LATEX2HTML Frequently Asked Questions Release 98.1 Contents * Contents * 1. Overview * 2. Installation and Further Support + 2.1 Getting LATEX2HTML + 2.2 Getting Support and More Information * 3. Known Problems + 3.1 Troubleshooting * Bibliography 1. Overview This manual describes the LATEX2HTML translator which is used to create Web pages from document source written for the LATEX typesetting system, or simply containing LATEX commands. ----- To use LATEX2HTML to translate a file <file>.tex containing LATEX commands, simply type: latex2html <file>.tex This will create a new directory called <file> which will contain the generated HTML files, some log files and possibly some images. ----- Basically the translator reads the source document and creates a linked set of HTML pages, displaying the information it contains. The LATEX commands and environments that are found are interpreted either as ``markup'' instructions, or as macros expanding into more text or markup commands. Where such markup corresponds to the intended use for markup tags in the HTML language, a direct translation is made. If there is no natural way to present the information using simple text embellished with HTML markup tags, then an image is generated, using LATEX itself to interpret the portion of code. Of course this is a drastically over-simplified description of what LATEX2HTML actually does. Many questions spring readily to mind. The answers to these and the options available to handle particular situations are discussed elsewhere in this manual. ----- * What does ``natural way to present the information'' really mean? Text and paragraphing clearly should appear as such, whether printed or on-screen. Different font sizes and styles such as ``bold-face'' or ``italic'' are generally rendered accordingly. However, whereas LATEX has access to appropriate fonts for specialised purposes such as mathematical symbols, these cannot be guaranteed to be available with all Web-browsers. So for information requiring such things, LATEX2HTML will generally resort to making an image, using LATEX itself to typeset the material required for that image. The next page contains a brief overview of how LATEX's standard environments are handled within LATEX2HTML. It also mentions some of the extra features that are available. In general LATEX2HTML attempts to use textual constructions to represent the required information. Generation of an image is done only when there is no adequate textual construction with the required version of HTML, or when specifically requested to do so. Various extensions, to cope with the different HTML versions and extra features, are discussed elsewhere. That describes what to expect on the HTML pages, with little or no changes required to the LATEX source. Just as LATEX has various packages which can be used to present specific types of information in appropriate ways, so is LATEX2HTML capable of handling the commands from many of these packages. See this table for a listing of those packages which currently have special support. ----- * Some features of HTML have no direct counterpart in a LATEX typeset document. Can such features be used with LATEX2HTML? Any effect currently available with any version of the HTML standard can be specified for a document processed by LATEX2HTML. New LATEX commands are defined in the html.sty package; the features that these commands allow are the subject of a whole section of this manual. Some of the new commands provide improved strategies for effects already existing in LATEX; e.g. cross-references and citations. To use these effectively requires only small changes to the LATEX source. Other commands define new environments which are completely ignored when processed by LATEX. Indeed the full scope of HTML 3.2 is available, using LATEX-like macros to help structure the source, reduce the tedium of repetitious use of tags, and ensure that all appropriate tags are correctly closed. ----- * What determines the amount of information that goes onto a single HTML page? How are different pages linked? The HTML pages can contain whole chapters, sections, (sub)subsections or (sub)paragraphs. This is fully customisable using the command-line options discussed in detail in a separate section of this manual. ----- * Does the original document have to be a valid LATEX document, typesetting without errors? If not, does it help if it is? In fact any document can be fed to the LATEX2HTML processor, but it is designed specifically to recognise and sensibly translate the intentions expressed by LATEX markup commands. Although sensible results can be obtained even when the LATEX source is not valid, the most reliable translations are obtained when it is. Relevant issues are discussed in a later section. ----- * When developing a document which contains special HTML features, is it best to regularly test it in LATEX or with LATEX2HTML? The answer to such a question changes as the developer gains more experience with the available tools. Some aspects to be considered are discussed in a later section of this manual. _________________________________________________________________ ----- Information relevant to obtaining the latest version of LATEX2HTML, installation within the local environment, and where to look for help when things do not go as expected, can be found in the support section. 2. Installation and Further Support 2.1 Getting LATEX2HTML _________________________________________________________________ change_begin 98.1 One way LATEX2HTMLmay be obtained is through one of the three Comprehensive TEX Archive Network (CTAN) sites. They are located at * US United States: http://ctan.tug.org/ctan/, * UK United Kingdom: http://www.tex.ac.uk/ * DE Germany: ftp://ftp.dante.de. In the directory http://ctan.tug.org/ctan/ should be the latest version, uncompressed. There are also many mirrors. To find the nearest to you, get a listing via the command: finger ctan@www.tug.org change_begin 97.1 The site at http://cdc-server.cdc.