1What is LyX?
2
3    LyX is a document processor that encourages an approach to
4    writing based on the structure of your documents, not their
5    appearance. It is released under a Free Software / Open Source
6    license.
7
8    LyX is for people that write and want their writing to look great,
9    right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting
10    details, 'finger painting' font attributes or futzing around with
11    page boundaries. You just write. In the background, Prof. Knuth's
12    legendary TeX typesetting engine makes you look good.
13
14    On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output
15    --- or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced ---
16    looks like nothing else. Gone are the days of industrially bland
17    .docs, all looking similarly not-quite-right, yet coming out
18    unpredictably different on different printer drivers. Gone are the
19    crashes 'eating' your dissertation the evening before going to
20    press.
21
22    LyX is stable and fully featured. It is a multi-platform, fully
23    internationalized application running natively on Unix/Linux and
24    the Macintosh and modern Windows platforms.
25
26What do I need to run LyX?
27
28    Either:
29    * a Unix-like system (including Windows with Cygwin)
30    * Windows 2000 or newer
31    * Mac OS 10.4 or newer
32
33    A decent LaTeX2e installation (e.g. TeX Live for Linux, MikTeX for
34    Windows).
35
36    Python 2.7 to convert old LyX files and for helper scripts.
37    Note: Python 3 (3.3 or later) support is work in progress.
38
39How does the LyX version scheme work?
40
41    LyX uses a contiguous numbering scheme for versions, where a
42    number "2.x.y" indicates a stable release '2.x', maintenance
43    release 'y'.  In other words, LyX 2.2.0 was the first stable
44    release in the 2.2-series of LyX. At the time of writing, the
45    latest maintenance release in the 2.2-series is LyX 2.2.4.
46
47    Please note that maintenance releases are designed primarily to
48    fix bugs, and that the file format will _never_ change due to a
49    maintenance release.
50
51    In addition to the stable releases and maintenance releases, some
52    users may want to give a ''release candidate'' a try. This is a
53    release that should be stable enough for daily work, but yet may
54    be potentially unstable. If no major bugs are found, the release
55    candidate is soon released as the first stable release in a new
56    series. To summarize, there are three possible types of file names
57    that are of interest to normal users:
58
59       lyx-2.3.0.tar.gz     -- stable release, first in the 2.3-series
60       lyx-2.2.4.tar.gz     -- fourth maintenance release of LyX 2.2
61       lyx-2.4.0rc1.tar.gz  -- potentially unstable release candidate
62
63    Note that the goal is not parallel development as for the Linux
64    kernel --- the team is too small to afford that --- but rather to
65    include all the simple and safe bug fixes. This is so that the
66    maintenance burden on us is not too high, and so that system
67    administrators can install new releases without fear. Experience
68    shows that these releases will contain a few new features, and
69    that the bulk of the patches will be documentation updates.
70
71    If you get the source from Git, the version string will look like
72    one of:
73
74       2.3.1dev     -- this is the stable branch on which maintenance
75               release 2.3.1 will eventually be tagged.
76       2.4.0dev     -- this is the main branch on which stable
77               release 2.4.0 will eventually be tagged.
78
79What's new?
80
81    Read NEWS.
82
83How do I upgrade from an earlier LyX version?
84
85    Read the file UPGRADING for info on this subject.
86
87What do I need to compile LyX from the source distribution?
88
89    * A good C++ compiler.  Development is being done mainly with
90      gcc/g++, but some others work also. As of LyX 2.3.0, you need
91      at least gcc 4.6.x.
92
93    * The Qt library, at least version 4.8.0. For all features
94      newer versions (e.g. Qt 5.6) are recommended.
95
96    Read the file "INSTALL" for more information on compiling.
97
98Okay, I've installed LyX. What now?
99
100    Once you've installed it, and everything looks fine, go read
101    the "Introduction" item under the Help menu.  You should follow
102    the instructions there, which tell you to read (or at least skim)
103    the Tutorial. After that, you should also read "Help>LaTeX
104    configuration" which provides info on your LaTeX configuration
105    as LyX sees it.  You might be missing a package or two that you'd
106    like to have.
107
108    User-level configuration is possible via the Tools>Preferences menu.
109
110Does LyX have support for non-English speakers/writers/readers?
111
112    Yes. LyX supports writing in many languages, including
113    right-to-left languages like Arabic or Hebrew.
114
115    Menus and error messages have been translated to many languages.
116    For the status of the different translations, see
117    http://www.lyx.org/I18n
118
119    Keymaps can ease typing in many languages.
120
121Internet resources of relevance to LyX
122
123    The LyX homepage contains valuable information about LyX and the
124    various LyX mailing lists, as well as links to mirrors and other
125    LyX homepages around the world:
126	http://www.lyx.org/
127
128    The LyX Wiki is the place where users can share information on
129    setting up and using LyX.
130	http://wiki.lyx.org/
131
132    The main LyX archive site:
133	ftp://ftp.lyx.org/pub/lyx/
134
135    The LyX Development page has information about the development
136    effort. LyX is under Git version control, so you can get the very
137    latest sources from there at any time.
138	http://www.lyx.org/Development
139
140How do I submit a bug report?
141
142    If possible, read the Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX.
143    You'll find detailed info on submitting bug reports there.
144
145    If you can't do that, send details to the LyX Developers' mailing
146    list, or use the LyX bug tracker at
147    http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome .
148    Don't forget to mention which version you are having problems with!
149
150How can I participate in the development of LyX?
151
152    Any help with the development of LyX is greatly appreciated ---
153    after all, LyX wouldn't be what it is today without the help
154    of volunteers. We need your help!
155
156    If you want to work on LyX, you should contact the developer's
157    mailing list for discussion on how to do your stuff.  LyX is being
158    cleaned up, and therefore it's important to follow some rules.
159    Read about those rules in development/Code_rules/.
160
161    If you don't know C++, there are many other ways to
162    contribute. Write documentation. Help to internationalize LyX
163    by translating documentation or menus/error messages, or by
164    writing a new keymap. Write a new textclass. Find bugs (but
165    please read the list of known bugs first). Contribute money.
166    Or just offer feature suggestions (but please read the online
167    TODO list first).
168
169Thank you for trying LyX. We appreciate your feedback in the mailing
170lists.
171
172The LyX Team.
173