How to configure export formats in LyX?

Question

Whenever I try to view a PDF of a document in LyX, I get this error:

I get similar errors for DVI and postscript.

If I go through File->Export, the only options are other LyX formats and Docbook. There isn't even an option to export to LaTeX.

How do I configure LyX to export to these formats? Is there at least a way for me to convert to LaTeX so I can use pdflatex to create a PDF?

EDIT: Strangely, this problem fixed itself. I can't think of anything I changed to make it happen. Perhaps a software update fixed this.

Answer 1

I haven't found a way to stop these errors but I have found some workarounds that give a nicely formatted output:

eLyXer eLyXer is a program available in the software repositories as elyxer that converts a document in LyX format to a nicely formatted HTML document. This can be viewed by a web browser and converted to a PDF/PS via print to file.

View Source + pdflatex To view the LaTeX source, select View->View Source. This displays a split-screen. To get the complete LaTeX document make sure the 'Complete Source' box is ticked. This text can then be copied and pasted into a text editor. The command line tool, pdflatex can be used to convert the LaTeX document to a PDF. The PDF file can be converted to other formats via the pdf2* and pdfto* sets of commands.

docbook-utils The package docbook-utils can convert a file in docbook format to several other formats including PDF, PS and HTML.

Answer 2

When things go awry like this, best is to:

sudo apt-get purge lyx

Then:

mv ~/.lyx ~/.lyx.bak

This will make sure that you start with a fresh config.