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/~latex2html/ is a convenient alternative for European users. This is connected to the developer's repository, so should always have the most recent release. change_end 97.1 Alternatively, a compressed tar file of the source and related files may be obtained via anonymous ftp to http://www-dsed.llnl.gov/files/programs/unix/latex2html/sources/latex2 html-98.1.tar.gz. Two other ftp -sites are http://ctan.tug.org/ctan/tex-archive/support/latex2html and ftp://ftp.rzg.mpg.de/pub/software/latex2html/sources/latex2html-98.1.t ar.gz. Other ftp -sites nearer to you can be found using Archie at http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/archie.html or http://www.pvv.unit.no/archie/ (faster) or more recent Web-searching tools such as FTP search in Norway. Warning: Some ftp -sites may not carry the latest version. Updates and patches are posted on the LATEX2HTML server at http://www-dsed.llnl.gov/files/programs/unix/latex2html/. change_end 98.1 change_begin 97.1 For users of Windows NT, there is a port of LATEX2HTML obtainable from ftp://ftp.ese-metz.fr/pub/TeX/win32. Obtain the release from this site and follow the instructions in the accompanying file README.win32. Thanks to Fabrice Popineau for this work. In future it is planned to merge this code with the main distribution. change_end 97.1 change_begin 97.1 Finally there is the LATEX2HTML developers' CVS repository, at http://cdc-server.cdc.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/~latex2html/user/. The files to be found here are the most up-to-date with current developments, but they cannot be guaranteed to be fully reliable. New features may be still under development and not yet sufficiently tested for release. A daily updated compressed archive of the developers' work may be downloaded from http://cdc-server.cdc.informatik.tu-darmstadt.de/~latex2html/l2h-lates t.tar.gz. Warning: Use the files from this site at your own risk. change_end 97.1 _________________________________________________________________ Having obtained a compressed tar version, save it into a file latex2html-98.1.tar.gz say, then extract its contents with % gzip -d latex2html-98.1.tar.gz % tar xvf latex2html-98.1.tar You should then have the following: * README file; change_begin 98.1 * Changes index with latest changes; * Changes.detailed (no longer supplied); change_end 98.1 * latex2html Perl script; * texexpand Perl script1; * latex2html.config configuration file; * install-test Perl script, for installation and testing; * dot.latex2html-init sample initialisation file; change_begin 97.1 * texinputs/ subdirectory, containing various LATEX style-files; * versions/ subdirectory, containing code for specific HTML versions; * makemap Perl script; * example/ subdirectory, containing the segmentation example, described in detail in a later section; * .dvipsrc file; * pstogif Perl script (no longer supplied); change_end 97.1 change_begin 97.1 * pstoimg Perl script for image conversion (replaces pstogif ); * configure-pstoimg Perl script for installation; * local.pm Perl input file; * icons.gif/ subdirectory, containing icons in GIF format; * icons.png/ subdirectory, containing icons in PNG format; * makeseg Perl script and examples to handle segmented documents via a generated Makefile, see makeseg.tex; change_end 97.1 change_begin 98.1 * foilhtml/ package to support FoilTeX to HTML translation, by Boris Veystman; * IndicTeX-HTML/ package that contains Perl and LATEX code for translating IndicTEX documents (see README file); change_end 98.1 * docs/ subdirectory, containing the files needed to create a version of this manual; * styles/ subdirectory, containing Perl code for handling some style-files; * tests/ contains some test documents for LATEX2HTML. _________________________________________________________________ 2.1.1 Requirements The translator makes use of several utilities all of which are freely available on most platforms. You may use Archie , or other Web-searching tools such as FTP search , to find the source code of any utilities you might need. For the best use of LATEX2HTML you want to get the latest versions of all the utilities that it uses. (It will still work with earlier versions, but some special effects may not be possible. The specific requirements are discussed below.) change_begin 98.1 * Perl version 5.002, or later (check with perl -v); Perl should be compiled to use the csh or tcsh shell, though LATEX2HTML can also work with the bash shell if Perl is recompiled to use it as ``full csh''. Don't care about this, you will be reported about missing things by install-test if there are any. change_end 98.1 * LATEX, meaning LATEX2e dated <1995/06/01>, or later; * dvips or dvipsk , at version 5.58 or later; * Ghostscript at version 4.02 or later; * the netpbm library of graphics utilities version 1-MAR-94 (check with pnmcrop -version). _________________________________________________________________ More specific requirements for using LATEX2HTML depend on the kind of translation you would like to perform, as follows: 1. LATEX commands but without equations, figures, tables, etc. + Perl change_begin 98.1 Note: LATEX2HTML requires Perl 5 to operate. change_end 98.1 Warning 1: You really do need Perl 5. Versions of LATEX2HTML up to V96.1H work both with Perl 4 at patch level 36 and Perl 5, though some of the packages may only work with Perl 5. Warning 2: Various aspects of Perl, which are used by LATEX2HTML, assume certain system commands to be provided by the operating system shell. If csh or tcsh is used to invoke LATEX2HTML then everything should work properly. Perl 5 eliminates this requirement on the shell. + DBM or NDBM , the