PortableLyX?
"LyX works extremely well under the Windows operating system!" Outside the office away from the ones own computer, I've been using LyX 1.3.3-Win32 on a USB stick. It works "extremely well" and enables me to access, edit and spell check my fieldnotes, in visiting institutions, by running LyX on public workstations where I've no administrator rights. Now, having experienced the latest version of LyX, I've tested 1.4.1 on a USB stick. All good, if there wouldn't be the aspell dilemma! As LyX is compiled against libaspell.a and expects to find aspell dictionaries and data files in a predefined location portability has been lost. I'm interested in underlying decisions of having complied LyX Windows in this specific way nowadays. Are there considerations about integrating aspell in a different way and moreover is there generally a wider interest in the community in a portable LyX? Cheers, Sam
Re: PortableLyX?
Sam Lewis wrote: > I've tested 1.4.1 on a USB stick. All good, if there wouldn't > be the aspell dilemma! As LyX is compiled against libaspell.a > and expects to find aspell dictionaries and data files in a > predefined location portability has been lost. ... Are there considerations about integrating aspell in a different way and moreover is there generally a wider interest in the community in a portable LyX? Cheers, Sam Regarding the C:\Aspell limitation to portability, perhaps the dos subst or label command would serve as a workaround. Suppose your USB drive was "J", then label J: C: I think would change J:\Aspell into C:\Aspell if not perhaps the subst command would suffice called from J: Regards, Stephen
Re: PortableLyX?
Sam, I wonder if you might be able to provide some instructions on how to make a usbstick compatible LyX? --- Sam Lewis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "LyX works extremely well under the Windows > operating system!" > > > Outside the office away from the ones own > computer, I've been using LyX 1.3.3-Win32 on a USB > stick. It works "extremely well" and enables me to > access, edit and spell check my fieldnotes, in > visiting institutions, by running LyX on public > workstations where I've no administrator rights. > >Now, having experienced the latest version of > LyX, I've tested 1.4.1 on a USB stick. All good, if > there wouldn't be the aspell dilemma! As LyX is > compiled against libaspell.a and expects to find > aspell dictionaries and data files in a predefined > location portability has been lost. > > I'm interested in underlying decisions of having > complied LyX Windows in this specific way nowadays. > Are there considerations about integrating aspell in > a different way and moreover is there generally a > wider interest in the community in a portable LyX? > >Cheers, Sam > > > __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
Re: PortableLyX?
Sam Lewis a écrit : "LyX works extremely well under the Windows operating system!" Outside the office away from the ones own computer, I've been using LyX 1.3.3-Win32 on a USB stick. It works "extremely well" and enables me to access, edit and spell check my fieldnotes, in visiting institutions, by running LyX on public workstations where I've no administrator rights. Now, having experienced the latest version of LyX, I've tested 1.4.1 on a USB stick. All good, if there wouldn't be the aspell dilemma! As LyX is compiled against libaspell.a and expects to find aspell dictionaries and data files in a predefined location portability has been lost. I'm interested in underlying decisions of having complied LyX Windows in this specific way nowadays. Are there considerations about integrating aspell in a different way and moreover is there generally a wider interest in the community in a portable LyX? AFAIK, the problem is not within LyX but in Aspell. Indeed Aspell dictionaries are not relocatable (under Windows); this means that they must be installed in the same path where they have been compiled. One needs to investigate Aspell source code as to know if this could be fixed. Abdel. Cheers, Sam
Re: PortableLyX?
Stephen Harris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [...] > > Regarding the C:\Aspell limitation to portability, perhaps the > dos subst or label command would serve as a workaround. Suppose > your USB drive was "J", then > > label J: C: > > I think would change J:\Aspell into C:\Aspell > if not perhaps the subst command would suffice called from J: > Thanks for this Stephen! Sounds interesting. I've no experience with dos commands, but does subst not require adding a line to a file in the root directory, which appears to defeat portability? Likewise, does the "label" command not require admin rights too? Cheers, Sam
Re: PortableLyX?
