241 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
241 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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This is the README file for the AUCTeX distribution.
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Copyright (C) 2008, 2017, 2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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Copying and distribution of this file, with or without
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modification, are permitted in any medium without royalty provided
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the copyright notice and this notice are preserved.
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Introduction to AUCTeX
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**********************
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This file gives a brief overview of what AUCTeX is. It is *not* an
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attempt to document AUCTeX. Real documentation for AUCTeX is available
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in the manual, which should be available as an info file after
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installation.
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AUCTeX is a comprehensive customizable integrated environment for
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writing input files for TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, Texinfo, and docTeX using
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Emacs.
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It supports you in the insertion of macros, environments, and sectioning
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commands by providing completion alternatives and prompting for
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parameters. It automatically indents your text as you type it and lets
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you format a whole file at once. The outlining and folding facilities
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provide you with a focused and clean view of your text.
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AUCTeX lets you process your source files by running TeX and related
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tools (such as output filters, post processors for generating indices
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and bibliographies, and viewers) from inside Emacs. AUCTeX lets you
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browse through the errors TeX reported, while it moves the cursor
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directly to the reported error, and displays some documentation for that
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particular error. This will even work when the document is spread over
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several files.
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One component of AUCTeX that LaTeX users will find attractive is
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preview-latex, a combination of folding and in-source previewing that
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provides true "What You See Is What You Get" experience in your
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sourcebuffer, while letting you retain full control. For more
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information, see further below.
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More detailed information about the features and usage of AUCTeX can be
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found in the AUCTeX manual. You can access it from within Emacs by
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typing 'C-h i d m auctex <RET>'. If you prefer the standalone info
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reader, issue the command 'info auctex' in a terminal.
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AUCTeX is written entirely in Emacs Lisp, and hence you can easily add
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new features for your own needs. It is a GNU project and distributed
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under the 'GNU General Public License Version 3'.
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The most recent version is always available at
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<https://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/auctex/>.
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WWW users may want to check out the AUCTeX page at
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<https://www.gnu.org/software/auctex/>.
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For comprehensive information about how to install AUCTeX read the file
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'INSTALL' or 'INSTALL.windows', respectively.
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If you are considering upgrading AUCTeX, the recent changes are
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described in the 'CHANGES' file.
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If you want to discuss AUCTeX with other users or its developers, there
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are several mailing lists you can use.
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Send a mail with the subject "subscribe" to <auctex-request@gnu.org> in
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order to join the general discussion list for AUCTeX. Articles should
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be sent to <auctex@gnu.org>. In a similar way, you can subscribe to the
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<info-auctex@gnu.org> list for just getting important announcements
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about AUCTeX. The list <bug-auctex@gnu.org> is for bug reports which
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you should usually file with the 'M-x TeX-submit-bug-report <RET>'
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command. If you want to address the developers of AUCTeX themselves
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with technical issues, they can be found on the discussion list
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<auctex-devel@gnu.org>.
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preview-latex in a nutshell
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***************************
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Does your neck hurt from turning between previewer windows and the
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source too often? This AUCTeX component will render your displayed
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LaTeX equations right into the editing window where they belong.
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The purpose of preview-latex is to embed LaTeX environments such as
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display math or figures into the source buffers and switch conveniently
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between source and image representation.
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1 What use is it?
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*****************
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WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) sometimes is considered all the
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rage, sometimes frowned upon. Do we really want it? Wrong question.
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The right question is _what_ we want from it. Except when finetuning
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the layout, we don't want to use printer fonts for on-screen text
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editing. The low resolution and contrast of a computer screen render
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all but the coarsest printer fonts (those for low-quality newsprint)
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unappealing, and the margins and pagination of the print are not wanted
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on the screen, either. On the other hand, more complex visual
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compositions like math formulas and tables can't easily be taken in when
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seen only in the source. preview-latex strikes a balance: it only uses
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graphic renditions of the output for certain, configurable constructs,
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does this only when told, and then right in the source code. Switching
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back and forth between the source and preview is easy and natural and
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can be done for each image independently. Behind the scenes of
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preview-latex, a sophisticated framework of other programs like
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'dvipng', Dvips and Ghostscript are employed together with a special
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LaTeX style file for extracting the material of interest in the
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background and providing fast interactive response.
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2 Activating preview-latex
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**************************
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After installation, the package may need to be activated (and remember
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to activate AUCTeX too). If preview-latex is installed via the Emacs
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package manager (ELPA), activation should be automatic upon
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installation.
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The usual activation (if it is not done automatically) would be
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(load "preview-latex.el" nil t t)
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If you still don't get a "Preview" menu in LaTeX mode in spite of AUCTeX
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showing its "Command", your installation is broken. One possible cause
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are duplicate Lisp files that might be detectable with 'M-x
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list-load-path-shadows <RET>'.