Unix DataBase Management system, or GDBM , the GNU database manager. Note: Some systems lack any DBM support. Perl 5 comes with its own database system SDBM, but it is sometimes not part of some Perl distributions. change_begin 98.1 The installation script install-test will check that for you. If no database system is found, you will have to install Perl properly. change_end 98.1 2. LATEX commands with equations, figures, tables, etc. As above plus ... + latex (version 2e recommended but 2.09 acceptable); + dvips (version 5.516 or later) or dvipsk change_begin 98.1 Version 5.62 or higher enhances the performance of image creation with a significant speed-up. See latex2html.config for this after you are done with the installation. Do not use the 'dvips -E' feature unless you have 5.62, else you will get broken images. change_end 98.1 + change_begin 98.1 gs Ghostscript (version 4.03 or later); with the ppmraw device driver, or even better pnmraw. Upgrade to 5.10 or later if you want to go sure about seldom problems with 4.03 to avoid (yet unclarified). change_end 98.1 + change_begin 98.1 The netpbm library. Netpbm 1 March 1994 is recommended. Check with pnmcrop -version. change_end 98.1 Several of the filters in those libraries are used during the PostScript to GIF conversion. + change_begin 98.1 If you want PNG images, you need pnmtopng (current version is 2.31). It is not part of netpbm and requires libpng-0.89c.tar.gz and libz (1.0.4) (or later versions). pnmtopng supports transparency and interlace mode. Hooray!!! Netscape Navigator v4.04 has been reported to grok PNG images! That means your PNG option is not longer ahead of its time! change_end 98.1 3. Segmentation of large documents If you wish to use this feature, you will have to upgrade your LATEX to LATEX2e. Some other hyperlinking features also require LATEX2e. 4. Transparent inlined images If you dislike the white background color of the generated inlined images then you should get either the netpbm library (instead of the older pbmplus ) or install the giftrans filter by Andreas Ley <ley@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de>. LATEX2HTML now supports the shareware program giftool (by Home Pages, Inc., version 1.0), too. It can also create interlaced GIFs. If Ghostscript or the netpbm library are not available, it is still possible to use the translator with the -no_images option. If you intend to use any of the special features of the translator then you have to include the html.sty file in any LATEX documents that use them. Since by default the translator makes use of inlined images in the final HTML output, it would be better to have a viewer which supports the <IMG> tag, such as NCSA Mosaic or Netscape Navigator. change_begin 97.1 Any browser which claims to be compatible with HTML 3.2 should meet this requirement. change_end 97.1 If only a character-based browser, such as lynx , is available, or if you want the generated documents to be more portable, then the translator can be used with the -ascii_mode option. 2.1.2 Installing LATEX2HTML change_begin 98.1 To install LATEX2HTML you MUST do the following: 1. Specify where Perl is on your system. In each of the files latex2html , texexpand , pstoimg , install-test and makemap , modify the first line saying where Perl is on your system. Some system administrators do not allow Perl programs to run as shell scripts. This means that you may not be able to run any of the above programs. In this case change the first line in each of these programs from #!/usr/local/bin/perl to: # *-*-perl-*-* eval 'exec perl -S $0 "$@"' if $running_under_some_shell; 2. Copy the files to the destination directory. Copy the contents of the texinputs/ directory to a place where they will be found by LATEX, or set up your TEXINPUTS variable to point to that directory. 3. Run install-test . This Perl script will make some changes in the latex2html file and then check whether the path-names to any external utilities required by latex2html are correct. It will not actually install the external utilities. install-test asks you whether to configure for GIF or PNG image generation. Finally it creates the file local.pm which houses pathnames for the external utilities determined earlier. You might need to make install-test executable before using it. Use chmod +x install-test to do this. You may also need to make the files pstogif , texexpand , configure-pstoimg and latex2html executable if install-test fails to do it for you. 4. If you like so, copy or move the latex2html executable script to some location outside the $LATEX2HTMLDIR directory. 5. You might want to edit latex2html.config to reflect your needs. Read the instructions about $ICONSERVER carefully to make sure your HTML documents will be displayed right via the Web server. While you're at it you may want to change some of the default options in the same file. If you do a system installation for many users, only care for general aspects and let the user override them with $HOME/.latex2html-init. Note that you must run install-test now (formerly you needn't). If you want to reconfigure LATEX2HTML for GIF/PNG image generation, or because some of the external tools changed the location, simply rerun configure-pstoimg . change_end 98.1 ___________________________________ This is usually enough for the main installation, but you may also want to do some of the following, to ensure that advanced features of LATEX2HTML work correctly on your system: * To use the new LATEX commands which are defined in html.sty : Make sure that LATEX knows where the html.sty file is, either by putting it in the same place as the other style-files on your system, or by changing your TEXINPUTS shell environment variable, or by copying html.sty into the same directory as your LATEX source file. The environment variable TEXINPUTS is not to be confused with