On Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:58:33 -0500 Todd Denniston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Micha Feigin wrote: > > On Wed, 06 Jun 2007 11:06:44 +0200 > > Helge Hafting <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > >> [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > [...] > > [...] > >> To really save work here, learn to use the changetracking feature. > >> Then show your coworker LyX, perhaps he'll be impressed enough > >> to use it - you can then pass LyX documents back and forth > >> using changetracking. LyX will not prevent him from using LaTeX, > >> he may still apply all tricks he knows using ERT. > >> > > > > I can probably push lyx on her. The two problems are that we do a lot of > > work for journals and conferences and most of them use all kinds of wierd > > document styles which can make things a little auckward occationally. > > > > The actual issue here won't be solved though by the default change tracking > > implementation. What I need is a way to work in parrallel on the same > > version and then merge the changes. > > > > I see two proposed enhancements here at the moment. > > 1. Allow the change tracking system produce a three way merge (not sure how > > difficult) > > 2. Allow using an existing lyx layout with just changing the latex style > > file. > > > > It will be nice if someone else is interested enough, otherwise, I'm hoping > > to have some time in about 3-4 months to start amusing myself with this. > > > > You might be able to solve your problems by changing your procedures a little. > You are working on a document in parallel... > Answer the following questions: > 1) Can the document be broken up in to chapters/sections? > 2) Are the two of you _normally_ working on the same chapter/section? > 3) Are you adverse to having a master document that pulls in sub-documents? > 4) Are you on windows or Unix? (determines some of the other tools that would > be suggested.) > > > if (1) is yes, then if you can create the outline of the document this will > put physical "space" in the document between your changes, this makes using > things like patch, rcs and CVS easier. > I always break up the document into chapters/sections (that is usually the starting point) > if (2) is yes, then likely the current tools can't help. if (2) is no then > tools like patch, rcs and CVS can make your lives a little easier, with > communication and practice. > At the point where collaboration starts it is very usual that we work on the same parts of the document at the same time. The problem is that lyx breaks up the lines differently after you edit them its very hard to compare the files. Another problem is that things like references take up a very large space so that it's hard to figure out where they go and what they say. I need some tool that can work on the lyx file visually (inside lyx) instead of as a text file. > if (3) is no, using the tools already mentioned becomes a lot easier. > Depending on the size. When its a 8-12 page long article it becomes very impractical. > if (4) is Unix, you probably already have the tools you need. if (4) is > windows, we (the group) can probably guide you in finding _some_ of the tools > to make things work better [CVSNT]. > I work in linux. Others use windows but I do the merge so its no problem. Under linux I use meld at the moment to compare the files, but like I said, if it's not just simple text (changes often include changes to equations and references) than it's very difficult to compare with such a tool For windows there is winmerge which is free and relatively nice. > Folks in the group have tackled multiple people working on the same document > a few times already. > > Or did I misread your desire here? For an initial solution, what would do a rather good job is to be able to enable change tracking, then replace the old document with the new one but instead of seeing the whole document as changed, to just see those parts that really changed. With the current implementation, if you delete a word and retype it exactly as it was, it will be marked as deleted and inserted instead of being returned to that state of unchanged which would be much more useful (if that was the case I could just delete the old document and insert the new one).
