Instant preview doesn't work in Hardy

[MartinE]

Binary package hint: lyx

The instant preview feature does not work in Ubuntu 8.04. I have installed preview-latex-style, netpbm and ghostscript, but to no avail. Lyx simply doesn't use the instant preview feature. Starting Lyx from the command line, i get the following error messages:

This is dvips(k) 5.96.1 Copyright 2007 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
' TeX output 2008.06.02:1451' -> 0lyxpreview.ps
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/tex.pro>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/texps.pro>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/special.pro>.
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmr10.pfb>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmmi10.pfb>[1]
Failed: gs 0lyxpreview.ps
This is dvips(k) 5.96.1 Copyright 2007 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
' TeX output 2008.06.02:1453' -> 1lyxpreview.ps
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/tex.pro>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/special.pro>. [1]
Failed: gs 1lyxpreview.ps
This is dvips(k) 5.96.1 Copyright 2007 Radical Eye Software (www.radicaleye.com)
' TeX output 2008.06.02:1453' -> 2lyxpreview.ps
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/tex.pro>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/texps.pro>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/dvips/base/special.pro>.
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmsy10.pfb>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmr10.pfb>
</usr/share/texmf-texlive/fonts/type1/bluesky/cm/cmmi10.pfb>[1]
Failed: gs 2lyxpreview.ps

What am I missing here?

[MartinE (martin-engbers-gmx)]

It seems to be a problem with dvips. I have attached the dvi- and ps-file that lyx tried to create in /tmp. As you can see, the dvi-file contains the LaTeX-Snippets that Lyx wanted to display, but the ps-file is empty. Any help on this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[Vincenzo Ciancia (vincenzo-ml)]

MartinE: are there logs in /tmp?

[MartinE (martin-engbers-gmx)]

Yes, I have attached the log file. There's nothing suspicious in it, i fear. Anyway, the log file only logs the creation of 0lyxpreview.dvi, which seems to be fine. There are no logs about the creation of 0lyxpreview.ps.

I have manually run "dvips -0 0lyxpreview 0lyxpreview" and it created an empty ps-file, without printing any error messages. So I suspect this might actually be a bug in dvips.

[Guillaume M (diabo-bugreport)]

I can confirm the bug with instant preview not working, where lyx leaves the following error message: "failed: gs 0lyxpreview.ps". I have a candidate solution/workaround, see below.

Note however that the ps file LyX created in /tmp was fine in my case.

As suggested in http://archive.netbsd.se/?ml=lyx-devel&a=2007-05&t=4342060 I have installed the package dvipng which removes the "failed: gs 0lyxpreview.ps" error message. However, instant preview is still broken. I now have on the command line the following:

dvipng warning: Bad resolution (-D) parameter, ignored dvipng warning: at (75,15) unimplemented \special{ps: currentpoint currentpoint translate 0.07472 0.11023 scale neg exch neg exch translate} dvipng warning: at (91,15) unimplemented \special{ps: gsave currentpoint currentpoint translate 90 neg rotate neg exch neg exch translate} dvipng warning: at (233,15) unimplemented \special{ps: currentpoint grestore moveto} dvipng warning: at (75,15) unimplemented \special{ps: currentpoint currentpoint translate 1 0.07472 div 1 0.11023 div scale neg exch neg exch translate} dvipng warning: at (102,15) unimplemented \special{ps: currentpoint currentpoint translate 0.07472 0.11023 scale neg exch neg exch translate} dvipng warning: at (119,15) unimplemented \special{ps: gsave currentpoint currentpoint translate 90 neg rotate neg exch neg exch translate} dvipng warning: at (260,15) unimplemented \special{ps: currentpoint grestore moveto} dvipng warning: at (102,15) unimplemented \special{ps: currentpoint currentpoint translate 1 0.07472 div 1 0.11023 div scale neg exch neg exch translate}

Ok, that was with hardy's dvipng. I installed the latest dvipng from http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/dvipng/ and LyX now gives me:

dvipng warning: Bad resolution (-D) parameter, ignored GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1
dvipng warning: No GhostSc...

[MartinE (martin-engbers-gmx)]

Thanks a lot! I found that step 1 and 3 aren't necessary for me: instant preview works as soon as dvipng was installed. However I still get the following error message:

          dvipng warning: "Bad resolution (-D) parameter, ignored"

And the resolution is indeed bad - instant-preview-formulae are rendered way too small. Is it possible to manually adjust the -D parameter somewhere in the Lyx Configuration?

Thanks again, Martin

[MartinE (martin-engbers-gmx)]

Hi again,

The resolution of formulae was unconnected to this bug. Adding the line "\preview_scale_factor 1.0" to the MISC SECTION of ~/.lyx/preferences solved that.

For me, instant preview worked as soon as i installed the dvipng package. However, I get the same error message that you posted from Hardy's dvipng:

"dvipng warning: at (0,-1) ignored header \special{! /DvipsToPDF { 72.27 mul Resolution div } def /PDFToDvips { 72.27 div Resolution mul } def /HyperBorder { 1 PDFToDvips } def /H.V {pdf@hoff pdf@voff null} def /H.B {/Rect[pdf@llx pdf@lly pdf@urx pdf@ury]} def /H.S { currentpoint HyperBorder add /pdf@lly exch def dup DvipsToPDF /pdf@hoff exch def HyperBorder sub /pdf@llx exch def } def /H.L { 2 sub dup /HyperBasePt exch def PDFToDvips /HyperBaseDvips exch def currentpoint HyperBaseDvips sub /pdf@ury exch def /pdf@urx exch def } def /H.A { H.L currentpoint exch pop vsize 72 sub exch DvipsToPDF HyperBasePt sub sub /pdf@voff exch def } def /H.R { currentpoint HyperBorder sub /pdf@ury exch def HyperBorder add /pdf@urx exch def currentpoint exch pop vsize 72 sub exch DvipsToPDF sub /pdf@voff exch def } def systemdict /pdfmark known { userdict /?pdfmark systemdict /exec get put }{ userdict /?pdfmark systemdict /pop get put userdict /pdfmark systemdict /cleartomark get put } ifelse }"

 I also compiled dvipng 1.10 and 1.11, and I also get the error

"dvipng warning: No GhostScript pngalpha output, cannot render raw PostScript GPL Ghostscript 8.61: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1"

For me, however, instant preview works with Hardy's dvipng package, without changing "document > parameters > document class > postcript driver".

Thanks for your help, Martin

[Benedikt Wegmann (benny-wegmann)]

I can confirm the bug.
Installing package "dvipng" and adding "\preview_scale_factor 1.0" to ~/.lyx/preferences fixed preview.

[Dara Adib (daradib)]

Closing this bug. The dvipng package, which must be installed for instant preview, is a recommended dependency and therefore is installed by default in Ubuntu 8.10 and above.