest — Windows?, Mac OS X?, Linux? Which distribution? which version and which distribution of (La)TeX?
State clearly what did you do (do you use BibTeX? which class document?
state clearly what was desired effect,
state clearly what happened,
Post short (minimal) example showing the problem.
Note: Minimal means that the example only contains what is needed and no more.

§7.22 Replying to someone else's article

Please bottom-post instead of top-post:

Most "old-timers" on the lists prefer you to write your reply after the original message (bottom-posting)... the reason is that they get so follow so many messages that they can't keep track of them otherwise (senile old buggers;)
To avoid long messages, try to remove parts of the original post that is not needed
See this ListExampleReply

§7.23 Signature

§7.24 Tips

Use the command lyx -version to have LyX output various information, i.e:

 $ lyx -version

LyX 1.3.2 of Tue, May 6 2003
Built on May 13 2003, 10:42:46
Configuration
  Host type:                      i686-pc-linux-gnu
  Special build flags:           
  C   Compiler:                   gcc
  C   Compiler flags:             -g -O2
  C++ Compiler:                   g++ (2.96)
  C++ Compiler flags:             -O -fno-exceptions -ftemplate-depth-30 -Wno-non-template-friend
  Linker flags:                   
  Frontend:                       qt
    Qt version:                   3.0.3
  LyX binary dir:                 /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/bin
  LyX files dir:                  /pkg/lyx/1.3.2qt/share/lyx

§7.25 Netiquette

Here's one link to some pages about "Netiquette". Feel free to add more links below...

Nicely written page with some guidelines and also reasoning why they are useful.
Top-posting v.s. bottom posting
- Why is Bottom-posting better than Top-posting
Some rants (i.e. things not to do) by Rick Moen:
- "This mailing list's software should auto-add a Reply-To header to all list posts, pointing back to the list."
- "Please send all replies (to my newsgroup/mailing list query) via private e-mail."
- You sent a private-mail reply to my attempt to help you on a mailing list, and failed to mention having done so.
- You posted my private mail to you, sent to you in confidence, to third parties and/or a public forum.
- You cross-posted your plea for help to multiple newsgroups, or mailing lists.

§7.26 Links

How to ask questions the smart way [catb.org/~esr]
Configuring Mail Clients to Send Plain ASCII Text

§7.27 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

Users of the LyX lists in general prefer bottom-posting. If you have no idea what this is, read on.

Illustratation of "top-posting" and help for some people all in one.
Answer: Use Outlook-QuoteFix or OE-QuoteFix.
Question: Is there any help for us who use Outlook (Express)?
RANT: top posting - a scourge of forums [dissemble.net]
Top-posting or bottom-posting [allmyfaqs.com]
The drawback with top-posting is illustrated well by the following FAQ [faqs.org]. Here is a slightly longer version:
A: Because it destroys the flow of the conversation
Q: Why is it bad?
A: No, it's bad.
Q: Should I top post in replies to mailing lists?

FAQ Netiquette

8. Unsorted FAQs

(from Unsorted)

This is FAQ.Unsorted with new questions and answers.

This page contains questions that have not been sorted into categories yet. Please help sorting them and try to add new questions immediately to categorized pages instead of this unsorted page!

§8.1 How can I deactivate (not include) the package `babel`?

The package babel is automatically included by LyX, but by deselecting Edit→Preferences→Language→Use babel it will not be included. Alternatively, you can change the setting Edit→Preferences→Language→Language package to do something else, e.g. \usepackage{betababel}.

§8.2 What is the content of the directory `$HOME/.lyx`

See LyX.UserDir

§8.3 How do I rename the fixed strings like Abstract, Bibliography etc.?

Those names are stored in macros by LaTeX, and you have to redefine the macro. For instance, Abstract ist stored in \abstractname, Bibliography in \bibname, and References (which is used in the article classes instead of Bibliography), in \refname (see the TUG FAQ for a list of all macros).

