NAME

       LyX - A Document Processor

SYNOPSIS

       lyx [ command-line switches ] [ name[.lyx] ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       LyX  is too complex to be described completely in the "man" page format. If your system is
       properly configured, you can access the full documentation within LyX under the Help menu.

       LyX is a document preparation system. It excels at letting you  create  complex  technical
       and  scientific articles with mathematics, cross-references, bibliographies, indices, etc.
       It is very good at documents of any length in which the  usual  processing  abilities  are
       required: automatic sectioning and pagination, spellchecking, and so forth. It can also be
       used to write a letter to your mom, though granted, there are  probably  simpler  programs
       available  for  that.  It is definitely not the best tool for creating banners, flyers, or
       advertisements, though with some effort all these can be done, too.  Some examples of what
       it  is  used  for:  memos,  letters,  dissertations  and  theses,  lecture  notes, seminar
       notebooks, conference proceedings, software documentation, books  (on  PostgreSQL,  remote
       sensing,  cryptology,  fictional  novels,  poetry,  and  even  a  children's book or two),
       articles  in  refereed  scientific  journals,  scripts  for  plays  and  movies,  business
       proposals... you get the idea.

       Currently,  LyX  uses  the Qt4 library as a toolkit. LyX should run everywhere, where this
       library runs.  This is on all major Unix platforms as well as Windows and Mac OS X  (which
       actually is a unix platform).

OPTIONS

       LyX supports the following command-line switches.

       -help summarizes LyX usage

       -version
             provides version information on the build of LyX.

       -sysdir directory
             sets system directory. Normally not needed.

       -userdir directory
             sets user directory. Needed if you want to use LyX with different lyxrc settings.

       -geometry WxH+X+Y
             set geometry of the main window.

       -dbg feature[,feature...]
             where  feature  is  a  name  or number.  Use "lyx -dbg" to see the list of available
             debug features.

        -x [--execute] command
             where command is a lyx command.

        -e [--export] fmt
             where fmt is the export format of choice (latex,  pdflatex,  luatex,  xetex,  xhtml,
             text, lyx, ps, pdf, ...).  Note that the order of -e and -x switches matters.

        -E [--export-to] fmt filename
             where  fmt  is  the  export  format  of  choice  (see --export), and filename is the
             destination filename. Note that any additional  external  file  needed  by  filename
             (such  as  image  files)  will be exported as well to the folder containing filename
             (preserving the relative path embedded within the original LyX document, if any).

        -i [--import] fmt file.xxx
             where fmt is the import format of choice and file.xxx is the file to be imported.

        -f [--force-overwrite] what
             where what is is either "all", "main" or "none".  Specify "all" to allow overwriting
             all  files during a batch export, "main" to allow overwriting the main file only, or
             "none" to disallow overwriting any file. When this switch is  followed  by  anything
             else  other than "all", "main" or "none", the behavior is as if "all" was specified,
             but what follows is left on the command line for further processing.

        -n [--no-remote]
             open documents passed as arguments in a new instance, even if  another  instance  of
             LyX is already running.

        -r [--remote]
             by  using  the lyxpipe, ask an already running instance of LyX to open the documents
             passed as arguments and then exit. If the lyxpipe is not set up or is not working, a
             new instance is created and execution continues normally.

       -batch
             causes  LyX to run the given commands without opening a GUI window.  Thus, something
             like:
                 lyx -batch -x "buffer-print printer default dvips" myfile.lyx
             will cause LyX to print myfile.lyx to the  default  printer,  using  dvips  and  the
             default print settings (which, of course, have to have been configured already).

ENVIRONMENT

       LYX_DIR_21x
              can be used to specify which system directory to use.

       The  system directory is determined by searching for the file "chkconfig.ltx". Directories
       are searched in this order:
       1) -sysdir command line parameter
       2) LYX_DIR_21x environment variable
       3) Maybe <path of binary>/TOP_SRCDIR/lib
       4) <path of binary>/../share/<name of binary>/
       5) hardcoded lyx_dir (at build time: /usr/share/lyx)

       LYX_USERDIR_21x
              can be used to specify which user directory to use.

       The user directory is, in order of precedence:
       1) -userdir command line parameter
       2) LYX_USERDIR_21x environment variable
       3) $HOME/.<name of binary> if no explicit setting is made

       LYX_LOCALEDIR
              can be used to tell LyX where to look for the translations of its  GUI  strings  in
              other languages.

       LYX_FORCE_OVERWRITE
              can be used to change the default behavior when exporting from command line.

       By  default,  LyX  overwrites  the  main file when exporting from command line but not the
       ancillary files. This behavior can be changed by setting this environment variable,  which
       relieves  the  need  of  using  the -f switch.  Allowed values are either "all", "main" or
       "none", with same meaning as for the -f switch.

FILES

       ~/.lyx/preferences      Personal configuration file
       ~/.lyx/lyxrc.defaults   Personal autodetected configuration file
       LIBDIR/lyxrc.dist  System wide configuration file
       LIBDIR/configure.py  Updates LyX if config has changed
       LIBDIR/bind/      Keybindings
       LIBDIR/clipart/   Clipart pictures
       LIBDIR/doc/       Documentation in LyX format.
       LIBDIR/examples/  Example documents
       LIBDIR/images/    Images used as icons or in popups
       LIBDIR/kbd/       Keyboard mappings
       LIBDIR/layouts/   Layout descriptions
       LIBDIR/templates/ Templates for documents
       LIBDIR/tex/       Extra TeX files

       LIBDIR is the system directory. This was at build time /usr/share/lyx.

SEE ALSO

       tex2lyx(1), latex(1).

       Full documentation in either native LyX or postscript format.

BUGS/LIMITATIONS

       There are still some bugs in LyX. To report one, read if possible the  Introduction  found
       under  the Help menu in LyX. You'll find detailed info on submitting bug reports there. If
       you   can't   do   that,   send   details   to   the   LyX   Developers    mailing    list
       lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org,       or      use      the      LyX      bug      tracker      at
       http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome.  Don't forget to mention  which  version  you
       are having problems with!

       LaTeX  import  is still not perfect and may produce buggy *.lyx files. Consult the tex2lyx
       documentation.

AUTHORS

       LyX is Copyright (C) 1995 by Matthias Ettrich, 1995-2010 LyX Team