the LATEX2HTML installation variable $TEXINPUTS described next. * There is an installation variable in latex2html.config called $TEXINPUTS , which tells LATEX2HTML where to look for LATEX style-files to process. It can also affect the input-path of LATEX when called by LATEX2HTML, unless the command latex is really a script which overwrites the $TEXINPUTS variable prior to calling the real latex . This variable is overridden by the environment variable of the same name if it is set. * The installation variable $PK_GENERATION specifies which fonts are used in the generation of mathematical equations. A value of ``0'' causes the same fonts to be used as those for the default printer. Because they were designed for a printer of much greater resolution than the screen, equations will generally appear to be of a lower quality than is otherwise possible. To cause LATEX2HTML to dynamically generate fonts that are designed specifically for the screen, you should specify a value of ``1'' for this variable. If you do, then check to see whether your version of dvips supports the command-line option -mode . If it does, then also set the installation variable $DVIPS_MODE to a low resolution entry from modes.mf , such as toshiba . It may also be necessary to edit the MakeTeXPK script, to recognise this mode at the appropriate resolution. change_begin 97.1 If you have PostScript fonts available for use with LATEX and dvips then you can probably ignore the above complications and simply set $PK_GENERATION to ``0'' and $DVIPS_MODE to "" (the empty string). You must also make sure that gs has the locations of the fonts recorded in its gs_fonts.ps file. This should already be the case where GS-Preview is installed as the viewer for .dvi-files, using the PostScript fonts. change_end 97.1 If dvips does not support the -mode switch, then leave $DVIPS_MODE undefined, and verify that the .dvipsrc file points to the correct screen device and its resolution. * The installation variable $AUTO_PREFIX allows the filename-prefix to be automatically set to the base filename-prefix of the document being translated. This can be especially useful for multiple-segment documents. * The makemap script also has a configuration variable $SERVER , which must be set to either CERN or NCSA, depending on the type of Web-server you are using. * To set up different initialization files: For a ``per user'' initialization file, copy the file dot.latex2html-init in the home directory of any user that wants it, modify it according to her preferences and rename it as .latex2html-init . At runtime, both the latex2html.config file and $HOME/.latex2html-init file will be loaded, but the latter will take precedence. You can also set up a ``per directory'' initialization file by copying a version of .latex2html-init in each directory you would like it to be effective. An initialization file /X/Y/Z/.latex2html-init will take precedence over all other initialization files if /X/Y/Z is the ``current directory'' when LATEX2HTML is invoked. Warning: This initialization file is incompatible with any version of LATEX2HTML prior to V96.1. Users must either update this file in their home directory, or delete it altogether. * To make your own local copies of the LATEX2HTML icons: Please copy the icons/ subdirectory to a place under your WWW tree where they can be served by your server. Then modify the value of the $ICONSERVER variable in latex2html.config accordingly. change_begin 97.1 Alternatively, a local copy of the icons can be included within the subdirectory containing your completed HTML documents. This is most easily done using the -local_icons command-line switch, or by setting $LOCAL_ICONS to ``1'' in latex2html.config or within an initialization file, as described above. change_end 97.1 Warnings: If you cannot do that, bear in mind that these icons will have to travel from Livermore, California!!! Also note that several more icons were added in V96.1 that were not present in earlier versions of LATEX2HTML. * To make your own local copy of the LATEX2HTML documentation: This will also be a good test of your installation. Firstly, to obtain the .dvi version for printing, from within the docs/ directory it is sufficient to type: make manual.dvi This initiates the following sequence of commands: latex manual.tex makeindex -s l2hidx.ist manual.idx makeindex -s l2hglo.ist -o manual.gls manual.glo latex manual.tex latex manual.tex ...in which the two configuration files l2hidx.ist and l2hglo.ist for the makeindex program, are used to create the index and glossary respectively. The 2nd run of latex is needed to assimilate references, etc. and include the index and glossary. (In case makeindex is not available, a copy of its outputs manual.ind and manual.gls are included in the docs/ subdirectory, along with manual.aux .) The 3rd run of latex is needed to adjust page-numbering for the Index and Glossary within the Table-of-Contents. Next, the HTML version is obtained by typing: make manual.html This initiates a series of calls to LATEX2HTML on the separate segments of the manual; the full manual is thus created as a ``segmented document'' (see a later section). The whole process may take quite some time, as each segment needs to be processed at least twice, to collect the cross-references from other segments. The files necessary for correct typesetting of the manual to be found within the docs/ subdirectory. They are as follows: + style-files: l2hman.sty , html.sty , htmllist.sty , justify.sty , changebar.sty and url.sty + inputs: changes.tex , credits.tex , features.tex , hypextra.tex , licence.tex , manhtml.tex , manual.tex , overview.tex , problems.tex , support.tex and userman.tex + sub-directory: psfiles/ containing PostScript graphics used in the printed version of this manual + images of small curved arrows: up.gif , dn.gif + filename