Robert Orr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Sam, > > I wonder if you might be able to provide some > instructions on how to make a usbstick compatible LyX? > No problem; it's rather straight forward. You could just install directly onto your usb stick. Alternatively, create a directory on your desktop called (e.g. PortableLyX) install everything in there (msys, python, lyx, etc.) and drag the folder directly onto your usb stick. I have not installed a latex distribution, as I only need LyX outside my office to organise my notes. I would assume that miktex might also work on a stick, but I can’t confirm this. However, I tested LyX 1.3.3-Win32 on a USB stick with a latex distro on a network drive. It was rather slow but enabled me to export pdflatex, after reconfiguring LyX. Hope this helps. Let me know your results. Cheers, Sam
Re: PortableLyX?
[...] > > AFAIK, the problem is not within LyX but in Aspell. Indeed Aspell > dictionaries are not relocatable (under Windows); this means that they > must be installed in the same path where they have been compiled. One > needs to investigate Aspell source code as to know if this could be fixed. > > Abdel. Thanks Abdel for shedding light onto the Aspell design. Yet, how does aspell work with LyX 1.3.3-Win32? There you find dictionaries in lyx\share\aspell and dynamically linked aspell libraries in \lyx\bin .
Re: PortableLyX?
Sam Lewis a écrit : [...] AFAIK, the problem is not within LyX but in Aspell. Indeed Aspell dictionaries are not relocatable (under Windows); this means that they must be installed in the same path where they have been compiled. One needs to investigate Aspell source code as to know if this could be fixed. Abdel. Thanks Abdel for shedding light onto the Aspell design. You're welcome. Yet, how does aspell work with LyX 1.3.3-Win32? There you find dictionaries in lyx\share\aspell and dynamically linked aspell libraries in \lyx\bin . No, I think lyx-1.3.x uses the Aspell executable directly via a pipe or something. I guess this executable knew how to retrieve the dictionaries via relative paths. I agree we need to do something about this Aspell mess on windows. Abdel.
Re: PortableLyX?
Sam Lewis wrote: Stephen Harris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [...] Regarding the C:\Aspell limitation to portability, perhaps the dos subst or label command would serve as a workaround. Suppose your USB drive was "J", then label J: C: I think would change J:\Aspell into C:\Aspell if not perhaps the subst command would suffice called from J: Thanks for this Stephen! Sounds interesting. I've no experience with dos commands, but does subst not require adding a line to a file in the root directory, which appears to defeat portability? Likewise, does the "label" command not require admin rights too? I don't think this will work. Assuming you had Aspell installed on the memory stick, and assuming the memory stick was installed as drive J:, you would need to use 'subst c: j:' (and would need to have Aspell installed in J:\Aspell). The problem, though, is that the subst command would map *all* reads of C: to J: -- which means the OS would be looking for all the Windows files, etc. on J. My guess is that this would render the system unusable until you rebooted, but I'm just guessing. If you have write privileges on the host systems, what about modifying the lyx.bat batch file (I assume this is what you use to start LyX) to copy the Aspell directories from the memory stick to C:\Aspell (assuming it was not already installed) before launching LyX itself? You could also write a small batch file to delete C:\Aspell when you were done. /Paul
Re: PortableLyX?
[This is a rather late followup - I'm catching up on personal email - but may still be of interest.] Stephen Harris wrote: Regarding the C:\Aspell limitation to portability, perhaps the dos subst or label command would serve as a workaround. Suppose your USB drive was "J", then label J: C: I think would change J:\Aspell into C:\Aspell Er, no. The label command writes the "volume label", a special filesystem entry that serves as a "label" for a disk. It has nothing to do with path substitutions. The converse of the subst command was the join command, in MS-DOS. It's not present in the 9x or NT Windows families. if not perhaps the subst command would suffice called from J: Subst creates a virtual drive that's mapped to a path on an existing filesystem. It won't help in this case, where we want a virtual path (c:\aspell) created that's mapped to an existing path. join would, in theory, do the job, if it were still included with the OS, and if you had aspell installed in the root of the destination drive. (It would have to be the root, because join did not let you map an arbitrary destination path, just a destination drive.) What you need, in NT-family Windows, is a reparse point at c:\aspell which redirects to your aspell installation. The base OS includes the mountvol command, which will create a reparse point, but like join (or classic Unix mount, ignoring goofy newcomers like the loopback filesystem) it only lets you associate an entire volume (and not some path on that volume) with the destination. On the other hand, the Windows 2000 Resource Kit (which I think is a free download from Microsoft these days) includes the spiffy linkd command, which will create reparse-point mounts from any source path to any destination path. With it you can do, for example: linkd c:\aspell j:\aspell Note, though, that this requires that c:\aspell not already exist, and that you have appropriate permissions for c:\. It appears to require only the "Create Folders" authority, but if you're logged in as J Random User on a typical XP box, I suspect you won't have that authority for c:\. And that, of course, is as it should be; ordinary users shouldn't be able to create directories, real or virtual, in the root of the boot drive (assuming c: is the boot drive). -- Michael Wojcik
Re: PortableLyX?
