LyX acting differently between computers

Mon Nov 2 04:48:58 UTC 2020

On Wed, Oct 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM lyx-users-request at lists.lyx.org
<http://mailto:lyx-users-request@lists.lyx.org> wrote:

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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. LyX acting differently between computers (David Chan)
>    2. Re: LyX acting differently between computers (Baris Erkus)
>    3. Re: LyX acting differently between computers (Dr Eberhard Lisse)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:01:46 -0700
> From: David Chan <david.c.chan at gmail.com>
> To: lyx-users at lists.lyx.org
> Subject: LyX acting differently between computers
> Message-ID:
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> ZGaErOuLrFRAg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hi all,
>
> I noticed that LyX was acting differently between computers and am trying
> to figure out the source of this issue.
>
> One computer cannot compile a file that uses biblatex with the apa
> bibliography style, while the other two computers can. Also, the first
> computer compiles lines slightly differently so that a paper compiles to
> 110 pages, while on the other two computers, the paper compiles to 109
> pages.
>
> The first computer initially had an older version of LyX, 2.3.0 (February
> 24, 2018), but when I updated it to the newest version, LyX 2.3.5.2 (June
> 25, 2020), the problem persists. I also found the version that matches the
> other computers in the archive, LyX 2.3.1-1, and the problem persists with
> this as well.
>
> When I checked the preferences on LyX on each of the computers, the first
> one differs by not having `pdflatex` as an option under Preferences > File
> Handling > File Formats > Default Output Formats, whereas this option
> exists on the other computers. I am unable to find the `pdflatex` option on
> the first computer regardless of the version of LyX.
>
> The next thing that I did was to reinstall MikTeX on the first computer.
> This did not seem to resolve the problem, although it seems to have caused
> errors in compilation ("undefined control sequence", "Missing number,
> treated as zero", and "Missing glyphs!").
>
> Can someone please help me troubleshoot this?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Dave
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> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:12:07 +0300
> From: Baris Erkus <bariserkus at hotmail.com>
> To: lyx-users at lists.lyx.org
> Subject: Re: LyX acting differently between computers
> Message-ID:
>         <
> VI1PR0601MB25280EAFF6D44F3581119A4EDE170 at VI1PR0601MB2528.eurprd06.prod.outlook.com
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>
> On 28-Oct-20 12:01 AM, David Chan wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I noticed that LyX was acting differently between computers and am
> > trying to figure out the source of this issue.
> >
> > One computer cannot compile a file that uses biblatex with the apa
> > bibliography style, while the other two computers can. Also, the first
> > computer compiles lines slightly differently so that a paper compiles
> > to 110 pages, while on the other two computers, the paper compiles to
> > 109 pages.
> >
> > The first computer initially had an older version of LyX, 2.3.0
> > (February 24, 2018), but when I updated it to the newest version, LyX
> > 2.3.5.2 (June 25, 2020), the problem persists. I also found the
> > version that matches the other computers in the archive, LyX 2.3.1-1,
> > and the problem persists with this as well.
> >
> > When I checked the preferences on LyX on each of the computers, the
> > first one differs by not having `pdflatex` as an option under
> > Preferences > File Handling > File Formats > Default Output Formats,
> > whereas this option exists on the other computers. I am unable to find
> > the `pdflatex` option on the first computer regardless of the version
> > of LyX.
> >
> > The next thing that I did was to reinstall MikTeX on the first
> > computer. This did not seem to resolve the problem, although it seems
> > to have caused errors in compilation ("undefined control sequence",
> > "Missing number, treated as zero", and "Missing glyphs!").
> >
> > Can someone please help me troubleshoot this?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> > Dave
> >
> First, I would recommend you sending a MWE for each of the problem you
> have listed. Users of the list can try these MWEs on their computers and
> tell you if there is a problem with the LyX file or LyX.
>
> Second, missing "pdflatex" option under LyX may be a sign of faulty
> MikTeX system and trailing faulty LyX configuration. I am guessing you
> are using Windows. You should install the latest updates of MikTeX and
> update everything for both user and admin mode.
>
> I would also recommend testing your MikTeX setup with a MWE of LaTeX file.
>
> You can also re-configure your LyX and see possible errors.
>
> --
> ??????????????????????????????????????????
> Please bottom-post. Start your reply here:
>
> Thanks so much for your reply!

The suggestion to do MWEs is really great. I’ve never done this before, but
it makes a lot of sense. I’m attaching two .lyx MWEs and a related .. For
each MWE, I also attach two PDF files: PDF files with the suffix -1
correspond to the error produced on the first computer, and PDF files with
the suffix -0 correspond to the correct output produced on the other
computers.

   - mwe1.lyx is what happens when I switch from BibTeX to biblatex in the
   Settings > Bibliography page.
   - mwe2.lyx is what happens when I further specify the apa bibliography
   style within biblatex in the Settings > Bibliography page.

In a way, the fact that I do not have pdflatex as an option in the first
computer under Preferences > File Handling > File Formats > Default Output
Formats, while I have that specified in the other computers, is a clue that
does not even depend on the .lyx document.

FYI, all computers are Macs, and they all are using macOS Catalina
(10.15.7).

Apologies for stating MiKTeX on my last post, as that was misleading. In
fact, I’ve been using MacTeX. I updated MacTeX, reconfigured LyX, and
confirmed that the path in Tools > TeX Information points to
/usr/local/texlive/2020/. Weirdly, the update actually caused more errors,
as I mentioned above. Is there a way to figure out which packages are
causing the problem?

Thanks again,
Dave
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