data: l2hfiles.dat + auxiliaries: manual.aux , manual.ind , manual.gls The last three can be derived from the others, but are included for convenience. * change_begin 98.1 To get a printed version of the `Changes' section: Due to the burgeoning size of the Changes file with successive revisions of LATEX2HTML, the `Changes' section is no longer supported for the manual. Please refer to text file Changes instead which is part of the distribution. change_end 98.1 * To join the community of LATEX2HTML users: More information on a mailing list, discussion archives, bug reporting forms and more is available at http://cbl.leeds.ac.uk/nikos/tex2html/doc/latex2html/latex2html.ht ml 2.2 Getting Support and More Information A LATEX2HTML mailing list has been set up at the TeX Users Group. The LATEX2HTML mailing list archive is available. (Thanks to Ian Foster <itf@mcs.anl.gov> and Bob Olson <olson@mcs.anl.gov>.) To join send a message to: <latex2html-request@tug.org > with the contents: subscribe To be removed from the list send a message to: <latex2html-request@tug.org> with the contents: unsubscribe The mailing list also has a searchable online archive at http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/mailing-lists/latex2html/. It is recommendable to start with that URL first, to get in touch with the topics actually discussed and to search for articles related with your interests. Enjoy! 3. Known Problems _________________________________________________________________ Here are some of the problems that were known to exist with previous versions of LATEX2HTML. Most of those that were real errors are either fixed completely in the current version (V98.1), or are much less likely to occur within correct LATEX source. (Some are not really errors but indications of poor style in the user's choices among various ways to organise their source code.) Several are indeed limitations inherent in the way LATEX2HTML currently performs its processing. * Correctness and Efficiency: The translator cannot be guaranteed to perform as expected. Several aspects of the implementation need optimisation and improvement. Apart from possible bugs the translator may place heavy demands on your resources. change_begin 97.1 The current version works much more efficiently than previous versions; many subtle bugs have been identified and eliminated. change_end 97.1 change_begin 98.1 The process of command substitution has been improved significantly, resulting in memory savings and faster document text translation. change_end 98.1 * Unrecognised Commands and Environments: Unrecognised commands are ignored and any arguments are left in the text. Unrecognised environments are passed to LATEX and the result is included in the document as one or more inlined images. change_begin 97.1 There are very few standard LATEX commands that are not recognised. Many common TEX commands are recognised also, even though not explicitly mentioned in the LATEX #!lamp:latex!#. Any aberrant commands should be reported to the LATEX2HTML mailing list. change_end 97.1 * Cross-references: References in environments that are passed to LATEX for processing (e.g. a \cite, or a \ref command), are not processed correctly. \label commands are handled correctly. change_begin 97.1 All citation, reference and label commands should work correctly now. Report any problems to the LATEX2HTML mailing list. change_end 97.1 * Order-Sensitive Commands: Commands which affect global parameters during the translation, and are sensitive to the order in which they are processed may not be handled correctly. In particular, counter manipulation (e.g. \newcounter, \setcounter, \stepcounter, etc.) commands may cause problems. change_begin 97.1 Counter commands now work correctly; dependencies are also implemented. change_end 97.1 * Index: The translator generates its own index by saving the arguments of the \index command. The contents of the theindex environment are ignored. change_begin 97.1 This remains true. When using the makeidx package, very sophisticated Indexes can be built automatically. The Index for this manual is a good example. change_end 97.1 * New Definitions: New definitions (\newcommand, \newenvironment, \newtheorem and \def), will not work as expected if they are defined more than once. Only the last definition will be used throughout the document. change_begin 97.1 This remains true. Stylistically it is bad to declare new environments or theorems outside of the document preamble, so these should cause no problems anyway. Changes to commands using \def or \renewcommand should usually be made only locally, within special environments, to set a needed parameter; e.g. a basic length in a picture environment. But when such environments force an image to be generated, then LATEX will make the correct redefinition. change_end 97.1 * Scope of declarations and environments: If the scope of a declaration or environment crosses section boundaries, then the output may not be as expected, because each section is processed independently. change_begin 97.1 This is inherent to the way LATEX2HTML does its processing. It will not be fixed until later versions change this strategy; e.g. when LATEX2HTML-NG becomes fully integrated. change_end 97.1 * Math-mode font-size changes: Math-mode font changes made outside the math-mode are not honoured. Thus the two equations in $a_b$ and {\LARGE $a_b$} would come out looking the same. The trick is to write $a_b and $\mbox{\LARGE $a_b$}$. change_begin 97.1 This remains. The work-around is effective. change_end 97.1 3.1 Troubleshooting Here are some curable symptoms: * Cannot run any of the Perl programs: If your Perl installation is such that Perl programs are not allowed to run as shell scripts you may be unable to run latex2html , texexpand , pstoimg and install-test . In this case change the first line in each of these programs from #!