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3 Getting started
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*****************
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Once activated, preview-latex and its documentation will be accessible
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via its menus (note that preview-latex requires AUCTeX to be loaded).
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When you have loaded a LaTeX document (a sample document 'circ.tex' is
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included in the distribution, but most documents including math and/or
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figures should do), you can use its menu or 'C-c C-p C-d' (for
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'Preview/Document'). Previews will now be generated for various objects
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in your document. You can use the time to take a short look at the
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other menu entries and key bindings in the 'Preview' menu. You'll see
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the previewed objects change into a roadworks sign when preview-latex
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has determined just what it is going to preview. Note that you can
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freely navigate the buffer while this is going on. When the process is
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finished you will see the objects typeset in your buffer.
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It is a bad idea, however, to edit the buffer before the roadworks signs
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appear, since that is the moment when the correlation between the
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original text and the buffer locations gets established. If the buffer
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changes before that point of time, the previews will not be placed where
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they belong. If you do want to change some obvious error you just
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spotted, we recommend you stop the background process by pressing 'C-c
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C-k'.
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To see/edit the LaTeX code for a specific object, put the point (the
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cursor) on it and press 'C-c C-p C-p' (for 'Preview/at point'). It will
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also do to click with the middle mouse button on the preview. Now you
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can edit the code, and generate a new preview by again pressing 'C-c C-p
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C-p' (or by clicking with the middle mouse button on the icon before the
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edited text).
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If you are using the 'desktop' package, previews will remain from one
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session to the next as long as you don't kill your buffer.
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4 Basic modes of operation
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**************************
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preview-latex has a number of methods for generating its graphics. Its
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default operation is equivalent to using the 'LaTeX' command from
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AUCTeX. If this happens to be a call of PDFLaTeX generating PDF output
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(you need at least AUCTeX 11.51 for this), then Ghostscript will be
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called directly on the resulting PDF file. If a DVI file gets produced,
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first Dvips and then Ghostscript get called by default.
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The image type to be generated by Ghostscript can be configured with
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M-x customize-option <RET> preview-image-type <RET>
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The default is 'png' (the most efficient image type). A special setting
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is 'dvipng' in case you have the 'dvipng' program installed. In this
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case, 'dvipng' will be used for converting DVI files and Ghostscript
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(with a 'PNG' device) for converting PDF files. 'dvipng' is much faster
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than the combination of Dvips and Ghostscript. You can get downloads,
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access to its CVS archive and further information from its project site
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(https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/dvipng).
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5 More documentation
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********************
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After the installation, documentation in the form of an info manual will
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be available. You can access it with the standalone info reader with
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info preview-latex
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or by pressing 'C-h i d m preview-latex <RET>' in Emacs. Once
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preview-latex is activated, you can instead use 'C-c C-p <TAB>' (or the
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menu entry 'Preview/Read documentation').
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Depending on your installation, a printable manual may also be available
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in the form of 'preview-latex.pdf'.
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Detailed documentation for the LaTeX style used for extracting the
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preview images is placed in 'preview.pdf' in a suitable directory during
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installation; on typical TeX Live-based systems,
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texdoc preview
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will display it.
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6 Availability
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**************
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The preview-latex project is now part of AUCTeX and accessible as part
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of the AUCTeX project page (https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/auctex).
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You can get its files from the AUCTeX download area
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(https://ftp.gnu.org/pub/gnu/auctex/). As of AUCTeX 11.81,
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preview-latex should already be integrated into AUCTeX, so no separate
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download will be necessary.
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Anonymous Git is available at <git://git.savannah.gnu.org/auctex.git> or
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<https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/auctex.git>. You can also browse the
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repository (https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/auctex.git) via web
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interface.
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7 Contacts
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**********
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Bug reports should be sent by using 'M-x preview-report-bug <RET>', as
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this will fill in a lot of information interesting to us. If the
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installation fails (but this should be a rare event), report bugs to
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<bug-auctex@gnu.org>.
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There is a general discussion list for AUCTeX which also covers
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preview-latex, look at <https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/auctex>.
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For more information on the mailing list, send a message with just the
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word "help" as subject or body to <auctex-request@gnu.org>. For the
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developers, there is the <auctex-devel@gnu.org> list; it would probably
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make sense to direct feature requests and questions about internal
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details there. There is a low-volume read-only announcement list
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available to which you can subscribe by sending a mail with "subscribe"
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in the subject to <info-auctex-request@gnu.org>.
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Offers to support further development will be appreciated. If you want
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to show your appreciation with a donation to the main developer, you can
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do so via PayPal to <dak@gnu.org>, and of course you can arrange for
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service contracts or for added functionality. Take a look at the 'TODO'
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list for suggestions in that area.
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