Re: [Axiom-developer] Some latex packages that may help with multiple individual files in books

[Ralf Hemmecke]

On 08/04/2006 07:43 PM, C Y wrote:
> --- Ralf Hemmecke <address@hidden> wrote:
>
> > I have once tried "combine". But IIRC it only takes the
> > \usepackage(s) from the first file. For the other files \usepackage
> > just absorbs its argument and does nothing. So it is not a real
> > solution for me.

> I think there is a variable to grab additional usepackage commands from
> other files, but it's not the default. 

Oh, that might be true. But what does that help if you want to combine 
pamphlets from different authors who use conflicting latex packages???

> > When I saw the hyperlink in endpaper.pamhlet that linked to a .dvi
> > file, I tried another idea. Basically along the following lines...
> > Remember I want to combine (crosslink) the documentation of different
> > aldor libraries which are each by themselves consisting of several
> > noweb files. I think it is doable to compile the first library
> > documentation (dvi-1), then use the .aux file from that compilation
> > and use it in the compilation of the second library documentation
> > (dvi-2). One would still have 2 .dvi files, but if you open dvi-2 
> > and click on a link that refers to something in dvi-1, then the
> > dviviewer opens dvi-1 at the right page.
> > As a user you would not even recognize that these are two files.
> > That would be OK for me. And there would be no problem with
> > \usepackage since an author could use anything she likes.
>
> My first question is whether this would work for formats beyond dvi,
> such as pdf.

Should work. I think I have once seen linking from one pdf to another in 
acroread. But I have no explicit running example available. :-( But I 
see no big difference between pdf and dvi.

> Also, it doesn't seem able to produce a "printable" book
> which incorporates the individual files.

What do you actually want? Can't you produce a book which is a 
collection of works? Look at conference proceedings, they do it all the 
time. I don't care so much about a 1000 pages book. If you don't like to 
read stuff online, print it. If you have just 100 pages, it is not so 
heavy. ;-) I care more for the hyperlinks. That also adds some value if 
you really want to find information quickly inside a book.

For example, you take some book and read the word "ring". Tell me in a 
few seconds whether the author speaks of a ring with or without a 1. If 
"ring" is a hyperlink to its definition, that is easy. You don't have to 
browse backwards to find the phrase:

  For this and only this chapter all our rings have a 1.

> I'm not entirely sure, but I think your idea Ralf and the combine
> packages goals are slightly different - combine aimes to produce
> something you could bind up and sell as a paper archive of a
> conference, and your work enables intelligent hyperlinking between dvi
> documents.

Some time ago I looked into combine, but I gave up since one needs to 
make sure that the packages that authors use do not conflict each other.
(Start with the packages verbatim, fancyvrb, moreverb, each of them 
appearing in a \usepackage of a different pamphlet. I have not tested 
whether they are really conflicting, but it pretty much looks like that 
and you surely find other examples.

Ralf