/usr/local/bin/perl to : # *-*-perl-*-* eval 'exec perl -S $0 "$@"' if $running_under_some_shell; * The install-test script gives uninformative error messages: If, for any reason, you have trouble running install-test , do not despair. Most of what it does is to do with checking your installation rather than actually installing anything. To do a manual installation just change the variable $LATEX2HTMLDIR in the beginning of the file latex2html to point to the directory where the LATEX2HTML files can be found. Also, make sure that the files pstoimg , texexpand and latex2html are executable; if necessary use the Unix chmod command to make them executable. * It just stops. Check the style files that you are using. It is possible that you are using a style file which contains raw TEX commands. In such a case start LATEX2HTML with the option -dont_include <style-file name> . Alternatively, add the name of the style to the variable $DONT_INCLUDE in your $HOME/.latex2html-init file. If you don't have such a file then create one and add the lines: $DONT_INCLUDE = "$DONT_INCLUDE" . ": <style file name>"; 1; # This must be the last line Another reason why LATEX2HTML might stop is that the LATEX source file itself contains raw TEX commands. In this case you may put such commands inside a latexonly environment. change_begin 97.1 The $VERBOSITY variable can be used to create tracing messages, which may help to locate which command or environment was being processed when everything stopped. change_end 97.1 change_begin 97.1 * It appears to be doing nothing. Perhaps the processor has fallen into an unending loop. Usually there will be a bad definition, or other faulty source code, which has caused this. The $VERBOSITY variable can be set to generate tracing messages, which may help to locate which command or environment is being processed repeatedly. Try setting a value of `3'; e.g. using the commandline switch -verbosity 3 . This will print command and environment names, as thaey are processed. It should soon become apparent where any such looping occurs. * It just fills the endlessly with dots. No `perhaps' here; the processor has definitely fallen into an unending loop. See the previous item for how to detect which command or environment is causing the problem. change_end 97.1 change_begin 98.1 * Perl cannot parse the latex2html script: If Perl refuses to start LATEX2HTML and issues errors, your Perl version is not up to date. Update your Perl to 5.003 or later. You can check which version of Perl you are using by invoking Perl with the -v option. If Perl issues errors during runtime, this is most probably related to bugs within LATEX2HTML or one of its modules. In this case you will need help from the developers or experienced users; this can be obtained via the discussion list. * It crashes (dumps core) as soon as it starts : Update your Perl to 5.003 or later. change_end 98.1 change_begin 98.1 * It does not show any of your images: You can't run LATEX2HTML in a subdirectory that contains a dot within the directory name, such as latex2html-98.1, or in name of any higher directory. This is because dvips 's -o option will change 98.1 into 98.001 and use that as the resulting output file, instead of image001 . The PostScript files will be placed higher up in the directory tree. For instance, if pwd returns something like: /usr/people/nelson/files/latex2html-98.1/work/tests and you run LATEX2HTML, then dvips will generate image output files here: /usr/people/nelson/files called latex2html-98.001, latex2html-98.002, ... instead of image001, image002, image003, ... in the subdirectory where your .html files were created. As a result the images will not show in your documents. If you are getting File Not Found errors, then turn on the $DEBUG flag in latex2html.config to see what options are passed to dvips . If there are some dots in names, then look above that directory to see if files are being generated there. One obvious fix is to rename the offending directory to remove the `.' from its name. If that is not possible, then define an alternative location for image generation to take place; set $TMP to contain the name for this location. Typically $TMP = '/usr/tmp'; . (This use of $TMP is a good thing to do anyway, especially if your Unix account is subject to quota limitations.) * It stops after having run LATEX, displaying a message about dvips : See the previous item. change_end 98.1 * dvips complains about incorrect arguments: Please use a version which supports the command-line options -M , -S , -o and -i . ``Recent'' versions, at least after 5.516, do support them. * It gives an ``Out of memory'' message and dies: Try splitting your source file into more than one file, using the LATEX commands \input or \include. Also, try using the -no_images option. change_begin 97.1 Perhaps the processor has fallen into an infinite loop. Usually there will be a bad definition, or other faulty source code, which has caused this. See an earlier problem for how to set the $VERBOSITY variable to help locate the bad code leading to this memory exhaustion. change_end 97.1 As a last resort you may consider increasing the virtual memory (swap space) of your machine. As an indication of what you might be able to do on your machine, a very long book (about 1000 printed pages) required about 24MB of RAM and over 150MB of swap space to convert on a local Sun Sparc ELC running SunOS 4.1.3. change_begin 97.1 Much of this memory would have been consumed during image-generation. This part of the processing is much more efficient in V97.1. change_end 97.1 change_begin 98.1 * install-test issues ``dbm'' related error messages: LATEX2HTML requires a DataBase Management system (NDBM , GDBM , or SDBM ) in order to run. This is usually part of each Unix-like operating system and SDBM is part of Perl 5, but