Michael Wojcik wrote: [This is a rather late followup - I'm catching up on personal email - but may still be of interest.] Stephen Harris wrote: Regarding the C:\Aspell limitation to portability, perhaps the dos subst or label command would serve as a workaround. Suppose your USB drive was "J", then label J: C: I think would change J:\Aspell into C:\Aspell Er, no. The label command writes the "volume label", a special filesystem entry that serves as a "label" for a disk. It has nothing to do with path substitutions. The converse of the subst command was the join command, in MS-DOS. It's not present in the 9x or NT Windows families. if not perhaps the subst command would suffice called from J: Subst creates a virtual drive that's mapped to a path on an existing filesystem. It won't help in this case, where we want a virtual path (c:\aspell) created that's mapped to an existing path. join would, in theory, do the job, if it were still included with the OS, and if you had aspell installed in the root of the destination drive. (It would have to be the root, because join did not let you map an arbitrary destination path, just a destination drive.) What you need, in NT-family Windows, is a reparse point at c:\aspell which redirects to your aspell installation. The base OS includes the mountvol command, which will create a reparse point, but like join (or classic Unix mount, ignoring goofy newcomers like the loopback filesystem) it only lets you associate an entire volume (and not some path on that volume) with the destination. On the other hand, the Windows 2000 Resource Kit (which I think is a free download from Microsoft these days) includes the spiffy linkd command, which will create reparse-point mounts from any source path to any destination path. With it you can do, for example: linkd c:\aspell j:\aspell Note, though, that this requires that c:\aspell not already exist, and that you have appropriate permissions for c:\. It appears to require only the "Create Folders" authority, but if you're logged in as J Random User on a typical XP box, I suspect you won't have that authority for c:\. And that, of course, is as it should be; ordinary users shouldn't be able to create directories, real or virtual, in the root of the boot drive (assuming c: is the boot drive). I didn't snip any of your post because I thought it was interesting and well thought out. I had already reached the same conclusion about subst that you did and recanted the idea in another post. I had another idea. Winzip the C:\Aspell directory. Put it on the J: device. I am assuming that this is a USB drive that plugs into the back of a non-admin computer at another location. Copy the C:\Aspell zip file from the J: device over to the C: drive, C:\> md Aspell ; and unzip the contents into C:\Aspell. I don't think that takes admin rights. I have a non-admin username to test such things and makedir works for him. http://www.petri.co.il/download_free_reskit_tools.htm LINKD: This command-line tool links an NTFS directory to a target object. So my nonadmin user was able to use linkd and it does not appear that linkd requires admin rights like some of the dos commands. This worked on XP pro, I am not sure about XP home. Your idea appears cleaner/easier. Regards, Stephen
Re: PortableLyX?
