[texhax] diagrams on Windows

Philip G. Ratcliffe philip.ratcliffe at uninsubria.it
Wed Feb 25 10:27:36 CET 2009


> A student of mine who is starting out with LaTeX on Windows, 
> is in need of 
> a way to produce diagrams. (She writing a paper in 
> 2-dimensional category 
> theory, if that helps.)
> 
> Her operating system is Windows XP and she uses WinShell as a 
> front end.  She tried to follow directions for the diagrams 
> package by Paul 
> Taylor, which says to copy the macros on his website into her 
> TeX macros 
> directory, but she doesn't know where that would be, and I 
> can't help her 
> because I know absolutely nothing about Windows or how TeX is 
> ported to it.

Well, assuming she's using the MiKTeX distro (and if she isn't, she ought to
be and I can't help her otherwise,), then the manual explains this all
rather clearly; see section 6. Integrating Local Additions.

In short, she should create a directory called, say, c:\localtexmf.

After which she should open the MiKTeX Options wizard and, on the "Roots"
tab, add c:\localtexmf as a root.

She should then create a subdirectory, say,  c:\localtexmf\tex\latex\taylor
and place the package files there.

The final, mandatory, step is to refresh the filename database using the
button "Refresh FNDB" on the "General" tab of the wizard (this must be done
*every* time a change is made to the localtexmf structure).

BTW, this is a very, very, FAQ.

Cheers,  Phil



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