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Help about uploading files

Files should be uploaded using FTP to lyx.org.

Note:

  • The FTP service used by this wiki can also be accessed through ftp://wiki.lyx.org.
  • Please do not confuse the FTP service used by this wiki, i.e. at lyx.org, with the FTP service at ftp.lyx.org which stores LyX releases etc.
  • The method to upload files described on the page PmWiki.Uploads does not work at this wiki site.

Related links

Passwords

Uploading a file requires that you specify a username (lyxftp) and a password (ask on the user's list that you be e-mailed the current password).

Unfortunately spam etc has been uploaded when the password was published here.

FTP software

Use a regular FTP client to upload files. Most *nix system already have FTP clients. On Windows you can use e.g. WinSCP, but remember to set the protocol to ftp and not sftp.

Using a browser as FTP client can work but is not guaranteed to work. For instance, at the time of writing this it works in Chrome but not in Opera.

How to upload a file

Use an FTP client and login at ftp://lyxftp@lyx.org. You will arrive at the root of the "uploads" area. Then use the FTP client to navigate to the directory in which you wish to upload the file(s), or optionally create a new directory. Finally you upload the files...

How to link to an uploaded file from a wiki page

All uploaded files are stored under a directory called uploads/ with the URI http://wiki.lyx.org/uploads/. The prefix uploads: will always point to this directory, so linking to for instance the file

	uploads/Site/aboutUploading/anUploadedFile.txt

should be done using this markup:

	uploads:/Site/aboutUploading/anUploadedFile.txt

Please avoid linking to files by writing the URI explicitly when editing a wiki page. Instead, use the prefix uploads: and specify the location of the file fully since relative paths are not supported any more. In other words, it no longer matters on what wiki page you create the link, always specify its location relative to the uploads/-directory.

Please also verify that links you create work properly, i.e. click on them to see that they work and that they point to the correct file (in case you accidentally made a spelling error).

Where should I store a file, i.e. what path?

You can store files anywhere in the uploads/-directory, but it is typically better to at least place the file under a directory with the same name as the current group. In addition, unless the file is relevant for most pages in a group, it's probably even better to create an additional subdirectory and place the file there. For instance, this page is Site.AboutUploading, so the current group is Site/. Files common to this group could simply be placed in uploads/Site/, but if we have a file called e.g. anUploadedFile.txt that is only relevant to this page, it's better placed as uploads/Site/aboutUploading/anUploadedFile.txt.

Note that lower case was used for the first letter to separate it from the name of this page. In this case, the file can thus be found at this location:

	uploads:/Site/aboutUploading/anUploadedFile.txt

In some cases, e.g. when several files belong together but the topic is still general, it even makes sense to use an additional subdirectory. Here is an example:

You have several files that make up a tutorial for using LyX that you want to upload. Now, tutorials are listed on the page LyX.Tutorials, so for a single file, myTutorial.pdf, a reasonable path would be uploads/LyX/tutorials/myTutorial.pdf.
In your case however, it makes more sense to upload your files to a new subdirectory, for instance: uploads/LyX/tutorials/myTutorial/.

Also see the page about adding material.

Creating a subdirectory

Let's say you are uploading files for an example and you therefore want to create a new subdirectory under uploads:/Examples/. Here is how you can do it:

  1. Log in with an FTP client (ask on one of mailing list for the password)
  2. Navigate to the desired location
  3. Create the sub directory

Allowed file types

Most file types may be uploaded. If you have problems uploading a file and suspect this to be a problem, ask about it on the developer's list.

Allowed file sizes

The size of a file that can be uploaded is currently not limited. Please refrain from uploading large files.

Uploading large files

The FTP client should not have any restrictions on the file size.

Manually uploading files — only for developers

The FTP client should not have any restrictions on the file size.

If done using scp, below's the correct permissions of a typical directory:

[chr@aussie.lyx.org ~]$ cd /home/lyx/www/wiki.lyx.org/uploads; ls -ld Windows/
drwxrwsr-x  10 ftp apache 4096 12 jul 23.44 Windows

notice the sticky group bit "s". Here's the correct permissions for a file

-rwxrwxr-x 1 ftp apache 57917 15 apr 22.00 Windows/lyxwin.png

Creating a directory with correct permissions

The FTP client should work well for creating directories.

Verifying the permissions

Whenever you have manually fiddled with uploaded files, please verify that you have not changed ownership improperly by executing the following commands on lyx.org.

cd /home/lyx/www/wiki.lyx.org
find uploads -not -type l -not -user ftp -exec ls -ld {} \;
find uploads -not -type l -not -group apache -exec ls -ld {} \;

General tips

  • Postscript files typically become a lot smaller when compressed using bzip2 or gzip. So compress large (>100kB) postscript files before uploading them.
  • PDF files can also benefit from being compressed.
  • If you can save a file in the version 1.5 or later of the PDF-format, it allows something called "Fast Web View". This allows the person downloading the document to start reading it while it downloads. And if the reader e.g. clicks on a link that refers to a much later page, this one is downloaded next and the rest later.

Q: What format should I use for an archive?

On Unix/Linux, gzip (.gz), zip (.zip) and bzip2 (.bz2) are easy to use and typically already installed. Windows user often use zip (.zip) or Rar (.rar), and even though Rar is available for Unix/Linux, it is AFAIK not part of the standard.
Below is a table with some sizes of compressed postscript file (the PDF version is there for comparison):

 .ps.bz2.gz.zip.rar  .pdf (v1.4).pdf (v1.5)
CNV5.5M1.5M1.9M1.9M1.6M 1.3Mno data
LyXMathebefehle735k422k430k431k423k 620k618k
My (Christian) conclusion is that bzip2 wins. Anyway, my recommendation is that you should try to use bzip2 for archives. For a single document, PDF is probably more convenient for normal users.
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Page last modified on 2017-08-20 17:11 CEST