So, to redefine Abstract, add to the preamble:

\renewcommand\abstractname{Executive Summary}

However, if you are using babel (which you do most likely if you write in a language other than English, and sometimes even if you write in English), this will not work. So if the above fails, add the following to the preamble:

\AtBeginDocument{%
	\addto\captions<your language>{%
	\renewcommand{\abstractname}{In nuce}%
	}}

Note that you have to substitute <your language> with the name of your language, e.g. for French \captionsfrench.

§8.4 How can I give an (LaTeX) argument to an item in a list?

How can I add a parameter to the (implicit) \item command that's associated with each element in a list (enumerated or itemized)?

Just add the argument in ERT at the beginning of the line. E.g. if you want the equivalent of \item[argument], just write [argument] at the beginning of the item line.

§8.5 How to configure LaTeX for use with LyX

This is incomplete, but see install latex configure.

§8.6 How can I add a figure to a page/letter head?

First step, try adding just text to header/footer by writing the following in the preamble:

\lhead{This is the lefthand of the header}
\chead{Centre of header}
\rfoot{Right hand corner of footer}

Note that you must use the fancy page layout (pagestyle) under Document Settings.

Second step, try adding a image instead of just text, e.g.:

\lhead{\includegraphics{temp_graphic.eps}}

If there are no other images in the document, you'll have to add \usepackage{graphicx} as well.

Third step, to avoid loading the graphic code within each and every page: use savebox/usebox. Define it first:

\newsavebox{\mygraphic}

\savebox{\mygraphic}{\includegraphics{temp_graphic.eps}}

then use it:

\lhead{\usebox{\mygraphic}}

Fourth step, to make it work both with latex and pdflatex: remove the suffix from the file name

\savebox{\mygraphic}{includegraphics{temp_graphic}

and make sure that temp_graphic.pdf, temp_graphic.png or temp_graphic.jpg (depending upon the vector- or bitmap- nature of the graphic) is available with temp_graphic.eps.

Angus: This doesn't seem to work with the standard letter class, but it works with KOMA-script letter class (with an image in the 'Name' field).

§8.7 How can I specify the name of a theorem, definition etc?

In LaTeX, you can write e.g.

\begin{theorem}[aName]
...
\end{theorem}

but how do you do this in LyX?
Easy, just add [aName] (in ERT) at the beginning of your theorem-text. Amir Seginer created this example LyX-file

§8.8 How can I add options for Babel in Format-->Document-->Preamble

When creating the LaTeX file, LyX loads the babel package after reading the preamble. But Babel options have to be inserted after the loading of the package and generally before the start of the document (\begin{document}). You can obtain the right positioning of the options by enclosing them in \AtBeginDocument{}. For example, if you are using the frenchb language option and want footnotes formatted the French way add in your preamble :
\AtBeginDocument{
\AddThinSpaceBeforeFootnotes
\FrenchFootnotes
}

§8.9 How do I count words in LyX?

LyX 1.4: Select Tools->Statistics... to count the words of the whole document or of a given selection. Note that this will the contents of footnotes.

LyX < 1.4:

Run a spellcheck; it will display the total number of words checked. Make sure the cursor is at the top of the document when you start the spellchecker so that everything is counted.

Alternative 1 (in *nix): Export as text and run 'wc'. You can do this in one step by exporting as 'custom' (text-format) and piping the result to 'wc'. I think you use File->Export->Custom, but I'm not able to check this right now. /Christian

Alternative 2: See http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/wordcount/ where you can find a shell-script that counts the words in a .tex-file. In principle, you should be able to define a special export format which calls this script on an exported .tex-file.

§8.10 How do I change the colour of the output of sections, subsections etc.?

How to colour a document: (add this to the preamble of your document)

\usepackage{color}
\let\mySection\section

\renewcommand\section[1]{%
  \textcolor{green}{\mySection{#1}}%

This particular one would colour all sections green in the output, just replace the \section with \subsection or any other type and you can change the colour.

FAQ

(from Unanswered)

Unanswered questions

Add questions you think are of general interest, but you have no answer for to this section. Please do not post individual problems here. Use the mailing list for that.

8.11 How do I complete a word?

There's a dynamic abbreviation feature in both emacs (Meta-/) and vim (Ctrl-n). Is there something like this in lyx? Here's from emacs help:

`M-/'
     Expand the word in the buffer before point as a "dynamic abbrev",
     by searching in the buffer for words starting with that
     abbreviation (`dabbrev-expand').