sometimes this is either missing on your operating system or left out in a binary Perl distribution. Use to find one or (better) update to a complete Perl 5 distribution. * latex2html issues ``dbm'' related error messages: If you get warnings like ndbm store returned -1, errno 28, key "xyz" at latex2html line 123 this is related to an overflow of LATEX2HTML internals. You will need help from the list, here. If you get real error messages which cause LATEX2HTML to abort, run install-test to check if your DataBase management works. You will probably need to re-install Perl 5 (see above topic). change_end 98.1 change_begin 97.1 This can happen when an image is being created from a large piece of LATEX source code. The image-reuse mechanism uses the code itself to construct a database key. If too long, the key is invalid and may crash DBM or NDBM . (In fact this error should no longer occur in V97.1, so please advise the LATEX2HTML developers if you get error messages of this kind.) The message should contain the name of environment which caused the problem, along with an identifying number; e.g. eqnarray268. To find which exact piece of code this represents, run LATEX2HTML again, using the -debug switch. Then look at the files in the TMP subdirectory of the working directory named TMP/part001, TMP/part002, etc. Use the unix grep command: grep 268 <dir>/TMP/part* to find that number in these files. This should enable you to locate exactly where the problem occurs. One solution may be to wrap the whole environment within \begin{makeimage} and \end{makeimage}. This will still cause the image to be created, but uses just the environment name and number as the database key. change_end 97.1 * The \verb"ABC" command doesn't work: This is a nasty bug. Please use any character other than quotes; e.g. \verb+ABC+. * Cannot get the ``tilde'' (~) to show: The trick here is to use the command \~{}. Alternatively try using something like: mylink">mylink . Warning: Some browsers may not be able to interpret the %7E as a ``tilde'' character. change_begin 98.1 Alternatively use the \char126 command. Anyway, tildes within \htmladdnormallink and familiar commands are now handled correctly. change_end 98.1 * Macro definitions don't work correctly: As mentioned in other places, not all plain TEX \def-initions can be converted. But you may also have problems even when using LATEX definitions (with \newcommand and \newenvironment) if such definitions make use of sectioning or \verbatim commands. These are handled in a special way by LATEX2HTML and cannot be used in macro definitions. In general the macro handling mechanism is inefficient and very fragile. Avoid using macros if possible. change_begin 97.1 A greater range of macros definitions can now be handled, especially if appropriate declarations are added to an initialization file. change_end 97.1 * \input commands: There is a bug in the expansion of \input commands which causes a problem when more than one \input command appears on the same line. There is no quick fix other than suggesting that you put each \input command on a line by itself, in the LATEX source files. * \input commands in verbatim environments: change_begin 98.1 Should no longer cause problems (actually since 97.1). \input commands are also handled right within comment environments as declared with \excludecomment. Alternatively you might want to use either the verbatim or the verbatimfiles package. change_end 98.1 * Optional arguments in description environments: If you have optional arguments for the \item command in a description environment containing nested ``]'' characters then these may not show up correctly. To avoid the problem enclose them in {}s; e.g. \item[{[nested [angle [brackets] are ok]]}] * LATEX2HTML behaves differently even when you run it on the same file: If you notice any strange side-effects from previous runs of LATEX2HTML, try using the option -no_reuse and choose (d) when prompted. This will clear any intermediate files generated during previous runs. Note that this option will disable the image-reuse mechanism. * Cannot convert PostScript images which are included in the LATEX file: It is likely that the macros you are using for including PostScript files (e.g. \epsffile) are not understood by LATEX2HTML. To avoid this problem enclose them in an environment which will be passed to LATEX anyway; e.g. \begin{figure} \epsffile{ <PostScript file name>} \end{figure} Another reason why this might happen is that your shell environment variable TEXINPUTS may be undefined. This is not always fatal but if you have problems you can use full path-names for included PostScript files (even when the PostScript files are in the same directory as the LATEX source file). Alternatively try setting TEXINPUTS to `.::'. With some TEX and LATEX installations setting TEXINPUTS to `.::' may cause problems in the normal operation of LATEX. If you get errors such as LATEX complaining that it can no longer find any style files then you must set TEXINPUTS to "<path to your LaTeX installation>:." if you want to use both LATEX and LATEX2HTML. * Some of the inlined images are in the wrong places: There are several known ways that this may occur. * Perhaps one of the inlined images is more than a page (paper page) long. This is sometimes the case with very large tables or large PostScript images. In this case you can try specifying a larger paper size (e.g. `a4', `a3' or even `a0') instead of the default (`a5') using the LATEX2HTML variable $PAPERSIZE in the file latex2html.config . This reason for the error should no longer occur with V97.1. Please report it on the mailing-list, if it does. * More likely is that some inappropriate LATEX code has caused an error, resulting in an extra page (or pages) being generated. Examine the images.log file, to see if it reports any LATEX errors. * A much