[lug] looking for TeX viewer/print

D. Stimits stimits at idcomm.com
Mon Aug 27 20:04:53 MDT 2001


Todd Ruskell wrote:
> 
> > Just to experiment, I modifed it to change from documentstyle to
> > documentclass, and it died. There might be other changes that have to
> > accompany going to documentclass syntax, but my RH 7.1 latex is unable
> > to handle it with just documentclass. My version:
> > > latex --version
> > TeX (Web2C 7.3.1) 3.14159
> > kpathsea version 3.3.1
> > Copyright (C) 1999 D.E. Knuth.
> >
> My understanding of LaTex2e is that although the old LaTeX commands are
> "outdated" they will still work.  At least, that's the experience I've
> had.

Ok, this seems to be some sort of autodetect now. The sample resume I'm
using contains this:
\documentstyle[line,margin,fancyheadings]{res}

If I change it to:
\documentclass[line,margin,fancyheadings]{res}

...then I get an error:
! Undefined control sequence.
<recently read> \lhead 
                       
l.4 \lhead
     {\opening}                % put \opening (name) at top of every
page
? 

...this goes on for several other lines, including:
l.5 \rhead
     {}                        % right head empty

! Undefined control sequence.
l.6 \cfoot
     {}                        % the footer is empty
l.7 \pagestyle{fancy}
                               % set pagestyle for the document
l.10 \setlength{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
                               % suppress line drawn by default with
f...

...and so on and so on.

So I tried going back to documentstyle instead of documentclass. But
then if I try "\usepackage{color}", it dies instead with:
! LaTeX Error: LaTeX2e command \usepackage in LaTeX 2.09 document.

See the LaTeX manual or LaTeX Companion for explanation.
Type  H <return>  for immediate help.
 ...                                              
                                                  
l.4 \usepackage
               {color}
? H
This is a LaTeX 2.09 document, but it contains \usepackage.
If you want to use the new features of LaTeX2e, your document
should begin with \documentclass rather than \documentstyle
? 


So it seems that I'm damned if I do, and damned if I don't (should I
want to use color). It seems that I'll have to figure out changes to
syntax that have come into being since the creation of the original
template I'm trying to use. Else give up on color (and I'm not tempted
to live with broken functionality, I use linux when I expect things to
eventually work right, and win when I give up on any hope).

D. Stimits, stimits at idcomm.com

> > >
> > > I have installed LaTeX from ctan a couple of times and I am glad to
> > > say that I have forgotten how to do it.  It was quite complex and had
> > > more trip-wires than I wanted.  However, Dan might like to get
> > > involved in all that stuff.  Personally I am very grateful that RedHat
> > > does all the work for me.
> >
> > I'll probably find out where to add my own stuff, like the res.cls, but
> > other than that I'm not too excited about configuration :P
> >
> > >
> > > Q: should I put the appropriate aliases here as well?
> > >
> 
> For a quick and dirty install, I usually do a "locate article.cls" and
> stick additional class files wherever the article.cls file is.   The
> downside of this approach is that your "non-standard" class or style files
> will likely disappear with a new install or upgrade.  You should also be
> able to specify an additional directory to search for class or style
> files.  A quick browse through /usr/doc/texmf (on my debian system) hasn't
> helped me find it quickly, but I'm sure it's in there.
> 

What I'll do is have my own latex directory, and place symbolic links to
it from the article.cls directory.



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