Stephen Harris wrote: Winzip the C:\Aspell directory. Put it on the J: device. I am assuming that this is a USB drive that plugs into the back of a non-admin computer at another location. Copy the C:\Aspell zip file from the J: device over to the C: drive, Note that this step isn't necessary, assuming a standard unzip utility like WinZip or Info-Zip's unzip is available; they'll all unzip from one drive to another. > C:\> md Aspell ; and unzip the contents into C:\Aspell. I don't think that takes admin rights. I have a non-admin username to test such things and makedir works for him. Well, it depends on the machine, though in practice it may be that on the typical Windows installation, non-administrative users have write access to c:\. In truth, the concept of "administrative" and "non-administrative" users on (NT-family) Windows is a myth of convenience. By default Windows does have an "Administrator" user and a "System Administrators" group; the former is assigned a bunch of privileges that aren't granted to ordinary users, and the latter has inheritable full-control access rights to the roots of all filesystems, when they're created. (I'm assuming NTFS.) But this is just a convention, though it's a convention that comes "out of the box". You can remove privileges from Administrator, and create restricted ACEs for System Administrators on any filesystm object, including the root; and you can delete Administrator and System Administrators. (Contrast that with traditional Unix, where UID 0 *does* have certain special permissions, such as DAC-override, irrevocably; though some Unix implementations add security mechanisms that restrict superuser capabilities.) And Windows also has the "Power Users" group and similar out-of-the-box intermediate grades of user, between the unprivileged Guest and the essentially all-powerful System Administrators. These, too, are just collections of privileges and ACEs, and can be modified from one system to another. So it could be that the scheme you propose would work on many Windows machines, but it might well fail for "locked-down" installations, or if the user's account has minimal privileges (for example, if they're using the standard Guest account). What it really comes down to is whether the user's effective ACE for c:\ allows the "Create Folders" operation. On one XP machine I just checked, that's true for users in the Users group (ordinary users), but not true for Guest. I don't know if that's how XP comes out of the box, and if eg SP2 changes it. But when all's said and done, there's nothing to be lost by putting the aspell directory on the flash drive and trying to copy it to c:\, or putting aspell and linkd on the flash drive and trying to create the reparse point. If it works, you have spell-checking; if it doesn't, you don't, but you haven't lost anything. (Of course, really one of these days one of us should fix the aspell-execution code in the Windows LyX port. One of these days I hope to do some work on LyX myself, but as I don't use it in my job, I can't give it as high a priority as some of the other FOSS software I use.) So my nonadmin user was able to use linkd and it does not appear that linkd requires admin rights like some of the dos commands. This worked on XP pro, I am not sure about XP home. Your idea appears cleaner/easier. linkd, if it's available, appears to require the same permissions as actually creating the c:\aspell directory, so putting it on the flash drive might indeed be simpler. It also has the advantage that the c:\aspell virtual path will go away when the machine is rebooted or when explicitly deleted with linkd, so there's no permanent change to the target system. -- Michael Wojcik
Re: PortableLyX?
Michael Wojcik wrote: Stephen Harris wrote: So my nonadmin user was able to use linkd and it does not appear that linkd requires admin rights like some of the dos commands. This worked on XP pro, I am not sure about XP home. Your idea appears cleaner/easier. linkd, if it's available, appears to require the same permissions as actually creating the c:\aspell directory, so putting it on the flash drive might indeed be simpler. It also has the advantage that the c:\aspell virtual path will go away when the machine is rebooted or when explicitly deleted with linkd, so there's no permanent change to the target system. Libraries in the US are often equipped with computers having internet access. One logs on with their library card number. Though I'm sure there are situations where the restrictions are more stict, I'm thinking of this as representative, and one can download files from the internet. When a user logs off the computer is restored to its original state so any changes are erased. It works that way at the local university also which was the setting for the OP. That doesn't include all venues of portability and may not be a widespread practice. I agree, nothing ventured, nothing gained, Stephen
Re: PortableLyX?
Abdelrazak Younes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> Now, having experienced the latest version of LyX, >> I've tested 1.4.1 on a USB stick. All good, if there >> wouldn't be the aspell dilemma! As LyX is compiled >> against libaspell.a and expects to find aspell >> dictionaries and data files in a predefined location >> portability has been lost. > AFAIK, the problem is not within LyX but in Aspell. Indeed Aspell > dictionaries are not relocatable (under Windows); this means that they > must be installed in the same path where they have been compiled. One > needs to investigate Aspell source code as to know if this could be fixed. I must be setting some sort of record in late replies here ;-) Actually, Abdel, the fault is all LyX's. Aspell is perfectly configurable, but LyX doesn't have any code to push its buttons. A long time ago, I wrote this: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=lyx-devel&m=111954451507730&w=2 Somewhat more recently, I seem to remember expounding further on this subject but I can't find the post in the archives. Insufficient searching skills ;-) If you read the aspell docs, you'll find that aspell can be controlled programmatically through the library's API; you can most definitely tell the library where to find its data files. Perhaps this will inspire someone who's frustrated by the current C:/Aspell limitation to dig deeper... Regards, Angus
Re: PortableLyX?
