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Chapter2
2.6 Execution Modes
illustrate another practical use of the Execution Modes dialog in connection with
this project, notice that its source folder, while clean of T
E
Xauxiliary and temporary
files, does contain two non-standard packages:
chapterthumb.sty
and
xrcs.sty
.If
you need to share the project with other people that also don’t have them installed,
it’s best to leave them in your source document folder.
If, on the other hand, you’re working on your own project which you don’t need
to share with anyone (apart from the final result), and you want to keep your source
folder as neat as possible, you can place those files in a
Packages
subfolder.
But then T
E
Xwill not find them unless we inform it where to look
for them. To do that, use the
TEXINPUTS
variable to let T
E
Xknow that
Packages
subfolder should be searched for such packages. In the Vari-
ables page of Execution Modes you can define
TEXINPUTS
as:
.;./Packages//;
Now you can move them into the
Packages
subfolder and T
E
Xwill find
them without any other effort.
TEXINPUTS
and
BIBINPUTS
environment variables can be used to incorporate your
private (relative or fixed) locations for sty or bib files into T
E
X’s input search path. If
too many packages are installed using this method T
E
Xwill become slow but for
afew private packages or bibliography databases this is an admissible and simple
solution that will allow you to keep your source directory free of such files and also
share bibliography databases among different projects.
The Execution Modes dialog offers many possibilities that you may have not been
aware of. You are urged to become familiar with this dialog and take advantage
of what can be done, from defining an alternative, T
E
X-friendly, PDF Viewer to
checking that your T
E
Xsystem is properly installed, and lots in between...
Help in the Execution Modes dialog is thorough and in-depth. It explains how
WinEdt interacts with external accessories12 and what available alternatives13
can be easily incorporated in your custom version. If you are new to T
E
X-ing or
WinEdt you will greatly benefit from reading the dozen (or so) illustrated pages
of Help associated with this dialog...
12. Including andespecially your T
E
XSystem and friends.
13. Including PDF Viewers, pdf converters, etc...
11