rarer reason is that by default the dvips program reverses the PostScript pages it generates. If your dvips program behaves in this way try changing the line: $DVIPS = "dvips"; to: $DVIPS = "dvips -r0"; within the file latex2html.config . * Yet another reason for images appearing out of place, especially while developing a document, is that the browser's image cache is providing out-of-date versions rather than getting the latest version afresh. When this occurs there will often be images stretched or shrunk to fit the wrong sized imaging area; this symptom is browser-dependent. Flushing the cache, then reloading the HTML document, should clear up the problem. * Unacceptable quality of converted images: Try changing the size of the image (see image conversion). * The bibliographic references are missing: Run latex and then bibtex on the original source file in order to generate a .bbl file. LATEX2HTML may need the .bbl file in order to generate the references. * The labels of figures, tables or equations are wrong: This can happen if you have used any figures, tables, equations or any counters inside conditional text; i.e. in a latexonly or a htmlonly environment. * Problems after changing the configuration files: Please make sure that the last line in the configuration files (i.e. .latex2html-init and latex2html.config ) is: 1; # This is the last line This is a Perl quirk. * Problems when producing the .dvi version: If you are using any of the new LATEX commands which are defined in the html.sty file make sure that html.sty is included; e.g. as one of the optional arguments to the \documentclass command. Of course you also have to make sure that LATEX knows where the html.sty file is, either by putting it in the same place as the other style-files on your system, or by changing your TEXINPUTS shell environment variable 2. * Some of the fonts are translated incorrectly: There is a fault in way the LATEX scoping rules have been interpreted in LATEX2HTML. Consider this: \ttfamily fixed-width font. \begin{something} nothing here \end{something} default font. When processed by LATEX, the effect of the \tt command is delimited by the beginning of the environment ``something'', so that ``default font'' will appear in the default font. But LATEX2HTML will not recognise ``something'' as a delimiter and ``default font'' will appear in the wrong font. To avoid this problem (until it is fixed) you may delimit the scope of some commands explicitly using {}'s; i.e. \texttt{fixed-width font}. \begin{something} nothing here \end{something} default font. change_begin 98.1 Nesting of font changing commands is now handled right. Such problems should not occur furthermore. change_end 98.1 * Cannot get it to generate inlined images: Run LATEX2HTML with the -debug switch, and have a look in the directory of the generated HTML files for two files images.tex and images.log . Do you notice anything unusual in them? Copy images.tex into the directory of your original LATEX file and run latex on images.tex . Can you see any errors in images.log ? If yes, can you fix images.tex to get rid of the errors? After fixing images.tex you can put it back in the directory of HTML files created by LATEX2HTML and run LATEX2HTML on the original document using the option -images_only . However if you make changes or additions to the original source then the same problems may occur again, so it is better to understand why the changes were required and alter the source code appropriately. If you get into a mess delete all the image files and run LATEX2HTML again. Often it is sufficient to just delete the file images.pl . If you still get into a mess, try running LATEX2HTML with the options -no_reuse and -no_images ; e.g. cblipca% latex2html -no_reuse -no_images test.tex This is LaTeX2HTML Version 95 (Tue Nov 29 1994) by Nikos Drakos, Computer Based Learning Unit, University of Leeds. OPENING /tmp_mnt/home/cblelca/nikos/tmp/test.tex Cannot create directory /usr/cblelca/nikos/tmp/test: File exists (r) Reuse the images in the old directory OR (d) *** DELETE *** /usr/cblelca/nikos/tmp/test AND ITS CONTENTS OR (q) Quit ? :d Reading ... Processing macros ....+. Reading test.aux ...................... Translating ...0/1........1/1..... Writing image file ... Doing section links ..... *********** WARNINGS *********** If you are having problems displaying the correct images with Mosaic, try selecting "Flush Image Cache" from "Options" in the menu-bar and then reload the HTML file. Done. Then try to have a look in the file images.tex (as described earlier) and perhaps fix it. Once you are happy that images.tex is OK, run LATEX2HTML again with the option -images_only . Some problems in displaying the correct inlined images, may be due to the image caching mechanisms of your browser. With some browsers a simple ``Reload Current Document'' will be enough to refresh the images but with others (e.g. Mosaic ) you may need to request for the cache to be refreshed. With Mosaic try selecting ``Flush Image Cache'' from ``Options'' in the menu-bar and then reload the HTML file. * It cannot do slides, memos, etc. If you use SliTEX you can go a long way just by replacing the {slides} argument of the \documentclass command with something like {article} just before using LATEX2HTML. One problem may be that all your slides will end up in the same HTML file. If you use lslide.sty you may get much better results (use to find this or any other style files). 2 _________________________________________________________________ Footnotes ... script1 Initially written by Robert S. Thau, completely rewritten by Marek Rouchal and Jens Lippmann. ... variable2 If you don't know how to do either of these things, copy (or link) html.sty to the directory of your LATEX document. _________________________________________________________________ Jens Lippmann 1998-02-22