latex-base package

latex-base eases writing of LaTeX documents by providing a set of templates, examples and tools to build a PDF automatically.

Most of the time, the user will use a copy of this project for another project containing a set of documents. Additional templates may later be added back to this project and updates of this project should not break the compatibility.

Dependencies

• pdflatex
• bibtex
• makeglossary
• makeindex
• GNU make
• python (for dependency generation)

Optional dependencies:

• biber
• dia
• docutils
• gnuplot
• graphviz
• inkscape or imagemagick
• latexmk
• pandoc
• plantuml
• plotutils
• pygments
• umlgraph (included)

Description of documents and directories

LaTeX files and input directory

• biblio.bib: BibTeX database
• document.tex: an example of a document (it contains document-example.tex)
• presentation.tex: a Beamer presentation (contains the body, metadata and an example)
• presentation-article.tex: presentation.tex rendered as an article
• simple.tex: a nearly minimal document
• simple-presentation.tex: minimal Beamer presentation
• tikz.tex: a generated image

The directory input contains files that are included by the documents to add macros, import a set of packages, define the theme, etc. A document should include an input/style/* file in the prelude.

Images

The directory img contains all images manipulated by the project. You can create sub-directories to classify your files. Also, files that are source of generated images should be in that directory.

Scripts and generation

There is a Makefile for building the project and auxiliary scripts in the script directory. The Makefile.files describes what LaTeX files are source of a generated document, by default the files are found automatically. Finally, the file Makefile.d that includes automatic dependencies can be generated, also Makefile.genfiles lists all the generated files; these should not be under revision control.

Basic workflow

Initializing the project

The script latex-base-clone.py can be used to generate and update user's files in other projects. The used script is the one located in the cloned directory, not the current one.

• Initializing a new project To create a new clone use init PATH where PATH is the name of the directory to create.
• Updating an existing project Go to the destination directory and run the script with update.
• Copying/updating a template Go to the destination directory and run the script with template. Optionally, add a name of the template to copy/update.

Editing files

The user selects the type of documents they want to use and make a copy of these on the root of the project. Optionally, they register these files explicitely in Makefile.files and they edit the input styles by making a copy of an existing style and changing it. Then, images should be added to img. It is also good to adopt a naming strategy if more than one resulting file will be present in the project, such as a common prefix.

Makefile

Use make to compile the files. When running, consider using -s option to mask the executed commands.

For a list of targets, run:

make help

If you want the output of LaTeX, run:

make VERBOSE=yes

For a quick build, where 3 is the number of concurrent tasks, use:

make -sj3

For debugging purposes, a target debug-* is added for listing values of the variables:

make debug-DOC debug-DOC_AUTODEP

Useful links and tutorials

• LaTeX Wikibooks

  http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX

• Andy Robert's tutorial

  http://www.andy-roberts.net/misc/latex/

• List of LaTeX commands

  http://www.emerson.emory.edu/services/latex/latex_toc.html

• Beamer Guide

  http://www.scribd.com/doc/28011/beamer-guide

• The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol list

  http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/symbols/comprehensive/symbols-a4.pdf

• The Not So Short Introduction to LATEX2e