mailing-list for TeXmacs Users

[Joris van der Hoeven <address@hidden>]

On Thu, 27 Dec 2001, [iso-8859-1] Álvaro Tejero Cantero wrote:

> This is a most interesting discussion. 
> I think the program should react to the persistent "structure",  the one 
> that 
> doesn't depend on session-specific user behavior.
> 
> The document tree (the directory where the master file is located --base 
> uri-- plus all its subdirectories) __is__ the structure here. It is what 
> you 
> send your colleagues, you don't send them a "starting directory".

Yes, I agree with David and you that the multifile-structure of a document
should be preserved as much as possible. That is why TeXmacs
systematically uses relative file names whereever possible.

Nevertheless, Andrey is right in pointing out that the semantics of 
execution is not necessarily the same as the semantics of document
links/inclusions/etc. For instance, where should we cd for a file
located on the web? Is it always clear what the current directory
of a composite and multi-frame document is in a multi-view and
multi-user environment?

> > The next question would then be: in which directory should external
> > sessions be started? In the directory where TeXmacs is started or in the
> > directory of the current document? And how does that makes a difference to
> > YOU?
> 
> Consequently I think the external sessions should be relative to the 
> current 
> document (or subdocument, in case it is located in another directory).
> 
> If I want to distribute a TeXmacs document tree (a project including some 
> TeXmacs files, ps files and CAS sessions), I think it is sensible not to 
> have 
> to keep telling people from what directory they should start TeXmacs in 
> order 
> to use the existing data on the directory tree. They just open the document 
> (WIMP-clicking) and everything else works fine...
> 
> Please tell me if this reasoning is wrong, because I am a total newcomer 
> and 
> perhaps missing some point...

For executable structure, I did not yet make up my mind.
Maybe an environment variable TEXMACS_DOCUMENT_PATH, as suggested before,
would be a good temporary solution.

> A last note. Please take into account that the suspend feature of many 
> laptops nowadays gives a new "virtually always on" use pattern for some 
> programs: you just fire up TeXmacs in november and perhaps don't close it 
> for 
> weeks.... 

Yes, the suspend feature might be nice. How does it work?
Do most window managers use the usual suspend feature for X?

Best regards,

Joris


-----------------------------------------------------------
Joris van der Hoeven <address@hidden>
http://www.texmacs.org: GNU TeXmacs scientific text editor
http://www.math.u-psud.fr/~vdhoeven: personal homepage
-----------------------------------------------------------