I don't run Windows any longer, but could you put the Aspell stuff in the same directory as the Lyx code on a USB stick? Many programs will look first in the directory the program is running in before seeking an external location, after all. Anyway, just an idle thought about a (rather messy!) workaround that may be worth looking at. David On 6/1/06, Angus Leeming <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Abdelrazak Younes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > AFAIK, the problem is not within LyX but in Aspell. Indeed Aspell > dictionaries are not relocatable (under Windows); this means that they > must be installed in the same path where they have been compiled. One > needs to investigate Aspell source code as to know if this could be fixed.
Re: PortableLyX?
Angus Leeming wrote: Abdelrazak Younes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Now, having experienced the latest version of LyX, I've tested 1.4.1 on a USB stick. All good, if there wouldn't be the aspell dilemma! As LyX is compiled against libaspell.a and expects to find aspell dictionaries and data files in a predefined location portability has been lost. AFAIK, the problem is not within LyX but in Aspell. Indeed Aspell dictionaries are not relocatable (under Windows); this means that they must be installed in the same path where they have been compiled. One needs to investigate Aspell source code as to know if this could be fixed. I must be setting some sort of record in late replies here ;-) Actually, Abdel, the fault is all LyX's. Aspell is perfectly configurable, but LyX doesn't have any code to push its buttons. A long time ago, I wrote this: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=lyx-devel&m=111954451507730&w=2 Somewhat more recently, I seem to remember expounding further on this subject but I can't find the post in the archives. Insufficient searching skills ;-) If you read the aspell docs, you'll find that aspell can be controlled programmatically through the library's API; you can most definitely tell the library where to find its data files. Perhaps this will inspire someone who's frustrated by the current C:/Aspell limitation to dig deeper... Regards, Angus Michael Wojcik offered _linkd_ as a possible solution. I think it works with typical non-admin rights, tested on WinXP Pro-> the right to make a directory. It may work (linkd) with WinXP Home, which is untested, and also personally untested on a USB stick. http://www.petri.co.il/download_free_reskit_tools.htm (for download) LINKD: This command-line tool links an NTFS directory to a target object. http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/WindowsTips/Windows2000/AdminTips/ Miscellaneous/Windows2000breaksthe26driveletterlimitation.html "linkd.exe which is used to create/delete junction folders onto Windows 2000 NTFS and is found in the Windows 2000 Resource Kit. LinkD grafts (links) the target name directly into the name space at Source, so that Source subsequently acts as a name space junction. The Source directory must reside on a disk formatted with NTFS in Windows 2000. The destination (the target of the link) can be any valid directory name or device name or valid object name in Windows 2000." My thought that is if you have a Usb drive L:\Aspell then you could virtually link it to c:\aspell; better is freeing LyX from C:\aspell. Regards, Stephen
Re: PortableLyX?
Angus Leeming wrote: Abdelrazak Younes <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Now, having experienced the latest version of LyX, I've tested 1.4.1 on a USB stick. All good, if there wouldn't be the aspell dilemma! As LyX is compiled against libaspell.a and expects to find aspell dictionaries and data files in a predefined location portability has been lost. AFAIK, the problem is not within LyX but in Aspell. Indeed Aspell dictionaries are not relocatable (under Windows); this means that they must be installed in the same path where they have been compiled. One needs to investigate Aspell source code as to know if this could be fixed. I must be setting some sort of record in late replies here ;-) You reply was one month late, so is this one ;-) Actually, Abdel, the fault is all LyX's. Aspell is perfectly configurable, but LyX doesn't have any code to push its buttons. A long time ago, I wrote this: http://marc.theaimsgroup.com/?l=lyx-devel&m=111954451507730&w=2 Somewhat more recently, I seem to remember expounding further on this subject but I can't find the post in the archives. Insufficient searching skills ;-) That is maybe Joost, the new windows package maker on the blocks. The Aspell problem will be solved in 1.4.3. Abdel.
