David Hewitt wrote:
So by the time LyX gets to that long scroll window during install, all
it's
doing is maintenance and configuration type work, and not critical
installation stuff? In other words, Running configure from within LyX
does
the same thing?
Critical is in the eye of the beholder, but yes, AFAIK once you're
seeing stuff scroll, that's the configuration script, and it's the same
script that Tools -> Reconfigure runs. By the time you've gotten there,
all the software bits have been installed, but the local configuration
files (including the all-important textclass.lst) haven't been generated
yet (that's what the script does). So if the script blows up, you've
got a version of LyX that won't run without a reconfigure (but hopefully
will at least start, although there have been blown installation
instances where it wouldn't even launch).
Following up on this last part to clarify (hopefully)...
Uwe wrote me off-list and suggested that I should reinstall. So I
uninstalled and did it all over again. It hung up this time at 'ltugboat'.
To be specific, this is after the installation is complete and LyX is going
to start for the first time. The installer says it could take a while, and
then lots of stuff scrolls by in the command window. Then, it says "LyX is
inspecting your LaTeX configuration... (this could take a long time)" (or
something real close to that) and slowly checks each item in a long list,
which I assume are document classes or LaTeX packages. It returns Yes/No for
each thing in the list.
So again I killed the window. LyX started about 10 minutes later and looked
OK. I went to Tools -> Reconfigure, closed and re-started LyX, and
everything seems fine.
So, this is just the configuration script running when LyX hangs?
Yes and no. LyX shells out to Python to run the configuration script.
Each time the config script finds something new to look for in the LaTeX
distro, Python shells out to LaTeX (in your case, MikTeX). Most often
what the script is doing is invoking latex.exe to compile a trivial
document using whatever package is the current target of inquiry. If
(a) the package is not installed and (b) MikTeX is set to auto-download,
MikTeX then invokes mpm to snag a copy of the package, install it and
update the filename database.
If so, why
does that same script run like lightning in the LyX program window, but
crawl in the installer?
Assuming you have MikTeX set to auto-install, first time around (the
installer) the configuration script looks for eight zillion packages,
ten of which are already installed, and MikTeX downloads the other 8
zillion minus ten (hence "crawl"). Second time arouind (the LyX
window), all that junk is installed, and so the downloading is avoided
(hence "run like lightning").
On the other hand, if either you have MikTeX set to skip missing
packages or you have a complete MikTeX installation before you run the
LyX installer, then I have no idea what's up.
/Paul