8.12 How do I submit a patch against a `.lyx` file?

In the testcase below, I found that straight diff added hundreds of irrelevant whitespace changes. Ignoring all whitespace changes (i.e. "-b -B") lost genuine white space changes, this appeared to be caused by the "-b" option. However, "diff -B" generated a correct patch without irrelevant whitespace changes being included. In general, should we (is it safe to) generate patches with the -B option?

Also, when sending patches against docs, should be now use the "with context" -c output with change tracking rather the the traditional "unified" -u format?

8.13 How do I let other people i18n my lyx document without them having to play directly with the source/structure of the document?

8.14 I would like to use lyx in a console window (with text "GUI" like ncurses) when there is no X-Server available for some reasons. Is that possible?

This would enable me to edit documents remotely via ssh or in a screen session when there is not enough bandwith available to start an X11 application.

8.15 Is it possible to include Lyx Notes when exporting documents?

This would be useful when I send drafts to other people as this would allow them to know how I'm thinking about the work, while still allowing me to produce exports that does not include these.

8.16 Where does it export it's files?

It says the export is successful but the files are nowhere to be found. That's not very useful.

Miscellaneous

FAQ

<< | FAQ.PageList | >>

AllPages

One page including all pages with Frequently Asked Questions

1. The Basic Concepts

§1.1 What is LyX?

§1.2 That's fine, but is it useful?

§1.3 Where do I start?

§1.4 Does LyX run on my computer?

§1.5 How much hard disk space does LyX need?

§1.6 Is LyX Open Source?

What is LaTeX?

What is TeX?

And how are those weird names pronounced?

§1.7 TeX

§1.8 LaTeX

§1.9 LyX

Compatibility with other word/document processors

§1.10 Can LyX be used to edit LaTeX files?

§1.11 Can I read/write Word files?

§1.12 Can I read/write HTML files?

§1.13 Someone talked about an lfun, what is that?

§1.14 What is the minibuffer?

§1.15 What is ERT?

How to cite LyX?

§1.16 Harvard style

§1.17 MLA style

§1.18 APA style

§1.19 Footnote / Endnote style?

2. Getting Started

Obtaining and compiling LyX

§2.1 What do I need for compilation?

§2.2 How do I compile it?

§2.3 I hate compiling. Where are precompiled binaries?

§2.4 Known problems

§2.5 Other dependencies

3. Platform-specific Questions

Questions Related to LyX on Linux

§3.1 How can I use LyX on Linux?

Questions Related to LyX on Windows

§3.2 How can I use LyX in Windows?

Questions Related to LyX on Apple Mac OS X

§3.3 How do I install LyX on Mac OS X?

§3.4 How can I use LyX on OS X?

4. Getting Help

How to get further assistance

§4.1 You still haven't answered my question!

§4.2 I want to mail someone about my problem.

§4.3 What to put in a request for help.

§4.4 The developers asked my to provide a backtrace. What's that?

§4.5 The developers asked me to provide a profile. How?

Internet Resources

§4.6 Where should I look on the World Wide Web for LyX stuff?

§4.7 Where can I get LyX material by FTP?

§4.8 What mailing lists are there?

Unsubscribing from a mailing list

Mailing list archives?

§4.9 Terminology

§4.10 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

§4.11 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

§4.12 Replying to someone else's article

§4.13 Signature

§4.14 Tips

§4.15 Netiquette

§4.16 Links

§4.17 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

5. Using LyX: Questions on Specific Tasks

§5.1 Terminology

§5.2 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

§5.3 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

§5.4 Replying to someone else's article

§5.5 Signature

§5.6 Tips

§5.7 Netiquette

§5.8 Links

§5.9 Top-posting vs. Bottom-posting

§5.10 Terminology

§5.11 Writing your first post (i.e. e-mail to one of the lists)

§5.12 What information should I put in a mail to the User's list?

§5.13 Replying to someone else's article

§5.14 Signature

§5.15 Tips